Economically Viable
Intermediate to Long Duration
Hydrogen Energy Storage Solutions
Zhili Feng (PI)
for Fossil Fueled Assets
1 WE New Energy Inc Award No: DE-FE0032001
fengz@wenewenergy.com
Project Team: FY22 FECM Spring R&D Project Review Meeting
Exelon Corporation
West Virginia University
Joseph Oak Corporation May 5, 2022
Tennessee Valley Authority
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Global Engineering & Technologies
2
Hydrogen-based energy storage
One of the most suitable solutions for large scale long-duration
energy storage needs
Hydrogen-based energy storage systems
for renewable energy power generation
´ On-going demonstrations at multi-megawatt to hundreds megawatt-hour energy level
´ Low round-trip efficiency compared to other technologies (battery, pumped hydro)
3
Unique Options, Opportunities and Challenges for
Hydrogen Storage System for Fossil Power Plants
´ Both E-H2 and H2-E processes involve heat or thermal energy
´ Synergistically Integrating low-cost Hydrogen Energy Storage system with fossil-fuel assets
– The SIHES
Dashed lines show flow of the by-product heat from one subsystem to others to improve the overall efficiency of power generation. 4
Concept of SIHES: Operation
´ Allow fossil power plant to run at relatively stable optimal base-load conditions to mitigate inefficient,
off-design and deep cycling operations and to improve the economics of power plant
´ Electricity price is inherently proportional to the demand
´ E -> H2 at low price and H2 -> E at high price.
´ Opportunity for optimization of SIHES for profitability (site specific capacity, and operation profile).
´ Operation profile strongly influence the design and sizing of subsystem of SIHES
´ Require use of sufficiently large hydrogen energy storage system to manage the dynamic changes in electric
grid demand and electricity price over intermediate to long-durations.
H2 to E
Actual hourly grid Desired stable base-
demand fluctuation load operation of
in a week EGUs
E to H2
CISO hourly change in electricity demand 5/31/2020 – 6/7/2020
Grid fluctuation for illustration only 5
´ Technical Viability: Enables EGUs to operate at optimal
baseload operation conditions through use of
sufficiently large storage system to manage the
dynamic changes in electric grid demand and
electricity price over intermediate to long-durations (i.e.,
from 12 hours to weeks).
´ Economic Viability: Target added round-trip levelized
cost of energy (LCOE) no greater than 10% of LCOE of
today’s fossil plant for 30 years operation ($5-10/MWh).
6 Project ´ Phase I
´ Focus on a site-specific conceptual design for a fossil
Objective power plant selected from the Exelon fossil fleet, to
demonstrate both the technical and economic feasibility
of SIHES.
´ Phase II
´ subsequent Pre-FEED, site demonstration, and eventual
deployment of SIHES in fossil power generation.
´ DOE FOA Requirement on H2 Storage System: >10MWh
7
R&D Plan, Approach and Tasks
Effectively integrate
Drastically reduce the
hydrogen energy Techno-economic Site Specific Target
cost of hydrogen level of performance
storage system with optimization
storage subsystem
fossil assets
• Further develop our • Considerable room • Optimize both • Baseline design for a
ultralow cost steel and unique system design and specific type fossil
concrete composite opportunities exist in operation of SIHES power plant
vessel (SCCV) for optimal integration for the dynamic selected by utility
tailored use in SIHES of SIHES into fossil storage demands team member
• Scalability assets and electricity • Target hydrogen
•500-1000 kg H2 vessels fluctuations energy storage
mass-produced in shop parameters
(vs 30-50kg of today’s •Cost : added round-
vessels) trip E-H2-E LCOE in the
•Tens to hundreds tons range of 10% of base
of H2 by on-site LCOE of today’s fossil
construction plant (i.e. $5-10/MWh)
•30-500MWh for 1-10
days designed for 30-
year service
8
Options for H2 storage subsystem:
´ High pressure H2 vessel storage is one of the mature and cost-effective options, but
limited by volume
BloombergNEF, Hydrogen Economy Outlook 2020
Bloomberg NEF, 2019
“Salt cavern and high-pressure tank storages are mature technologies,
while the other options are, for the most part, at lab scale.”
(Source: ARPA-E RFI “Stationary Hydrogen Storage Technology Development”, Jan, 2021)
Today’s high-pressure H2 storage vessels 9
´ Small volume Tubes/vessels
´ Commercially available and widely used for H2 refueling stations
´ Limited by size such as lengths and diameters (up 20-30 inches) 20-
50kg per vessel/tube
´ Made of structural steels for cost
´ Hydrogen embrittlement concerns (especially under cyclic loading H2 Refueling station in CA
conditions)
Microsoft uses hydrogen fuel cells to power servers for
´ No high-strength steels 48 hours straight (July 27, 2020)
´ Welding not allowed, limiting the size of tubes (seamless tubes).
Difficult to scale up for large scale storage needs
´ “For an LM6000 aero-derivative (50 MW) firing 100% H2 that is about
950 tons of storage capability a year”. By AEP attendee
´ Today’s tubes are not suitable for H2 storage at electric utility scale.
A 250kW system to power 10 racks of server computers
DOE Bulk Storage of Gaseous Hydrogen Workshop, Feb 10-11, 2022
Large volume high-pressure steel vessels for non-hydrogen
applications are routinely made, but require welding and
different manufacturing technologies
Source: M Jawad, Nooter Co
´ 96-ft Long high-pressure steel vessel for ammonia conversion manufactured in the US in 1970s.
´ Must address the safety concerns of hydrogen embrittlement for hydrogen storage
10
´ Eliminating HE by Design” A multi-layer design with
strategically placed vent holes to prevent the intake and
accumulation of hydrogen in the steel layers except the
innermost layer
Our Technology: High-strength
Low-Cost H2 vent hole Connecting Welds
structural steel layers
(less than 1/4” dia.)
Steel Concrete
11 Composite Vessel
(SCCV) for Large
Scale Stationary
Hydrogen Storage Inner stainless steel liners: ~1/4” thick
• Small vent ports are created on the 2nd and all the outer layers of the vessel without sacrifice of the
structure mechanical integrity.
• Hydrogen mitigated through the innermost layer will pass through the vent ports and will accumulate
little or no pressure, hence hydrogen embrittlement effect on the outer low allow steel shells is
minimized.
Key Technology
Low-Cost Steel Concrete Composite Vessel (SCCV) for 12
Stationary High-Pressure Hydrogen Storage
´ SCCV is an innovative solution specifically designed and engineered
for stationary high-pressure gaseous hydrogen storage applications
´ Addressing the two critical challenges: high capital cost and safety
concerns of hydrogen embrittlement of high-strength steels.
´ US Patent 9,562,646 B2
´ ASME Pressure Vessel Code Case 2949
´ Novel design
´ Eliminate hydrogen embrittlement problem by design
´ Enable use of cost-effective commodity materials (concrete and steels)
´ Advanced welding, manufacturing and sensor technologies for
reduced cost and improved safety
´ Can be fabricated with today’s commercially ready manufacturing
technologies in the US
´ Scalability enabled by advanced welding technologies:
´ 500 – 2000 kg H2 vessels mass-produced in shop vs today’s
seamless tube at 20-50kg H2
´ Even larger, super sized H2 vessels by on-site construction
Manufacturing of first demonstration SCCV
SCCV is cost competitive 13
´ Today’s vessel cost: $1000-1500/kg H2
´ Our technology:
´ $500-600/kg H2 at 875 bar (US price).
´ Reference SCCV design: 1500kg H2 in moderate volume
production (24 identical vessels per order)
´ Improvement in design, manufacturing and
economics of scale would further reduce the cost to
$200-300/Kg H2 at high volume production
SIHES could drastically reduce the capital cost of H2
energy storage, potentially economically viable 14
LCOE
CHART TITLE Energy Plant Type
Our E-H2-E technology Today’s technology $ per MWh
CHART TITLE
Offshore Wind 130.40
Electrolyzer Compressor Storage Vessel Fuel Cell
Coal with 30% CCS 104.60
Electrolyzer Compressor Storage Vessel Fuel Cell
Coal with 90% CCS 98.60
14% 6%
Biomass 92.20
16% Advanced Nuclear 77.50
Nat Gas Combined Cycle with CCS 67.50
38% PV Solar 60.00
5%
Hydro-electric 39.10
Land Based Wind 55.90
Natural Gas Combined Cycle 41.20
Geothermal 41.00
35%
Additional
Energy Storage System LCOE
73% $ per MWh
13%
Li-ion Battery 100-300
Today H2 based 50-60
Our H2 based 5-20
• Basis for analysis:10MW, 7-day storage. 30-year operation life for hydrogen system,
and 10 years for Li-ion battery
• Same cost figures for all components other than storage vessels Data source: EIA, NREL, solarcellcentral.com 7/2020
Two Potential Scenarios for Fossil Power Plants
´ Baseload units (500 – 1500 MW typical)
´ Peaker generation units (10-60 MW typical)
• Mystic Generating Station: Near Boston, part of ISO-NE • Southeast Chicago Energy Project Generation Station: near Chicago
• Units 8 and 9: combined cycle gas turbines. 703MW/710 MW part of PJM
• Mystic Jet: a 9 MW oil fueled peaking unit run during high demand • Peak generation plant at 296MW, with 8 units rated at 37MW running on
natural gas
15
´ Peakers (Peaking power generation units)
´ TVA Johnsonville Combustion Turbine Plants (50-60MW/unit)
´ Exelon Southeast Chicago Energy Project Generation Station
(37MW/unit)
Initial Market ´ Compared to baseload units
´ Peakers are much smaller – more manageable for early adoption from
Entry Point: both technical and capital investment perspectives.
´ More expensive and inefficient to run, on MWh basis, than the baseload
plants.
HyPeaker ´ Emit higher rates of CO2 and health-harming air pollutants.
16
´ Run infrequently during periods of high peak demand. Only used for
(Hydrogen based a few hours at a time, with capacity factor of 0.1 or less.
´ The Mystic Jet unit has a much lower capacity factor, in the range
peaking power of 1-3%.
generation units) ´ Such low-capacity factor and intermittent operation allows a
HyPeaker to generation H2 when the electricity price is low or even
negative, and supply the peak demand at a prime price.
´ More than 1,000 natural gas- and oil-fired peaker plants in the US. A
sizable market.
´ Disproportionately located in disadvantaged communities, significant
societal benefits
Techno-economic analysis (TEA)
Electricity grid System considerations Electricity grid
E-H2 Storage Vessel + Compressor H2-E
SCCV (our technology)
Type: Alkaline Electrolyzer, PEM Feul Cell (Option 1), 65% efficiency
Cost: $200-$400/kgH2 ($6-$12/kWh)
70% efficiency Cost: $300-$600/kW
Today’s market as reference
Cost: Aeroderivative Turbine, 45% efficiency
Cost: $1000-$1500/kg-H2 ($30-$45/kWh)
high: $1000/kW Cost: $0, using existing unit
Capacity:
Low: $400/kW H2/NG mix: 20% H2 now, 100% future
TBD from TEA, no other restriction
Capacity: Capacity:
DOE AOP requirement: >10MWh
TBD from TEA (1MW-30MW) 30-50MW
Likely in the range of 50-500MWh
Fuel cell
Factors Evaluated in Phase I TEA
Electrolyzer
• Gas Turbine vs. Fuel Cell System
H2 storage
• Reversible vs. Conventional Fuel Cell Systems
• Options of Hydrogen Storage
Gas Turbine
• H2 to E Unit Efficiencies
Electrolyzer
• Locational Marginal Price (LMP) Variations
H2 storage
Natural Gas
17
Locational Marginal Price (LMP) Variations
´ Operational modes:
´ Low LMP: electricity to hydrogen (via electrolyzer)
´ Mean LMP: Idling
´ High LMP: hydrogen to electricity (Fuel cell or gas turbines)
ISO New England
Date: 10/10/2021
Source: https://www.iso-ne.com/isoexpress/
Date: 1/15/2035 (projected)
Source: https://data.nrel.gov/submissions/181
18
Comparison of Hydrogen Storage Cost (PJM)
´ NPV is compared between SCCV
($300/kg, $150/kg H2) and
conventional ($1100/kg H2)
hydrogen storage technologies
´ Considerable cost benefits from
SCCV
´ The NPV of new SCCV technology
($150/kg H2) reaches $20.25 MM
19
Gas Turbine vs. Fuel Cell
Systems (PJM)
´ Using existing gas turbine system (5-20
wt% H2 co-firing with natural gas) is
more economical than fuel cell system
´ At 5 wt% H2 blend, the net present value
NPV, $M
(NPV) difference is $110 MM in
comparison with fuel cell system
´ Emissions of CO2, NOx from natural gas
combustion would require
capture/management
´ Will be included in next phase of study
National Energy Technology Laboratory, Cost and performance baseline for fossil energy
Conditions: plants Volume 1: bituminous coal and natural gas to electricity, U.S. Department of Energy,
• Hydrogen Storage Tank - $300/kg Pittsburgh, PA, 2019
20
System Design: 30-year life, 50x50x20m footprint
Electricity generation unit: 30MW unit for first demonstration
•PEM based hydrogen fuel cell
Baseline •Retrofitting existing gas turbines with mixed H2 and gas fuel, initially less than
20%
HyPeaker
design metrics Hydrogen storage system:
22 based on •SCCV at 3000psi pressure with sufficient storage capacity for 20 hours operation
(300MWh or 8000 kg H2 storage).
selected sites
Hydrogen production unit from electricity:
•Alkaline electrolyzer, rated at 8 to 10MW (½ to 1/3 of electricity generation
capacity)
Intentionally overmatch the capacity of ultra-low cost SCCV
•Provide the extra storage capacity for low electricity price over a long period of
time such as in several weeks
•Reduce the capacity of the electrolyzer, the highest cost item in the system.
•This aspect is unique to the fossil power plant application
´ Deployment site selected, and identified early market entry
point for long duration hydrogen storage system:
´ Peaking power generation: HyPeakers
´ Developed TEA model tool and completed initial TEA for
HyPeaker
´ Quantified the significant economic benefits of SCCV
´ Evaluated options of HyPeaker system design
23 Phase I ´ Identified scenarios for HyPeaker operation
´ Completed the site-specific concept HyPeaker system
Project design and operation metrices
Summary ´ HyPeaker is technically feasible and economically
advantageous
´ Solid foundation for Phase II Pre-FEED
´ Technology Readiness
´ Partners for Phase II and future deployments
´ System and operation optimization based on economics
´ Phase II Awarded
´ Complete a preliminary front-end engineering and
design (Pre-FEED) study of HyPearker integrated with a
site-specific fossil asset
´ Based on TVA Johnsonville Combustion Turbine Plants, 50
MW Aeroderivative gas turbine unit
´ Detailed technoeconomic study to further optimize the
24 Phase II HyPeaker for such site and applications
´ Manufacturing capability of storage systems in the US and
Plan internationally
´ 500 kg – 2000 kg shop fabricated and transported to site
´ On-site construction of larger vessel system
´ Seasonal long-duration consideration
´ Demonstrate the technical feasibility and economic
viability of HyPeaker
Seasonal Long-Duration Considerations
Monthly wholesale electricity prices and
demand in New England, May 2021
Yearly LMP for CAISO-150
210
Jan - Mar Apr - Jun Jul - Sep Otc - Dec
180
150
LMP ($/MWh)
120
90
60
30
0
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360
Day
https://data.nrel.gov/submissions/181
https://isonewswire.com/2021/06/24/monthly-wholesale-electricity-prices-
and-demand-in-new-england-may-2021/
25
26
Thank you!
´ WE New Energy Inc (WENE) is a hydrogen energy
storage technology company serving the rapid growing
clean renewable energy market. We design, engineer
and support integrated hydrogen energy conversion
and storage system/products, and contract
manufacturing companies to produce sub-systems and
final assembly based on our designs and specifications.
´ WENE”s core technology includes patented highly cost
27 About competitive large scale stationary high-pressure
hydrogen storage system, and other related hydrogen
WE New storage and testing technologies. WENE and Oak Ridge
National Laboratory (ORNL) have exclusive IP licensing
Energy agreement on hydrogen energy storage technologies.
´ We are involved in several large-scale hydrogen storage
projects for clean renewable energy transition
