Design methods for microgrids to address seasonal energy availability – A case study of proposed Showa Antarctic Station retrofits

Shin'ya Obara, Ryo Hamanaka and Abeer Galal El-Sayed

Applied Energy, 2019, vol. 236, issue C, 727 pages

Abstract: The system-wide efficiency of a microgrid can be hampered by seasonal supply-demand gaps in energy resources. To address seasonal fluctuations in the availability of renewable resources that reduce the efficiency of fossil fuel generation, this study reports on the optimization of a microgrid that accommodates seasonal shifts in supply and demand with energy storage solutions using the hydrogen carriers of methyl cyclohexane (MCH), ammonia, or compressed hydrogen. This design method is then applied to a proposed retrofit of the microgrid at Japan’s Showa Antarctic Station. This retrofit is modeled with MCH and NH3 used as seasonal hydrogen storage media, suggesting that these hydrogen carriers can store renewable energy at efficiencies of 29.0% and 31.0%, respectively. The methods developed in this article can be applied to develop comprehensive analyses of the advantages and disadvantages of long-term energy storage solutions using a variety of hydrogen carriers in microgrids.

Keywords: Seasonal energy shift; Hydrogen supply chain; Microgrid; Operation planning; Showa Station (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261918318506
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:236:y:2019:i:c:p:711-727

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.12.031

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().