Flexible dispatch strategy for electric grid integrating PEM electrolyzer for hydrogen generation

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer (EL) is regarded as a promising technology for hydrogen generation, offering load flexibility for electric grids (EGs), especially those with a high penetration of renewable energy (RE) sources. This paper proposes a PEM-focused economic dispatch strategy...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in Energy Vol. 19; no. 5; pp. 779 - 792
Main Authors: Liao, Minfang, Marocco, Paolo, Gandiglio, Marta, Liu, Chengxi, Santarelli, Massimo
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Beijing Higher Education Press 01.10.2025
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Coal
Economics
Efficiency
Electrolysis
Energy
Energy Systems
Hydrogen
Hydrogen production
Operating costs
Power consumption
Power dispatch
Renewable energy
Research Article
Sensitivity analysis
optimal dispatch strategy
wind energy
hydrogen
proton exchange membrane electrolyzer (PEM EL)
nonlinear part-load efficiency
ISSN:2095-1701, 2095-1698
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer (EL) is regarded as a promising technology for hydrogen generation, offering load flexibility for electric grids (EGs), especially those with a high penetration of renewable energy (RE) sources. This paper proposes a PEM-focused economic dispatch strategy for EG integrated with wind-electrolysis systems. Existing strategies commonly assume a constant efficiency coefficient to model the EL, while the proposed strategy incorporates a bottom-up PEM EL model characterized by a part-load efficiency curve, which accurately represents the nonlinear hydrogen production performance, capturing efficiency variations at different loads. To model this, it first establishes a 0D electrochemical model to derive the polarization curve. Next, it accounts for the hydrogen and oxygen crossover phenomena, represented by the Faraday efficiency, to correct the stack efficiency curve. Finally, it includes the power consumption of ancillary equipment to obtain the nonlinear part-load system efficiency. This strategy is validated using the PJM-5 bus test system with coal-fired generators (CFGs) and is compared with a simple EL model using constant efficiency under three scenarios. The results show that the EL modeling method significantly influences both the dispatch outcome and the economic performance. Sensitivity analyses on coal and hydrogen prices indicate that, for this case study, the proposed strategy is economically advantageous when the coal price is below 121.6 $/tonne. Additionally, the difference in total annual operating cost between using the efficiency curve anda constant efficiency to model becomes apparent when the hydrogen price ranges from 2.9 to 5.4 $/kg.
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ISSN:2095-1701
2095-1698
DOI:10.1007/s11708-025-0976-6