Advanced Hybrid Battery-Fuel Cell Energy Storage System
A high efficient hybrid battery fuel cell system that is reliable, flexible, and cost effective.
FuelCell Energy, Inc.
Recipient
Danbury, CT
Recipient Location
Completed
Project Status
Project Result
This project was canceled and not executed. No work was completed and no funds were disbursed for this project.
The Issue
Generation is often asynchronous to the grid demand, leading to overgeneration/ undergeneration. This intermittency requires the grid to compensate down ramping, followed by exaggerated ramp up times to meet peak demands. Energy storage technologies offer the potential to resolve the asynchronies, increase the reliability of the energy supply, and facilitate greater penetration of renewable technologies.[br/][br/]California estimates over 1300 MW of energy storage will be needed by 2020.[br/][br/]
Project Innovation
To account for the increasing demand for energy storage and shifting energy market, the Recipient was to develop a hybrid battery-fuel cell (B-FC) energy storage system for rapid response and modular design with flexible capacity for distributed energy reserve. The integration between battery and fuel cell partitions enables the system to store excess electricity from the grid as both battery power, plus chemical power in the form of hydrogen gas. The hydrogen is supplied by a waste-derived source (not electrolyzers). The system can then dispatch the stored power through the ultra-rapid response of the battery, and the load-following fuel cell using the stored hydrogen. The waste-derived dilute hydrogen coupled with battery storage promises >80% cycle efficiency and to meet the Energy Commission's cost goals. The B-FC system can provide clean, green, on-demand, rapid response power with no emissions or environmental impact.
Project Benefits
This project was lead to technological advancement and breakthroughs to overcome barriers to the achievement of the State of California's statutory energy goals by providing a grid-scale distributed energy storage solution that compensates for the intermittency of renewables, facilitates their penetration, and improves overall grid reliability.
Affordability
The proposed Advanced Hybrid Energy Storage System will provide low-cost, peak power by utilizing waste-derived hydrogen, greater than 80% round trip) storage technologies, with initial estimates of electricity cost $0.14/kWh in the near term.
Reliability
This hybrid system is capable of providing the ancillary services that IOUs require to ensure grid stability, such as voltage support, frequency regulation, and black start capability, among many others.
Key Project Members
Pinakin Patel
Subrecipients
Electric Power Research Institute, Inc.
University of California, Irvine
Customized Energy Solutions
Bhupatrai R. Mehta
Longitude 122 West, Inc
California Hydrogen Business Council
