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Operational Results of an 150/30 kW RSOC System in an Industrial Environment
Author(s) -
Schwarze K.,
Posdziech O.,
Mermelstein J.,
Kroop S.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
fuel cells
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.485
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1615-6854
pISSN - 1615-6846
DOI - 10.1002/fuce.201800194
Subject(s) - renewable energy , cogeneration , environmental science , process engineering , electricity , electrolysis , electric power system , operability , greenhouse gas , computer science , electricity generation , waste management , automotive engineering , electrical engineering , power (physics) , engineering , chemistry , ecology , physics , software engineering , electrode , quantum mechanics , electrolyte , biology
The integration of renewable energy into industrial processes has a high potential for moving to a competitive low‐carbon economy in 2050, as targeted by the European Commission. The vision of the GrInHy project is to provide ‘green’ hydrogen via electrolysis using renewable electricity and to provide grid management services as a reversible generator in the iron‐and‐steel works of Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH (Germany). Therefore, an reverse solid oxide cell (RSOC) system was built with a nominal electrolyzer power consumption of 150 kW AC and a power output of 30 kW AC in fuel cell operation with hydrogen, respectively, 25 kW AC with natural gas. A key outcome of the project is to prove high system efficiencies up to 84% LHV in electrolysis mode and more than 50% LHV in fuel cell mode with natural gas are achievable in a real life system. It also showed long‐term operability at degradation rates < 1% kh −1 . The findings and results of the first 5,000 h of operation are presented in this paper. The GrInHy prototype demonstrates the technical feasibility of the integration of an RSOC system in an industrial environment as flexible load or power source. It proves that steam electrolyzers have reached a technical readiness that allows their scale‐up to a level at which real life customer demands can be covered.