IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v73y2014icp103-109.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The role of hydrogen and fuel cells to store renewable energy in the future energy network – potentials and challenges

Author

Listed:
  • Ehteshami, Seyyed Mohsen Mousavi
  • Chan, S.H.

Abstract

The penetration of renewable energy sources is expected to rapidly increase from 15% to 50% in 2050 due to their vital contribution to the global energy requirements, sustainability and quality of life in economical, environmental and health aspects. This huge rise highlights the necessity of development of energy storage systems, especially for intermittency renewable energies such as solar photovoltaic and wind turbine, in order to balance the energy network. In this study, renewable energy options including pumped hydro, pressurized air, flywheels, Li ion batteries, hydrogen and super-capacitors are compared based on a specific set of criteria. The criteria considered are energy/power density, ease of integration with the existing energy network, cost effectiveness, durability, efficiency and safety. Our study showed that storing renewable energy sources in the form of hydrogen through the electrolysis process is ranked as the most promising option considering the mentioned criteria. It brings about several benefits suggesting that hydrogen and fuel cells are promising contributors towards a more sustainable future, both in energy demand and environmental sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Ehteshami, Seyyed Mohsen Mousavi & Chan, S.H., 2014. "The role of hydrogen and fuel cells to store renewable energy in the future energy network – potentials and challenges," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 103-109.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:73:y:2014:i:c:p:103-109
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2014.04.046
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421514002869
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2014.04.046?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ahmad, Salman & Tahar, Razman Mat, 2014. "Selection of renewable energy sources for sustainable development of electricity generation system using analytic hierarchy process: A case of Malaysia," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 458-466.
    2. McKenna, R. & Hollnaicher, S. & Fichtner, W., 2014. "Cost-potential curves for onshore wind energy: A high-resolution analysis for Germany," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 103-115.
    3. Jebaselvi, G.D. Anbarasi & Paramasivam, S., 2013. "Analysis on renewable energy systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 625-634.
    4. Negro, Simona O. & Alkemade, Floortje & Hekkert, Marko P., 2012. "Why does renewable energy diffuse so slowly? A review of innovation system problems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 3836-3846.
    5. Samaniego, Jesús & Alija, Francisco & Sanz, Sergio & Valmaseda, César & Frechoso, Fernando, 2008. "Economic and technical analysis of a hybrid wind fuel cell energy system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 839-845.
    6. Neuhoff, Karsten & Barquin, Julian & Bialek, Janusz W. & Boyd, Rodney & Dent, Chris J. & Echavarren, Francisco & Grau, Thilo & von Hirschhausen, Christian & Hobbs, Benjamin F. & Kunz, Friedrich & Nabe, 2013. "Renewable electric energy integration: Quantifying the value of design of markets for international transmission capacity," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 760-772.
    7. Hall, Peter J. & Bain, Euan J., 2008. "Energy-storage technologies and electricity generation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 4352-4355, December.
    8. Hepbasli, Arif & Alsuhaibani, Zeyad, 2011. "Exergetic and exergoeconomic aspects of wind energy systems in achieving sustainable development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 2810-2825, August.
    9. Pereira, Emanuele Graciosa & da Silva, Jadir Nogueira & de Oliveira, Jofran L. & Machado, Cássio S., 2012. "Sustainable energy: A review of gasification technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(7), pages 4753-4762.
    10. Devabhaktuni, Vijay & Alam, Mansoor & Shekara Sreenadh Reddy Depuru, Soma & Green, Robert C. & Nims, Douglas & Near, Craig, 2013. "Solar energy: Trends and enabling technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 555-564.
    11. Díaz-González, Francisco & Sumper, Andreas & Gomis-Bellmunt, Oriol & Villafáfila-Robles, Roberto, 2012. "A review of energy storage technologies for wind power applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 2154-2171.
    12. Khor, Cheng Seong & Lalchand, G., 2014. "A review on sustainable power generation in Malaysia to 2030: Historical perspective, current assessment, and future strategies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 952-960.
    13. BoroumandJazi, G. & Saidur, R. & Rismanchi, B. & Mekhilef, S., 2012. "A review on the relation between the energy and exergy efficiency analysis and the technical characteristic of the renewable energy systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 3131-3135.
    14. Chatzivasileiadi, Aikaterini & Ampatzi, Eleni & Knight, Ian, 2013. "Characteristics of electrical energy storage technologies and their applications in buildings," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 814-830.
    15. Hepbasli, Arif, 2008. "A key review on exergetic analysis and assessment of renewable energy resources for a sustainable future," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 593-661, April.
    16. Forsberg, Charles, 2013. "Hybrid systems to address seasonal mismatches between electricity production and demand in nuclear renewable electrical grids," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 333-341.
    17. Mazloomi, Kaveh & Gomes, Chandima, 2012. "Hydrogen as an energy carrier: Prospects and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 3024-3033.
    18. Ferreira, Helder Lopes & Garde, Raquel & Fulli, Gianluca & Kling, Wil & Lopes, Joao Pecas, 2013. "Characterisation of electrical energy storage technologies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 288-298.
    19. Aghaei, Jamshid & Alizadeh, Mohammad-Iman, 2013. "Demand response in smart electricity grids equipped with renewable energy sources: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 64-72.
    20. Stempien, Jan Pawel & Sun, Qiang & Chan, Siew Hwa, 2013. "Performance of power generation extension system based on solid-oxide electrolyzer cells under various design conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 647-657.
    21. Hwang, Jenn-Jiang, 2013. "Sustainability study of hydrogen pathways for fuel cell vehicle applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 220-229.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liu, Benxi & Liao, Shengli & Cheng, Chuntian & Chen, Fu & Li, Weidong, 2018. "Hydropower curtailment in Yunnan Province, southwestern China: Constraint analysis and suggestions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 700-711.
    2. Samuel Simon Araya & Vincenzo Liso & Xiaoti Cui & Na Li & Jimin Zhu & Simon Lennart Sahlin & Søren Højgaard Jensen & Mads Pagh Nielsen & Søren Knudsen Kær, 2020. "A Review of The Methanol Economy: The Fuel Cell Route," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-32, January.
    3. Burton, N.A. & Padilla, R.V. & Rose, A. & Habibullah, H., 2021. "Increasing the efficiency of hydrogen production from solar powered water electrolysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    4. Zheng, Yifeng & Wang, Shun & Pan, Zehua & Yin, Bo, 2021. "Electrochemical CO2 reduction to CO using solid oxide electrolysis cells with high-performance Ta-doped bismuth strontium ferrite air electrode," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    5. Abeleda Jr, Jose Mari Angelo & Espiritu, Richard, 2022. "The status and prospects of hydrogen and fuel cell technology in the Philippines," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    6. Johnson, Nils & Strubegger, Manfred & McPherson, Madeleine & Parkinson, Simon C. & Krey, Volker & Sullivan, Patrick, 2017. "A reduced-form approach for representing the impacts of wind and solar PV deployment on the structure and operation of the electricity system," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 651-664.
    7. Ehteshami, S. Mohsen Mousavi & Vignesh, S. & Rasheed, R.K.A. & Chan, S.H., 2016. "Numerical investigations on ethanol electrolysis for production of pure hydrogen from renewable sources," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 388-393.
    8. Arsalis, Alexandros & Papanastasiou, Panos & Georghiou, George E., 2022. "A comparative review of lithium-ion battery and regenerative hydrogen fuel cell technologies for integration with photovoltaic applications," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 943-960.
    9. Riccardo Balzarotti & Saverio Latorrata & Marco Mariani & Paola Gallo Stampino & Giovanni Dotelli, 2020. "Optimization of Perfluoropolyether-Based Gas Diffusion Media Preparation for PEM Fuel Cells," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-14, April.
    10. Xing Cao & Jingang Wang & Pengcheng Zhao & Haiting Xia & Yun Li & Liming Sun & Wei He, 2023. "Hydrogen Production System Using Alkaline Water Electrolysis Adapting to Fast Fluctuating Photovoltaic Power," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-13, April.
    11. Kazuhiro Hikima & Masaharu Tsujimoto & Mizutomo Takeuchi & Yuya Kajikawa, 2020. "Transition Analysis of Budgetary Allocation for Projects on Hydrogen-Related Technologies in Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-15, October.
    12. Alberto Abánades & Jesús Frías, 2022. "Economic Evaluation of Implementation of Power-to-Gas: Application to the Case of Spain," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-13, March.
    13. Wang, Shunli & Shang, Liping & Li, Zhanfeng & Deng, Hu & Li, Jianchao, 2016. "Online dynamic equalization adjustment of high-power lithium-ion battery packs based on the state of balance estimation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 44-58.
    14. Pan, Zehua & Liu, Qinglin & Zhang, Lan & Zhou, Juan & Zhang, Caizhi & Chan, Siew Hwa, 2017. "Experimental and thermodynamic study on the performance of water electrolysis by solid oxide electrolyzer cells with Nb-doped Co-based perovskite anode," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 559-567.
    15. AlZahrani, Abdullah A. & Dincer, Ibrahim, 2022. "Assessment of a thin-electrolyte solid oxide cell for hydrogen production," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    16. Rezk, Hegazy & Sayed, Enas Taha & Al-Dhaifallah, Mujahed & Obaid, M. & El-Sayed, Abou Hashema M. & Abdelkareem, Mohammad Ali & Olabi, A.G., 2019. "Fuel cell as an effective energy storage in reverse osmosis desalination plant powered by photovoltaic system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 423-433.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zakeri, Behnam & Syri, Sanna, 2015. "Electrical energy storage systems: A comparative life cycle cost analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 569-596.
    2. Katsanevakis, Markos & Stewart, Rodney A. & Lu, Junwei, 2017. "Aggregated applications and benefits of energy storage systems with application-specific control methods: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 719-741.
    3. Gallo, A.B. & Simões-Moreira, J.R. & Costa, H.K.M. & Santos, M.M. & Moutinho dos Santos, E., 2016. "Energy storage in the energy transition context: A technology review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 800-822.
    4. Poullikkas, Andreas, 2013. "A comparative overview of large-scale battery systems for electricity storage," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 778-788.
    5. Lund, Peter D. & Lindgren, Juuso & Mikkola, Jani & Salpakari, Jyri, 2015. "Review of energy system flexibility measures to enable high levels of variable renewable electricity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 785-807.
    6. Riaz Uddin & Hashim Raza Khan & Asad Arfeen & Muhammad Ayaz Shirazi & Athar Rashid & Umar Shahbaz Khan, 2021. "Energy Storage for Energy Security and Reliability through Renewable Energy Technologies: A New Paradigm for Energy Policies in Turkey and Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-17, March.
    7. Tang, Shengwen & Chen, Jingtao & Sun, Peigui & Li, Yang & Yu, Peng & Chen, E., 2019. "Current and future hydropower development in Southeast Asia countries (Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Myanmar)," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 239-249.
    8. Enevoldsen, Peter & Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2016. "Integrating power systems for remote island energy supply: Lessons from Mykines, Faroe Islands," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 642-648.
    9. Liu, Jin-Long & Wang, Jian-Hua, 2015. "Thermodynamic analysis of a novel tri-generation system based on compressed air energy storage and pneumatic motor," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 420-429.
    10. Khan, Mohd Atiqueuzzaman & Ngo, Huu Hao & Guo, Wenshan & Liu, Yiwen & Zhang, Xinbo & Guo, Jianbo & Chang, Soon Woong & Nguyen, Dinh Duc & Wang, Jie, 2018. "Biohydrogen production from anaerobic digestion and its potential as renewable energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 129(PB), pages 754-768.
    11. Fazeli, Alireza & Bakhtvar, Farzaneh & Jahanshaloo, Leila & Che Sidik, Nor Azwadi & Bayat, Ali Esfandyari, 2016. "Malaysia׳s stand on municipal solid waste conversion to energy: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1007-1016.
    12. Trieste, S. & Hmam, S. & Olivier, J.-C. & Bourguet, S. & Loron, L., 2015. "Techno-economic optimization of a supercapacitor-based energy storage unit chain: Application on the first quick charge plug-in ferry," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 3-14.
    13. Ho, Lip-Wah, 2016. "Wind energy in Malaysia: Past, present and future," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 279-295.
    14. Zhou, Zhibin & Benbouzid, Mohamed & Frédéric Charpentier, Jean & Scuiller, Franck & Tang, Tianhao, 2013. "A review of energy storage technologies for marine current energy systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 390-400.
    15. Azadeh Maroufmashat & Michael Fowler, 2017. "Transition of Future Energy System Infrastructure; through Power-to-Gas Pathways," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-22, July.
    16. Zou, Hongyang & Du, Huibin & Ren, Jingzheng & Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Zhang, Yongjie & Mao, Guozhu, 2017. "Market dynamics, innovation, and transition in China's solar photovoltaic (PV) industry: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 197-206.
    17. Chakrabarti, Mohammed Harun & Mjalli, Farouq Sabri & AlNashef, Inas Muen & Hashim, Mohd. Ali & Hussain, Mohd. Azlan & Bahadori, Laleh & Low, Chee Tong John, 2014. "Prospects of applying ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents for renewable energy storage by means of redox flow batteries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 254-270.
    18. Apostolou, Dimitrios & Enevoldsen, Peter, 2019. "The past, present and potential of hydrogen as a multifunctional storage application for wind power," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 917-929.
    19. Rabiee, Abdorreza & Sadeghi, Mohammad & Aghaeic, Jamshid & Heidari, Alireza, 2016. "Optimal operation of microgrids through simultaneous scheduling of electrical vehicles and responsive loads considering wind and PV units uncertainties," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 721-739.
    20. Dhillon, Javed & Kumar, Arun & Singal, S.K., 2014. "Optimization methods applied for Wind–PSP operation and scheduling under deregulated market: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 682-700.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:73:y:2014:i:c:p:103-109. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.