Hydrogen-Based Hybrid Energy Systems: Optimization, Control and Economic Issues

Dear Colleagues,

The recent unprecedented momentum towards employing hydrogen and renewable energy (RE) will be a key factor in shaping the future of clean and secure global energy. The hydrogen supply to industrial users is witnessing an escalating worldwide business which is almost completely produced from fossil fuels or with either natural gas or coal. From these latter, the annual hydrogen production responsibility for CO₂ emissions is equivalent to the United Kingdom and Indonesia’s combined emissions. Therefore, different policies that directly promote investments in hydrogen-based technologies are considered in the various sectors (energy, smart grids, heat, buildings, automotive, etc.). Hydrogen production costs, particularly from natural gas, are strongly impacted by technical and economic issues. These latter are mainly due to the variant and unexpected fuel prices and capital expenditures. Today, the global hydrogen production from water electrolysis is less than 0.1%. The declining costs for renewable energy generation, especially solar PV and wind energy, lead to growing interest in electrolytic hydrogen. In power generation, hydrogen is considered among the leading options for renewable energy storage. Both hydrogen and ammonia enables increasing power system flexibility when being used in gas turbines. In buildings, the possible blending of hydrogen into existing natural gas networks can be considered together with the direct use of hydrogen in either/both hydrogen boilers or/and fuel cells. In transport, hydrogen fuel cell cars and the relevant hydrogen storage systems strongly depend on their costs and the refueling stations. For trucks, reducing the price of hydrogen delivered is the fundamental target. Shipping and aviation seek for low-carbon fuel alternatives specially with hydrogen-based renewable energy technologies. For scaling up hydrogen demand and supply in the diverse sectors, different value chains in developing the relevant industries, infrastructure, and policies should be pursued.  Recently, eco-sustainable and hydrogen-efficient renewable-based energy systems bring together the advantages of the different renewable energy sources with the efficient features of energy storage system and/or heat exchange technologies in the different mobile and stationary applications.

This Special Issue intends to provide a platform for researchers and practitioners from both academia and industry in the area of energy management and control of hybrid RE-based systems in stationary and mobile applications. For these applications, various aspects related to power/energy density, performance, durability, energy management, and safety should be examined. Furthermore, the control and power electronics targets besides the optimal operations of renewable energy systems are of great attractions to researchers.

In this Special Issue (SI), authors are invited to submit original full papers covering but not limited to the following topics:

• Renewable energy (solar, wind, etc.);
• Battery and/or fuel cells integration;
• Hybridization in transportation applications;
• Green buildings;
• Net zero energy in buildings, energy storage systems and renewable-based off-grid/grid-interactive systems;
• Hydrogen potential as a key role in a clean, secure, and affordable energy future;
• Hydrogen-based technologies in critical energy challenges: smart buildings, clusters, or smart grids;
• Fuel cell applications: control, energy management, and control;
• Hydrogen in transport through fleets, freight, and corridors;
• Electrolyser technologies: performance and cost analysis;
• Technology readiness ratio and analysis;
• Hydrogen storage tanks and systems;
• Renewable energy for hydrogen production;
• Socio-economic barriers and promoted policies;
• Regulatory barriers and harmonized standards for fuel cells and hydrogen systems.

Prof. Dr. Haitham S. Ramadan
Prof. Dr. Mohamed Becherif
Guest Editors

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