Periodic Reporting for period 1 - LoCEL-H2 (Low-Cost, Circular, plug & play, off grid Energy for Remote Locations including Hydrogen (LOCEL-H2))
Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2024-04-30
With the novel energy solution in development, consisting of solar energy production for electricity, advanced lead battery-based system for energy storage and combined lead battery-electrolyser producing green hydrogen for clean cooking fuel, LoCEL-H2 will provide a sustainable, affordable, and flexible renewable energy source for remote communities that cannot currently access an existing, reliable grid infrastructure. The intertwined expertise of the project consortium in technological and social sciences is an asset of the LoCEL-H2 project. This collaboration not only ensures the responsible deployment of the LoCEL-H2 technology but also fosters the creation of an energy solution that aligns with human values, ultimately contributing to a more inclusive, ethically grounded, and sustainable future. The innovation core of the project is comprised of the development of three renewable energy technologies:
- Scalable, decentralised, plug & play prosumer microgrid with 100% renewable solar energy production that will provide electricity for two communities in Africa
- Optimised advanced lead battery energy storage system for households, small businesses and community buildings
- Novel community-shared battery-electrolyser for multi-vector energy storage and green hydrogen production for cooking
LoCEL-H2 involves appropriate socio-cultural analysis to implement energy innovation, improving the socio-economic conditions of vulnerable communities through access to clean electricity and fuel. The methodological approach focuses on creating and supporting ecosystems of actors in each of the pilot areas to maximise knowledge transfer, capability creation, and social change, as well as developing monitoring tools, activities and training.
- Scalable, decentralised, plug & play prosumer microgrid with 100% renewable solar energy production that will provide electricity for two communities in Africa
- Optimised advanced lead battery energy storage system for households, small businesses and community buildings
- Novel community-shared battery-electrolyser for multi-vector energy storage and green hydrogen production for cooking
LoCEL-H2 involves appropriate socio-cultural analysis to implement energy innovation, improving the socio-economic conditions of vulnerable communities through access to clean electricity and fuel. The methodological approach focuses on creating and supporting ecosystems of actors in each of the pilot areas to maximise knowledge transfer, capability creation, and social change, as well as developing monitoring tools, activities and training.
During the first reporting period, the LoCEL-H2 consortium started the development of system-level prototypes compatible with the project’s demonstration objectives. The battery-electrolyzer technology was scaled-up to kilowatt-level using off-the-shelf lead battery electrodes, advanced membrane-separator material and innovative 3D-printed components. The High-Power Pure Lead (HPPL) maintenance-free battery technology for storage of renewable energy and electric grids support was optimized by improved electrodes’ materials and new generation of Absorptive Glass-Matt (AGM) separators. The long-term testing of the battery prototypes has been started and it is planned to continue during the next reporting period. The Power Processing and Control Units (PPCU), corresponding to the hardware implementing the operation of the LoCEL-H2 48V direct current electric micro-grid were designed, optimized and prototyped. A simplified micro-gird composed of six PPCUs was set-up in laboratory conditions and used to evaluate and optimize additionally the prototypes’ performance before the launch of the pre-demonstrator deployment in Pakistan rural off-grid area. The work on the development of Wi-Fi-connected Battery Management System (BMS) and Energy Management System (BMS) has been started as well. The BMS will be implemented as electronic component being a part of the HPPL battery, while the EMS will be a cloud-hosted system communicating with all PPCU and BMS components connected to the LoCEL-H2 energy micro-grid. The adequacy between the LoCEL-H2 energy technology cost and capabilities, and the needs and the specifics of the rural off-grid communities in Africa and Asia are in process of analysis and evaluation by the Social Science and Humanities and the Business development LoCEL-H2 project workgroups. This part of the work on the project is implemented throughout of the research and visits of suitable communities for demonstrators deployment in Pakistan, Ivory Coast and Zambia, identification and meeting of local and international stakeholders at different levels and further discussions of the gathered data with the rest of the consortium.
LoCEL-H2 has progressed beyond the state of the art by providing new energy conversion and storage technologies with significant potential for future greenhouse gas emission reductions, and improvement of the populations’ health and economic situation in many developing countries. The electrochemical studies of the battery-electrolyzer operation showed that the combined production of green hydrogen and the battery electric energy storage is capable to deliver a global energy conversion and storage efficiency higher than 75%. The comparison of the data measured at 25°C and 45°C indicated very stable operation at elevated temperatures, with degradation rates much slower than the expected values predicted by the Arrhenius equation. The tests of the HPPL battery selected for the LoCEL-H2 prosumer household energy storage showed Faradic efficiency higher than 98%, energy efficiency exceeding 90%, negligible self-discharge, as was as excellent cyclic performance in the partial state of charge conditions typical for the target project application. The techno-economic assessment of the components used in both electrochemical systems showed that their overall recycling rate is readily higher than 95%. The microgrid power electronics hardware (PPCU) was optimized after a study of the effect of switching (PWM) techniques on the reliability of DC-link capacitors normally used in DC microgrids. It was found that the performance of these techniques varies across the range of operation, i.e. different techniques reduce stress on the DC-link capacitor power electronic converters. The resulting novel control system which alternates between mutliple PWM schemes according to sensed/computed values, helped to reduce the capacitor size and hence the total system cost without loss of reliability. The project team developed modified the existing version of the RTS-96 (IEEE 24-bus system) in order to model and simulate DC microgrid with 100% renewable generation at low voltage and power levels. Modifications were made to generation sources, load placement and connecting wires. The battery-electrolyser placement was also evaluated using this modified IEEE 24-bus system. The results from the simulations showed that the power losses can be decreased below 10% using inexpensive wiring for connection to the microgrid. The optimal system sizing for the microgrid was also viewed through a socio-economic and environmental lens. LoCEL-H2 team explored gender-specific energy needs for climate adaptation to see how improved energy access in DC microgrids leads to better adaptation opportunities for women. The obtained technical results were combined with SSH studies in the basic LoCEL-H2 prosumer business model.