Renewable Hydrogen-Based Energy System for Supplying Power to Telecoms Base Station

Abstract

Hydrogen is likely to play a significant role in the concept of low-carbon power generation in support to renewable energy systems. It is abundant, eco-friendly, highly efficient and have the potential to be more cost-effective than fossil fuels provided that the engineering challenges associated with its safe infrastructure development, economical extraction and storage are solved. Presently, about 50 million metric tons of hydrogen is generated on a yearly basis, most of that is used for oil refining and ammoniac production. Other applications include electric vehicles, power to gas and power generation, etc. This study focuses on the use of hydrogen for power generation. The main goal is to investigate technical and economic performances of a renewable hydrogen-based energy system as an alternative to diesel generators for powering a remote telecoms base station. The proposed energy system consists of a photovoltaic generator, an electrolyser, a fuel cell, a hydrogen tank, a battery storage system and a power-conditioning unit. The system is simulated using Homer Pro software.