Energy systems are facing a great challenge to meet strict CO2 reduction targets. This goes hand in hand with the need to integrate massive amounts of renewable energy into the electrical power grid. However, the inherent stochastic and intermittent nature of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, make it increasingly difficult to balance electricity production and demand. To tackle these issues, the surplus electrical power from renewable energy sources can be converted to green hydrogen via water electrolysis. This can serve as a large-scale long-term (seasonal) energy storage method, facilitates stabilizing the future power grid with 100% penetration of renewable energy, and provides large industrial clusters with green hydrogen.
The overall objective of this project is to provide a scalable DC grid technology for the next-generation offshore wind-hydrogen power plant. Specifically, three key aspects will be explored.
- Different dc grid topologies to interconnect the wind turbines and hydrogen electrolyzers will be explored considering different electrical layouts, and distances between wind turbines and hydrogen electrolyzers.
- Advanced topologies and optimal design solutions of high-power medium voltage DC/DC converter to step the dc voltage between 1kV and 33kV~75kV with a power level >10 MW.
- Design, optimization, and testing of medium-frequency (>1kHz) high power transformer with a galvanic isolation level of 33kV~75kV.