Periodic Reporting for period 1 - 24_7 ZEN (REVERSIBLE SOEC/SOEFC SYSTEM FOR A ZERO EMISSIONS NETWORK ENERGY SYSTEM)
Reporting period: 2023-02-01 to 2024-07-31
The goal of 24_7 ZEN is to design and build a high performing 33/100kW scale rSOC power balancing plant and demonstrate its compatibility with the electricity and gas grids. The multidisciplinary consortium behind this project has been spearheading innovations in the energy management and are pioneers on the rSOC systems development. Together, they cover every step of the value chain from enhanced materials on the cell level (POLITO, FORTH, IREC), fully operational rSOC system (SP_CH, SP_IT, ST) fully integrated, plug and play ecosystem for grid interconnection (INER, BOS, CERTH), renewable
energy generation (EUNICE), transmission system operator (DESFA) and international quality assurance (KIWA). The ecosystems’ ability to optimize efficient routes of Power to Gas to Power, using H2 or NG as fuel and inject H2 into the grid, transition in <30 minutes and round trip efficiency of 45%
will be demonstrated while ensuring compliance with standards and safety regulations. Finally, the consortium count on well-connected organizations in the European hydrogen, electricity and grid services sector (HSLU, CLUBE) that ensures the dissemination of the developed new business models and practices for renewable energy storage, including new concepts for the delivery of green hydrogen.
This consortium will develop and validate an ecosystem that can be efficiently scaled and replicated to multi-MW scale installations. Further knowledge on how to improve the performance of rSOC (degradation rates of 0.4%/kh for 1000h, current densities of 1.5A/cm2 in both modes) and make them more cost competitive will be generated. At the end of the project, new and viable scenarios to provide grid balancing and supply green hydrogen will be presented by means of a deep techno-economic analysis. By advancing rSOC towards commercial exploitation, the renewable hydrogen deployment required for a climate neutral Europe will be one step
closer.
energy generation (EUNICE), transmission system operator (DESFA) and international quality assurance (KIWA). The ecosystems’ ability to optimize efficient routes of Power to Gas to Power, using H2 or NG as fuel and inject H2 into the grid, transition in <30 minutes and round trip efficiency of 45%
will be demonstrated while ensuring compliance with standards and safety regulations. Finally, the consortium count on well-connected organizations in the European hydrogen, electricity and grid services sector (HSLU, CLUBE) that ensures the dissemination of the developed new business models and practices for renewable energy storage, including new concepts for the delivery of green hydrogen.
This consortium will develop and validate an ecosystem that can be efficiently scaled and replicated to multi-MW scale installations. Further knowledge on how to improve the performance of rSOC (degradation rates of 0.4%/kh for 1000h, current densities of 1.5A/cm2 in both modes) and make them more cost competitive will be generated. At the end of the project, new and viable scenarios to provide grid balancing and supply green hydrogen will be presented by means of a deep techno-economic analysis. By advancing rSOC towards commercial exploitation, the renewable hydrogen deployment required for a climate neutral Europe will be one step
closer.
The 24/7 ZEN project aims to develop an innovative 33/100kW rSOC system for grid balancing. It is structured into various Work Packages (WPs) focusing on different milestones. WP1 is dedicated to defining Top Level Requirements for rSOC grid integration. Over the first 18 months, assessments were made for integrating the rSOC system with electricity and gas grids, resulting in three identified configurations. These configurations, along with hydrogen production and power load profiles, formed the basis for preliminary scenario assessments. Technoeconomic analysis and energy simulations conducted in D1.2 explored system response to mode switching and optimal techno-economic approaches. Task 1.4 established overall control strategy and energy management system based on operational profiles. WP2 focuses on developing enhanced SOC components, with initial work centered on testing innovative compositions for fuel and oxygen electrodes using solydera button cells. WP3, led by Solydera in collaboration with Bosal, involves the design and development of the rSOC stack and hot Balance of Plant (BoP). Mechanical design revisions are ongoing to integrate the hot BoP and the LSM into a single body. WP5, led by CERTH, defines system requirements and use cases, considering scenarios from WP1 and sizing/component requirements from WP4. Main requirements, including electricity, water flow, compressed air, natural gas supply, H2 production, solar panel support, and battery stack, have been considered. Additionally, considerations for landscape and weather protection for equipment reception were made
Challenge 1: Progress on cell performance and durability and overall system cost-competitiveness:
Achieving degradation rates below 0.4% per 1,000 hours on stack level at high current densities and a higher power output to improve cost-competitiveness requires new materials and processes for manufacturing fuel and oxygen electrodes and interconnects of SOC stacks, electrode compositions, as well as optimised interconnects.
The combination of the improvements proposed on the oxygen electrode side, the fuel electrode and the
interconnects ensure the achievement of an enhanced and innovative rSOC stack to accomplish the required KPIs in terms of performance and durability. Materials engineering will increase the total performance (kW), contributing to improving the overall cost-competitiveness of rSOC; whereas new manufacturing technologies will reduce the materials and processing cost (€), reducing overall CAPEX (€/kW).
Challenge 2: Progress on conceptual ecosystem design and reduced system costs:
Highly scalable rSOC system with capital costs to <3,500 €/kW that can readily be connected to the grid requires new ecosystem designs and solutions for grid connection. Furthermore, optimal operational scenarios and thermal management strategies are needed to achieve a round trip efficiency of 45%.
The developed components such as rSOC module, Primary heat recovery system, Hot BoP, Containerisation, will ensure the high thermal effectiveness and energy density that will also contribute to the overall efficiency, CAPEX (€/kW) reduction, performance and integrated BoP of the 24_7 ZEN system.
Challenge 3: Progress on grid balancing application: Achieving two switching cycles per day between modes in < 30 minutes requires an automated energy management unit and software to control the operation of each mode. While the system-software is at a TRL9 for a hybrid RES Battery system, we position it at a TRL3 that corresponds to integrating rSOC operation which will be advanced towards TRL5 through demonstration in a relevant environment. We plan to use this as the basis to advance a H2 ready S4S to TRL7-8 via future collaborations.
Achieving degradation rates below 0.4% per 1,000 hours on stack level at high current densities and a higher power output to improve cost-competitiveness requires new materials and processes for manufacturing fuel and oxygen electrodes and interconnects of SOC stacks, electrode compositions, as well as optimised interconnects.
The combination of the improvements proposed on the oxygen electrode side, the fuel electrode and the
interconnects ensure the achievement of an enhanced and innovative rSOC stack to accomplish the required KPIs in terms of performance and durability. Materials engineering will increase the total performance (kW), contributing to improving the overall cost-competitiveness of rSOC; whereas new manufacturing technologies will reduce the materials and processing cost (€), reducing overall CAPEX (€/kW).
Challenge 2: Progress on conceptual ecosystem design and reduced system costs:
Highly scalable rSOC system with capital costs to <3,500 €/kW that can readily be connected to the grid requires new ecosystem designs and solutions for grid connection. Furthermore, optimal operational scenarios and thermal management strategies are needed to achieve a round trip efficiency of 45%.
The developed components such as rSOC module, Primary heat recovery system, Hot BoP, Containerisation, will ensure the high thermal effectiveness and energy density that will also contribute to the overall efficiency, CAPEX (€/kW) reduction, performance and integrated BoP of the 24_7 ZEN system.
Challenge 3: Progress on grid balancing application: Achieving two switching cycles per day between modes in < 30 minutes requires an automated energy management unit and software to control the operation of each mode. While the system-software is at a TRL9 for a hybrid RES Battery system, we position it at a TRL3 that corresponds to integrating rSOC operation which will be advanced towards TRL5 through demonstration in a relevant environment. We plan to use this as the basis to advance a H2 ready S4S to TRL7-8 via future collaborations.