TPU Researchers Find an Uninterrupted Way to Produce Cheap “Green” Hydrogen

It is based on the synthetic inertia method, which makes it possible to maintain its stability and produce cheaper and better quality hydrogen without the inclusion of additional devices in the system. Scientists implement the project within the framework of the Science state assignment. The results of the study are published in the Hydrogen Energy journal (IF: 7,139, Q1).

“Green” hydrogen is hydrogen produced by the electrolysis of water. Its main advantage lies in the minimal anthropogenic CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.

“Hydrogen itself is considered the cleanest fuel. However, the process of its extraction pollutes the environment even more than traditional energy. “Green” hydrogen obtaining is an undoubted trend that many countries are striving for. The optimal location of such a “manufacturing facility” is shipborne wind power facilities.

This lets us make the whole process 100% ecological; water is taken from the ocean, and electricity from the wind. However, for its production, a stable charge of electricity is needed. Otherwise, the quality of the fuel may suffer, and in some cases, even lead to accidents, up to an explosion,” Igor Razzhivin, acting head of the TPU Division for Power and Electrical Engineering, explains.

To make the energy system sustainable, the polytechnics proposed using synthetic or virtual inertia. This is a control system for renewable energy devices that extracts additional kinetic energy from the wind during frequency outages and stabilizes the frequency in the system.

The proposed approach was tested by TPU scientists through the use of the multiprocessor software and All-mode real-time simulation complex of the electric power system (EPS) hardware system developed at the university. It was also tested in emergency conditions. Studies have shown that the introduction of synthetic inertia makes it possible to get smoother oscillations without abrupt jumps when the voltage changes in the system.

“There are alternative ways of solving this problem. In them, colleagues propose to introduce an additional voltage control stabilizer and a supercapacitor into the system. This is the working method. However, it requires the purchase of expensive equipment that must be configured and controlled in the system, as well as synchronization of its operation with other systems in the chain.

Our method is simpler and cheaper than analogues as a result that we are modernizing the power system control system itself. In addition, with its help, it is easier to secure the facility from emergencies. This means that it is possible to obtain high-quality hydrogen without interruption,”