Descrizione del progetto
Aumentare il calore e l’energia solare rinnovabile per una produzione efficiente di idrogeno verde
L’elettrolisi a ossido solido ad alta temperatura può essere utilizzata per produrre idrogeno verde a emissioni zero per soddisfare le esigenze di idrogeno nelle applicazioni industriali, e risulta particolarmente sostenibile quando associata a fonti energetiche rinnovabili. Tali sorgenti sono tuttavia intermittenti e spesso non riescono a fornire le alte temperature richieste per la generazione di vapore nel processo di elettrolisi. Il progetto PROMETEO, finanziato dall’UE, ottimizzerà l’accoppiamento dell’elettrolisi a ossido solido (il generatore di idrogeno) con il calore e l’energia rinnovabili intermittenti dall’energia solare grazie all’aiuto di un sistema di gestione dell’energia termica (TEMS, Thermal Energy Management System), che farà in modo che il calore rimanga abbastanza caldo da sostenere l’elettrolisi a ossido solido a basso costo e ad alta efficienza. Il prototipo PROMETEO prenderà in considerazione tre applicazioni industriali come utenti finali.
Obiettivo
PROMETEO aims at producing green hydrogen from renewable heat & power sources by high temperature electrolysis in areas of low electricity prices associated to photovoltaic or wind.
Solid Oxide Electrolysis (SOE) is a highly efficient technology to convert heat & power into hydrogen from water usually validated in steady-state operation. However, the heat for the steam generation may not be available for the operation of the SOE when inexpensive power is offered (e.g. off-grid peak, photovoltaics or wind). Thus, the challenge is to optimize the coupling of the SOE with two intermittent sources: non-programmable renewable electricity and high-temperature solar heat from Concentrating Solar (CS) systems with Thermal Energy Storage (TES) to supply solar heat when power is made available.
In PROMETEO a fully integrated optimized system will be developed, where the SOE combined with the TES and ancillary components will efficiently convert intermittent heat & power sources to hydrogen. The design will satisfy different criteria: end-users’ needs, sustainability aspects, regulatory & safety concerns, scale-up and engineering issues.
The players of the value-chain will play key roles in the partnership created around the project: from developers and research organizations, to the electrolyzer supplier, system integrator/engineering and end-users.
A fully-equipped modular prototype with at least 25 kWe SOE (about 15 kg/day hydrogen production) and TES (for 24 hours operation) will be designed, built, connected to representative external power/heat sources and validated in real context (TRL 5). Particular attention will be given to partial load operation, transients and hot stand-by periods.
Industrial end-users will lead to techno-economic & sustainability studies to apply the technology upscaled (up to 100 MW) in on-grid & off-grid scenarios for different end-uses: utility for grid balancing, power-to-gas, and hydrogen as feedstock for the fertilizer & chemical industry.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
- H2020-EU.3.3. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy Main Programme
- H2020-EU.3.3.8.2. - Increase the energy efficiency of production of hydrogen mainly from water electrolysis and renewable sources while reducing operating and capital costs, so that the combined system of the hydrogen production and the conversion using the fuel cell system can compete with the alternatives for electricity production available on the market
- H2020-EU.3.3.8.3. - Demonstrate on a large scale the feasibility of using hydrogen to support integration of renewable energy sources into the energy systems, including through its use as a competitive energy storage medium for electricity produced from renewable energy sources
Meccanismo di finanziamento
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinatore
00196 Roma
Italia