Integrated Design and Construction of a 50 kW Flexible Hybrid Renewable Power Hydrogen System Testbed
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- (i)
- Benchmarking performance of different electrolyser and/or fuel cell technologies using a common renewable energy (RE) infrastructure;
- (ii)
- Benchmarking performance of different HRPH system configurations; and
- (iii)
- Assessing and comparing energy management algorithms across multiple technologies and system configurations.
2. Design Concepts and Methods
3. Results
- (i)
- The lifetime of electrolysers powered from variable RE with use factors [31] for water from different sustainable sources;
- (ii)
- System material and component lifetimes with hydrogen demand undergoing temperature and pressure swings;
- (iii)
- Long-term system efficiency impacted by electrolyser degradation;
- (iv)
- Choice of technologies and efficient system configuration(s); and
- (v)
- Control methods to integrate and operate multiple technologies, or new equipment, as a system ages.
3.1. HRPH Testbed Layout
- (i)
- Rainwater from the shed roof captured in tanks filtered to equivalent potable water quality; and
- (ii)
System Level | Technology | Equipment | Design Consideration | Constraints |
---|---|---|---|---|
Building | Australian Building Codes | Shed with fire wall. Shed auxiliaries: general lighting, fans, emergency lighting, IT equipment. Greenbank LiB (Greenbank Solar, Melbourne, VIC, Australia) 5 kW power for overnight power via Deye hybrid inverter (Greenbank Solar, Melbourne, VIC, Australia). | H2 Safety: Lightening protection, flame detection. Regulations: building code, fire wall. Safety Management Systems. | Site footprint determined by lease constraints, building size and area for locating hydrogen equipment and storage; critical for considering separation distances of hazardous area zones |
Water Source | Tapwater and rainwater system | 10 kL rainwater tanks, pump, Davey Rainbank water splitter (Davey Water Aust., Brisbane, QLD, Australia). | Multiple water sources to be tested for impact on electrolyser performance. One of three sources in operation at any one time. Other water sources may be used in conjunction with water treatment technologies. | Site area limits size/quantity of tanks. Can “run dry” during drought periods. |
Seawater | Seawater sourced from Moreton Bay coastline with freedom to remove. Stored on site in 1000 L IBC + 3000 L mixing/treatment tank with pumps. | Requires tankage from source ~100 km from site. Pickup cannot be a marine park or protected marine environment. | ||
Water Treatment | Membrane Distillation | 20 ft container with MD unit plus vacuum and drive pumps, chemicals and cooling units. Multiple IBCs and reticulation with instrumentation. Asahi Kasei membranes in completed project. | Multiple water treatment technologies can be tested for impact on electrolyser performance. Impact of water source with treatment on composition and quantity/re-use of wastewater. | Sized to specific H2O capacity of MD plant. Power demand from renewables requires a batch operation; treats only when electrolysers are switched off or idle. Local codes constrain disposal of waste. Water purity imposed by OEM specification/warranty for electrolyser. |
Reverse Osmosis | BWT Bonaqua 500 (Enapter, Pisa, Italy) connect to Enapter Electrolyser (Enapter, Pisa, Italy). Purelab Chorus 2 RO deionisation unit (ENGV, Melbourne, VIC, Australia) with 20 L/h output capacity connected to Nel Electrolyser (ENGV, Melbourne, VIC, Australia). | |||
Solar Power | Concentrated PV | 25 kW CPV array. Prototype from Sumitomo Electric Industries [29,34] installed 2017. Connected to microgrid via Fronius Inverter 27 kW (Fronius Australia Pty Ltd., Melbourne, VIC, Australia). | Compares impact of different renewable solar power generation technologies and mixtures of technology. Power output from CPV responds more rapidly than SiPV but provides almost zero power with cloud cover. | Scale of power fixed by CPV and land site. CPV output related to age. Power constrained by approved solar inverter. |
Silicon PV | 3 kW single-axis ground mounted SiPV facing N; connect via Fronius Inverter 3 kW (Fronius Australia Pty Ltd., Melbourne, VIC, Australia). 23 kW on Shed rooftop facing N via Fronius 20 kW. | Scale of power is fixed by footprint and by approved solar inverters | ||
Batteries | Redox Flow | Two ZBM3 Zn/Br Flow batteries from Redflow (Redflow P/L, Brisbane, QLD, Australia) 3 kW/10 kWh each. 48 Vdc connection to microgrid via Deye hybrid inverter. | Compares impact of different battery chemistries to manage excess RE and to compare charge/discharge performance of different LiB technologies. Batteries can be swapped for different products within constraints. | Constrained battery inverters fixed by compliance certificate; max power 8 kW. Power/capacity constrained by OEM. |
Lithium-ion | LIB from Vaulta (Vaulta P/L, Brisbane, QLD, Australia). 5 kW/15 kWh. Nine Troppos LIBs from Red Earth (Red Earth P/L, Brisbane, QLD, Australia) each 3 kW/4 kWh. 48 Vdc connect via Deye hybrid inverter. | Multiple batteries of same type can be parallel connected to an inverter to increase capacity at same power. | ||
Electrolysis | Anion Exchange Membrane | Enapter 4×EL4.0 AEM (total 10 kW) air-cooled housed in 20 ft portable shed with ventilation protection, dryer DRY01, and treatment WTM01 (Enapter, Pisa, Italy). | Compares different electrolyser technology types albeit two electrolysers are at different scales (10 kW and 40 kW). Opportunity to compare degradation rates, wastewater compositions and water recycling. | For 100% renewable, scale of H2 production constrained by power of solar arrays. Operation constrained by working pressure of H2 storage; electrolyser with lower/higher H2 pressure requires a compressor, or de-rating, to match storage MWP. |
Proton Exchange Membrane | Nel H6 40 kW PEM liquid cooled housed in a 20 ft container with fuel cell and ventilation protection. External adiabatic chiller with 23.7 kWh cooling (Gordon Brothers, Brisbane, QLD, Australia). | |||
Hydrogen Storage | Compressed Hydrogen | Hydrogen storage unit as 2.5 m3 hydrogen tube with MWP 30 bar (BOC, Sydney, NSW, Australia). Instrument panels and reticulated gas lines (Swagelok, Brisbane, QLD, Australia). | Single storage equipment available. No off-take in place for current installation. | Constrained by maximum working pressure (MWP) and fixed volume of registered pressure vessel. |
Fuel Cell | Proton Exchange Membrane | Powercell PS5 system (Powercell, Gothenburg, Sweden) 5 kW with 48 Vdc connection to microgrid via Deye hybrid inverter. Housed in 20 ft container with NEL Electrolyser. Liquid coolant plumbing connected to External Chiller. | Single storage equipment available. No off-take in place for current installation. | Constrained by maximum working pressure (MWP) and fixed volume of registered pressure vessel. |
3.2. Power Microgrid
3.2.1. Site Considerations
3.2.2. Power Assets
- (i)
- Solar arrays with up to 1000 Vdc output connected to Fronius inverters with Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT);
- (ii)
- Redox flow and lithium-ion batteries (3 kW to 5 kW); and
- (iii)
- A 5 kW Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell.
3.2.3. Microgrid Challenges
- (i)
- The limited availability of commercial DC–DC solar converters with Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) in the 25 kW range;
- (ii)
- Limited availability of bi-directional 48 Vdc/380 Vdc power converters in the 5 kW to 10 kW power range;
- (iii)
- Absence of commercial electrolysers with DC input capability; consequently, prototypes or early versions were prohibitively expensive; and,
- (iv)
- No availability of DC–DC power conversion devices on the Australian Clean Energy Council list of approved inverters to enable grid connection compliance.
3.3. Electrolyser Configurations
- (i)
- Consumption rates of source water;
- (ii)
- Consumption of renewable electricity for water treatment and supply;
- (iii)
- Quality of water at specific process steps;
- (iv)
- Potential for waste heat utilisation; and,
- (v)
- Volume and composition of reject water streams for treatment and/or re-use.
3.4. Water Utilisation
- (i)
- Waste heat from water electrolysis can provide high-quality water (conductivity of 2.8 μS/cm) via MD of brine solutions (with up to 70,000 mg/L salts) for use in the water electrolysis process [27];
- (ii)
- Excess oxygen produced by water electrolysis at times of peak renewable electricity production can be stored and used for wastewater treatment at times of peak oxygen demand in an activated sludge process, enabling a shift in energy demand timing [42]; and,
- (iii)
- Integration of water electrolysis for the use of hydrogen in local transportation (e.g., fuel cell buses) produces fewer carbon emissions than the use of diesel-fuelled buses, as well as emission reduction by exporting electricity to the grid [41].
3.4.1. Water Supply
3.4.2. Water Quality
3.5. Electrolyser Integration
3.5.1. Gas Control and Storage
3.5.2. Gas Sensing and Monitoring
3.6. Energy Management
3.6.1. Fuel Cell Sizing
3.6.2. Battery Power and Capacity
3.7. System Safety
3.7.1. HRPH Testbed Site
- (i)
- Updating the hazardous area certificate (HAC) and subsequent audit in order to remain in compliance with the Electrical Safety Act. This is especially pertinent if there are changes to electrical equipment in hazardous area zones and to the hazardous area verification dossier;
- (ii)
- Revising the cause and effect matrix if the integration of new/additional electrolysers and fuel cells requires changes to the ESD circuit logic to isolate power; and,
- (iii)
- Implementing a more stringent HAC assessment including further design/engineering to achieve conformance to standards and regulatory approval if prototype equipment does not have equipment certification.
3.7.2. Equipment and Housing
3.8. Designed System Flexibility
- (i)
- An AC microgrid configuration in which power converters connected to generating assets and electrolyser load circuits, whether connected or isolated from the microgrid, provide 72 combinations of solar-battery-electrolyser configurations, as schematically shown in Supplementary Figure S3. These configurations are constrained by the relative power ratings of equipment and the desired test scenario.
- (ii)
- Two sustainable water sources and two treatment technologies provide additional technology combinations with the RE source combinations, as schematically shown in Figure 4.
- (i)
- The selection of specific power-generating assets (solar, batteries, and fuel cells) connected to the HRPH testbed is constrained by the rating of the (regulated) fixed inverters as defined in Supplementary Table S3. Adding or swapping existing approved inverters is possible in order to provide further flexibility, but this incurs a repeat of the regulatory approval process with cost and time implications.
- (ii)
- The selection of load assets (electrolysers) is constrained by the scale of renewable power generating assets, hydrogen pressure, purity and storage requirements, and hazardous area regulatory approval. Nevertheless, the additional time cost to achieve regulatory approval should be reduced with practised implementation on a specific site.
3.9. System Integration and Functionality
- The grid-connected AC microgrid;
- Electrochemical energy conversion (P2X and X2P); and
- Storage of hydrogen, water, and, prospectively, oxygen.
- (i)
- State-of-charge (SOC) of electron energy storage (EES) in batteries,
- (ii)
- Hydrogen energy storage (HES) levels in the compressed hydrogen gas tank and
- (iii)
- Level of treated water storage (TWS).
3.9.1. Minimum Viable Configuration
3.9.2. System Optimisation
3.9.3. System Functions
- Electrolyser(s) produce hydrogen only when solar power is available (targeting > 99% renewable hydrogen);
- At night or during low solar incidence, the minimum power requirement for electrolysers (i.e., no hydrogen production) is provided from one or more batteries, the fuel cell, or mains power, in that order of priority;
- Batteries are charged only from solar power; with provision to be charged from renewable regenerative power via the fuel cell and mains power in the order of priority;
- Fuel cells are used only for backup renewable regenerative power when the batteries are depleted in order to supply a minimum power requirement for the electrolysers;
- Any excess power from solar generation is exported to the mains supply for use in local loads within the broader DAF site;
- The power quality of the electrical microgrid must meet safety and reliability measures for AC grids so that all connected equipment is not adversely impacted while operating to specification(s);
- The water input to electrolysers minimises the use of municipal water (targeting > 99% sustainable water use);
- If the hydrogen storage vessel is full and there is no off-take available, the fuel cell is operated overnight to deplete hydrogen storage. This step enables ongoing testing of electrolysers.
4. Discussion
- (i)
- Bridge the nexus between lab-based research (typically at sub-kW scale) and industry scale demonstrator projects (now increasing to MW and GW scale); and
- (ii)
- Understand and benchmark how RE generation technologies may connect to different or complementary electrolyser, storage, and use technologies.
- (i)
- A like-for-like change, such as a direct replacement or an upgrade;
- (ii)
- The same technology but of different make and model; or
- (iii)
- A different technology.
4.1. Project Challenges
4.2. Future Testbed Modifications
- Add other renewable power-generating technology such as wind power.
- Add other hydrogen storage technologies such as liquefaction, metal hydride, and liquid organic hydrogen carriers.
- Add other electrolyser technologies such as conventional alkaline (e.g., from McPhy’s Piel range), solid oxide, and novel prototype electrolysers [62].
- Expand from renewable hydrogen generation to the production of other renewable hydrogen carriers (e.g., methylcyclohexane, ammonia, methanol, diesel, and kerosene).
- Increase fuel cell regenerative power and increase hydrogen storage levels to evaluate grid firming and power management of externally connected loads.
- Add unitised regenerative fuel cells to compare with discrete electrolyser and fuel cell combinations for power-to-power systems.
- Progress to automated PLC-based algorithms that include machine learning, predictive analytics, AI tools, and digital twin platforms based on operational outcomes.
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Sub-System | Connection Requirements for Prototype Electrolysers | HRPH Testbed Constraints |
---|---|---|
Power connection | 3 phase 415 Vac connection | Ranges from 0% to 100% mix of mains power with renewables. |
Battery | Capability for electrolyser turn down to standby (no H2 production) overnight. | Max renewable power from batteries is 10 kWac. |
Water input | Max pressure 3 bar. Max electrolysis consumption 65 L/day. Purity specification to establish level of treatment. | Selectable mains, rainwater or treated seawater on site. RO unit before input to electrolyser. |
Hydrogen output | 6 bar < Pressure < 30 bar. May require compressor. Purity: dried > 99.99%. Requires moisture sensor for monitoring. | Defined by low-pressure tank; MWP fixed by tank design and validation; registered with local regulator. Min pressure and purity fixed by fuel cell specification. |
Oxygen output | Separately vented or highly diluted if dispersed locally. Must have H2 level monitoring and automatic shutdown. | Testbed to meet WHS Act, Electrical Safety Act, and Petroleum and Gas Act. |
Nitrogen | Optional. However, bulk N2 gas useful for commissioning/purging of gas reticulation systems. | Available 24/7 for testbed pneumatic control valves (single cylinder). Bulk N2 can be added if required 24/7. |
Cooling | Liquid/air cooling integrated and supplied with electrolyser on installation. | HRPH testbed does not have common-use cooling equipment/reticulation. |
Electrical Earthing | All metal components and containers at equipotential with ground points to connect to testbed ground points. | Equipotential grounding point in slab earthing ring available |
Emergency electrical shutdown (ESD) | Protection by ventilation monitoring using intrinsically safe devices connected to testbed ESD. H2 vent valves in electrolysers fail open; H2 is vented on power failure. | Power connections with a relay to automatically shut power to electrolyser if testbed ESD is activated |
Control systems | In-built safety monitoring and automatic shut-off system independent of electrolyser control systems. Warnings and alarms to connect to testbed data acquisition system. | HRPH testbed does not have feedback control to action warnings/alarms. Testbed monitors the electrolyser status and can activate testbed ESD. Feedback control is a useful future addition. |
Hazardous area | HAZID, HAZOP, Risk Assessment. Hazardous Area certificate; protection by ventilation if required. Conformance to standards. | Testbed to meet WHS Act, Electrical Safety Act, and Petroleum and Gas Act. HRPH testbed hazardous area certificate must be updated when equipment is changed; requires an approved HA audit before powering new electrolyser connections. |
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Love, J.G.; Gane, M.; O’Mullane, A.P.; Mackinnon, I.D.R. Integrated Design and Construction of a 50 kW Flexible Hybrid Renewable Power Hydrogen System Testbed. Energy Storage Appl. 2025, 2, 5. https://doi.org/10.3390/esa2020005
Love JG, Gane M, O’Mullane AP, Mackinnon IDR. Integrated Design and Construction of a 50 kW Flexible Hybrid Renewable Power Hydrogen System Testbed. Energy Storage and Applications. 2025; 2(2):5. https://doi.org/10.3390/esa2020005
Chicago/Turabian StyleLove, Jonathan G., Michelle Gane, Anthony P. O’Mullane, and Ian D. R. Mackinnon. 2025. "Integrated Design and Construction of a 50 kW Flexible Hybrid Renewable Power Hydrogen System Testbed" Energy Storage and Applications 2, no. 2: 5. https://doi.org/10.3390/esa2020005
APA StyleLove, J. G., Gane, M., O’Mullane, A. P., & Mackinnon, I. D. R. (2025). Integrated Design and Construction of a 50 kW Flexible Hybrid Renewable Power Hydrogen System Testbed. Energy Storage and Applications, 2(2), 5. https://doi.org/10.3390/esa2020005