Renewable Hydrogen
Production for Use in
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles
ACT Expo
Renewables: The Final Frontier
Michael Peters
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
5/5/2015
NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.
NREL Laboratory Snapshot
Dedicated Solely to Advancing Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy
• Physical assets owned by the U.S. Department of
Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy (EERE)
• Operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy
under contract to DOE
• 2,400 staff and world-class facilities
• More than 350 active partnerships annually
• Campus is a living model of sustainable energy
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NREL Mission
Energy Efficiency
Residential
Buildings
Commercial
Buildings
Personal and
Commercial
Vehicles
Renewable Energy
Systems Integration
Market Relevance
Solar
Grid
Infrastructure
Industry
Wind and Water
Biomass
Hydrogen
Geothermal
Distributed
Energy
Interconnection
Battery and
Thermal Storage
Federal Agencies
State and Local
Governments
International
Transportation
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NREL Fuel Cell/H2 Technologies
Hydrogen production
Hydrogen delivery
Hydrogen storage
Hydrogen manufacturing
Fuel cells
Technology validation
Safety, codes, & standards
Analysis
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Electrification is Essential to Meeting Energy Objectives
• Hydrogen fuel cells present a full fuel-cycle renewable pathway
• Hydrogen fuel cell and battery electric technologies can be mutually
reinforcing
Curve of constant g C02/km,
reflecting 80% reduction
from today’s baseline
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H2 Infrastructure is Being Rolled Out Globally
Germany has committed to 1,000 stations by 2020
Japan has government support for vehicle introduction in 2015
with sufficient stations to support early vehicle numbers
Korea aspires to be the “fuel cell” leader, with >100 stations by
2020
Denmark just opened its first full-capability station, and will have
additional infrastructure by 2015
US Infrastructure:
• Technology demonstrated in CA, CO, CT, NY, HI, ND, DC, FL
• Additional infrastructure concentrated in CA, NY, and HI
 CA CEC committed $200M over 10 years for stations
• Federal and state level funding for stations uncertain
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Current state of H2 infrastructure in the U.S.
• 99 stations public/private/planned across the
United States
• Smartphone app from AFDC tracks station status
and locations
• http://www.afdc.energy.gov/locator/stations/
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H2 Infrastructure Focus on California
• Majority of stations located in California
o
Population dense areas (L.A. and San Francisco) are
main focus
• Requirement that the stations meet 33%
renewable criteria
• Six 100% renewable stations awarded by CEC
Electrolysis with renewable
energy credits
o SMR using biogas/biogas credits
o One station using waste digester
gas
o
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What does a retail H2 station look like?
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What equipment is needed for a H2 station?
Storage and
Compression
Production
Dispenser
Chiller
Heat Exchanger
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Non-Renewable Hydrogen Pathways
Natural Gas
Steam Methane Reformers
Domestic resource,
production capacity today
>10,000,000 vehicles
Gasifiers
Coal
Hydrogen
Distribution
& Dispensing
Electrolyzers
Nuclear
Lowest-cost pathway today: natural gas = ~$3/kg H2.
NOTE: 1kg H2 moves a car ~2-3x as far as 1 gal gasoline
(due to higher efficiency of FCEV’s)
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Advancing Renewable Hydrogen Pathways
Biomass
Gasifiers
Renewable pathways cost = ~$5-15/kg H2.
NOTE: 1kg H2 moves a car ~2-3x as far as 1 gal gasoline
(due to higher efficiency of FCEV’s)
Geothermal
Hydrogen
Distribution
& Dispensing
Electrolyzers
Wind
e
Solar
Hydrogen can be made from biomass and renewable electricity.
Economies of scale favor economics of each pathway.
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NREL Electrolysis Testing
• Electrolyzer systems are rapidly increasing in size to become more
economically viable
• NREL’s role:
• Evaluate electrolyzer stacks and balance of plant and report to
DOE and stakeholders
• Improve electrolyzer balance of plant operation under variable
(renewable) conditions
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NREL Electrolysis Testing
Ability to simulate electrolyzer operating on renewable and
regulation profiles
Wind (Highly Variable)
PV Winter (1/1/2015 Data)
1200
700
800
600
1200
Stack Current (A)
Stack Current (Amps)
1000
400
0
1100
Stack Current
1
2
3
Runtime (min)
4
600
500
400
300
200
06:00
5
Regulation
1200
Stack Current
Stack Command
1000
900
800
700
14:10 14:15 14:20 14:25 14:30 14:35 14:40 14:45 14:50 14:55
Time of Day
09:00
12:00
Time of Day
15:00
18:00
PV Summmer (7/4/2014 Data)
Stack Current
Stack Current (Amps)
Stack Current (Amps)
Stack Current
1000
800
600
400
200
03:00
06:00
09:00
12:00
15:00
Time of Day
18:00
21:00
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NREL Key H2 & Fuel Cell takeaways
• Hydrogen FCEVs are clean, efficient, refuel quickly, and provide
long driving range
• Auto OEMs are coming to market with commercial vehicles in the
2015-2017 timeframe
• Additional support for H2 infrastructure is needed for these
vehicles
• Abundant supplies of clean domestic sources (including natural
gas and renewables) make fuel cells a good choice for the future
• Using hydrogen in a fuel cell vehicle, coming from a natural gas
source originally, is still more efficient than burning it in an ICE
• Remaining fuel cells research challenges focus on reducing cost
and increasing durability, which are interrelated
• NREL is involved in most aspects of bringing hydrogen fuel cell
technologies closer to market (production, storage, fuel cells, etc.)
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Thank You
Contact Information
– Email
• [email protected]
– Website
• http://www.nrel.gov/esi/esif.html
• http://www.nrel.gov/hydrogen/proj_production_delivery.html#dispense
• http://www.nrel.gov/hydrogen/proj_wind_hydrogen.html
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