Effective Operation of Electrolyzers to Achieve Grid Stability

Industry News – September 17, 2021

The H₂Giga project aims to make electrolysis less costly and enable operation that contributes to grid stability. To this end, the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology (IEE), together with SMA, Infineon, TU Dresden and the University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, is working to develop innovative power converters. These power converters should meet the requirements of high-performance electrolyzers as well as those of power grids. As expressed in a statement by the Fraunhofer Institute, a special focus will be placed on the systems integration of the converters.

The team of researchers expects that it will be able to cut the system costs for electrical engineering by half – from grid connection points to the direct current connection in the electrolyzer –, compared with the current state of the art. According to Fraunhofer, costs will be reduced largely as a result of a modular, standardized production of the power converters using optimized semiconductor components. Thanks to new high circuit technology in the power converters, it may also be possible to reduce the size of passive components such as cooling elements.

A further goal of the project is to design the power converters in a way that enables the electrolyzers to operate in a manner that benefits grid stability. Assuming an appropriate design is achieved, power converters are even expected to actively contribute to grid stabilization in the future by reacting quickly to critical grid situations.

Source: Fraunhofer IEE

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