Summary
The QUT Hydrogen Process Research & Development project develops a scalable and systematic process to evaluate the viability of decentralised and regional-scale renewable energy hybrid systems to generate hydrogen from sustainable resources.
How the project works
The QUT Hydrogen Process Research & Development project will provide experimental validation and integrated modelling of a hybrid renewable energy process that utilises solar power, energy storage and non-potable water to produce, store, and use hydrogen. The project will utilise two existing solar array technologies and battery packs to power treatment of non-potable water and electrolysis of treated water to produce and use hydrogen for re-use within the facility and for export. A micro-grid controls all components and delivers performance data to enterprise level models of hybrid renewable energy (RE) systems.
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Area of innovation
Project innovations include integration of battery packs to photovoltaic arrays, high efficiency alkaline electrolysis and integration of processes to provide enterprise-level modelling of aggregated components.
Benefit
Existing operational practice for hybrid RE systems or combinations of RE products is severely compromised by poor understanding of component optimisation as well as limited predictive capabilities for design of hybrid RE systems and their impact on a power network. This project will develop optimised performance measures for integrated components in a hybrid system suited to Australian conditions and for translation to MW-scale implementation.