Abstract

The intermittency of wind energy caused by fluctuating nature of wind speed necessitates integration of wind turbines with long term storage facilities such as hydrogen energy systems for enhancing stable and reliable power supply. This technology has been rapidly developing towards conversion of excess wind energy into hydrogen. Therefore, the feasibility of wind-fuel cell hybrid energy systems for stand-alone applications has been investigated. The stored excess energy in form of hydrogen gas enables future back-up power in the absence or low wind speed. This research entailed validation analysis of hydrogen production from excess wind energy of the stand-alone wind-fuel cell hybrid energy systems. The experimental works was carried out through water electrolysis by using Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) Electrolyzer. The statistical mean difference and association between the predicted (simulated) and actual (experimental) electrolyzer power inputs and the respective hydrogen production were investigated. The results showed no significant difference between the mean values of predicted and experimental electrolyzer inputs. The associations between the predicted and experimental results were statistically significant. These prove the quality of the predicted data and that the integration of PEM electrolyzer with wind energy systems could be feasible solution for the storage of excess wind energy. The utilization of wind-fuel cell-hybrid stand-alone energy systems enables enhancing stable and reliable power supply.

Key words: Hydrogen Energy, PEM Electrolysis, Wind Energy System, Fuel cell, Hybrid System