Performance Assessment and Afficiency of a Renewable Hydrogen Production Station Based on a Supervisory Control Methodology

The proposed work explores the operational performance of a stand-alone renewable hydrogen production station located at Thessaloniki, Greece where the hydrogen is produced via water electrolysis and it is stored in high pressure cylinders. The required power is provided by a lead-acid accumulator which is charged by a photovoltaic (PV) array while the electricity flow is controlled by a smart microgrid. The station operates unattended and it is monitored remotely using an industrial supervisory control and data acquisition system (SCADA). A decision making process is realized by a flexible energy management strategy (EMS) using a finite state machine approach. The proposed study assesses the performance of the station in the context of an efficient hydrogen production and investigates the way that a number of energy saving actions affect the long-term hydrogen inventory and station autonomy. Overall the experimental results are used to reveal the potential of the station and present the excellent synergy among the various heterogeneous subsystems.