Assessment of a Wind Energy Conversion System for Sustainable Hydrogen Production by Alkaline Water Electrolysis in India: Effect of Geographical Location and Wind Turbine Type

Abstract

The use of wind energy for electricity generation and use of this electricity for hydrogen production by alkaline water electrolysis promises to be a truly sustainable scheme for the postulated hydrogen economy. This work addresses the feasibility assessment of a standalone wind energy based turbine generator system that meets the energy requirements of the electrolysis process at several locations in India. Energy requirement for electrolysis depends on the hydrogen production rate desired and the operating conditions of the electrolysis cell and it can be predicted from an essentially thermodynamic analysis. Wind speed distributions are estimated from location specific meteorological data for several national sites. The output power characteristics of several small wind turbines have been estimated as function of the wind speed at a given location and geometrical factors and they have been linked to the production rates of hydrogen, carbon displacement potential and economic considerations like levelised cost of the produced hydrogen. The optimal kind of turbine for a particular location can be chosen based on this analysis. Thus this work presents a step-by-step simplified approach for the preliminary techno-commercial feasibility assessment of a system for wind energy based hydrogen production at a particular site.