- Green hydrogen producers need to level up their ASTs for intermittent power supply
- Pulsenics delivers AST methodologies based on next-generation diagnostics
Intermittent power changes the game on electrolyser degradation
Green hydrogen producers around the world want to leverage abundant wind and solar power for their low costs. Since these renewables are intermittent, producers want to use electrolysers that can tolerate frequent and irregular on-off cycles (there are also technical issues around frequency control, voltage control, and fault current levels). Unfortunately, the way the industry currently models electrolyser degradation doesn’t account for this challenging real-world use case.
Pulsenics, in collaboration with the Canada-Germany HYER consortium, is closing the knowledge gap by pioneering ASTs based on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS).
HYER drives global collaboration across industry and academia
The HYER consortium, funded in 2022 by the governments of Canada and Germany, directs public investment to critical research around the techno-economics of green hydrogen production. Under Pulsenics’ leadership, Canadian partners National Research Council (NRC) Canada, the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR), and the University of Victoria, joined forces with German partners SEGULA Technologies GmbH and the University of Bayreuth (UBT).
This collaboration between two nations serves Canada’s strategic goal to become a major green hydrogen exporter and Germany’s ambition to import renewable hydrogen for the decarbonization of energy-intensive sectors. Originally planned for three years, HYER recently added a fourth year of operations to support a field deployment in Australia.
Green hydrogen business models often rely on a direct connection to renewables
Part of HYER’s mandate was to initiate deep and wide-ranging conversations with hydrogen producers globally. One of our most surprising findings was the way that hydrogen producers thought about the cost of electricity. We knew that hydrogen production would rely, to some extent, on fluctuating prices but we assumed that power would ultimately be drawn from the grid.
We were wrong.
In fact, the economics of green hydrogen are so aggressive that many producers are planning to connect directly to renewable generation and bypass the grid altogether. Or, hydrogen production will be “bolted on” to a gigawatt-scale solar project in order to capture the value of over-supply.
Figure 1: Making hydrogen from excess solar
Hydrogen producers will often use excess solar that would otherwise be curtailed (and is therefore almost free). In practice, this means that the electrolyser stack will turn off and on frequently over the course of the day.
Fig. 1 illustrates this ultra-intermittent power supply. The bell curve of a day’s solar generation is visible in outline but actual power supply arrives in brief spikes and deep valleys. Each valley would likely coincide with electrolyser downtime.
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Today, we don’t really know how an electrolyser will degrade under these unsteady conditions. It’s uncharted territory for ASTs. HYER received clear feedback that better simulations were necessary for the Canadian green hydrogen industry to flourish.
Obsolete ASTs hobble technology development
Accelerated stress tests for green hydrogen electrolysers are an enormous pain point for industry.
Producers have been using ASTs modeled on consistent grid power, rather than intermittent renewables, rendering their system aging predictions fundamentally unvalidated.
Additionally, traditional ASTs rely on process data like cell voltage, pressure, and Faradaic efficiency. These data points, which are gathered from sensors around process inputs and outputs, can detect obvious failures (like short circuits) but don't provide information about the degradation of the electrolyser itself.
That’s why HYER has developed useful AST methodologies based on Pulsenics’s application of in-operando EIS monitoring, with special expertise on electrolyser plant operations from University of Bayreuth, and in AST development from the National Research Council & University of Victoria.
EIS unlocks the black box of hydrogen electrolysers
For the first time, hydrogen producers can monitor the physical characteristics of electrolysers while the stack is operating. While process data can only measure the inputs and outputs of a stack, Pulsenics plug-and-play hardware monitors the intrinsic performance of electrodes, membranes, and electrolytes at the individual cell level.
Pulsenics, with our HYER partners, has run over 300 tests (monitoring over 1,000 hours of electrolyser operation) to develop AST creation methodology. We’ve tested AST profiles and isolated for the effects of the operating stressors on the degradation pathways (or on the degradation of anodes, cathodes, membranes and electrolyte performance). This next-generation data helps green hydrogen producers develop AST methodologies that actually show the intrinsic degradation of electrolysers — while they operate.
Contact Pulsenics to level up your ASTs
Pulsenics can help your organization develop better ASTs with modern methodologies. Leverage the power of EIS to gain unprecedented insight into electrolyser degradation.
Did you know? Pulsenics hardware can usually be installed on hydrogen stacks in less than one hour!
Read more
- Pulsenics and Verdagy publish a communication showing the power of continuous EIS monitoring on hydrogen electrolysers, by Pulsenics.
- Germany, Canada agree to explore green hydrogen development, by Reuters.
- Transatlantic Research Alliance for Sustainable Hydrogen Technologies, by the University of Bayreuth.
- Supporting collaborative research projects between Canada and Germany in low-carbon hydrogen technologies, by the National Research Council of Canada.
- SEGULA Technologies develops electrolyser test rig and test protocols for Canadian-German joint project, by SEGULA Technologies.