i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 e1 2

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Performance investigation of an integrated wind

energy system for co-generation of power and
hydrogen

Haris Ishaq, Ibrahim Dincer, Greg F. Naterer*

Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, 2000 Simcoe Street North,
Oshawa, Ontario, L1H 7K4, Canada

article info abstract

Article history: In this paper, a wind turbine energy system is integrated with a hydrogen fuel cell and
Received 30 December 2017 proton exchange membrane electrolyzer to provide electricity and heat to a community of
Received in revised form households. Different cases for varying wind speeds are taken into consideration. Wind
5 March 2018 turbines meet the electricity demand when there is sufficient wind speed available. During
Accepted 19 March 2018 high wind speeds, the excess electricity generated is supplied to the electrolyzer to produce
Available online xxx hydrogen which is stored in a storage tank. It is later utilized in the fuel cell to provide
electricity during periods of low wind speeds to overcome the shortage of electricity sup-
Keywords: ply. The fuel cell operates during high demand conditions and provides electricity and heat
Hydrogen energy for the residential application. The overall efficiency of the system is calculated at different
Wind energy wind speeds. The overall energy and exergy efficiencies at a wind speed 5 m/s are then
Fuel cell found to be 20.2% and 21.2% respectively.
Electrolyzer © 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Energy
Exergy

energy sources like solar, wind, geothermal and hydro are

Introduction renewable because these sources are not depleted [1e5].
Zafar and Dincer [6] designed a renewable energy hybrid
The increasing energy demand for residential buildings and system consisting of PV panels and wind turbines for some
use of fossil fuels to meet these demands are having a sub- useful outputs like hydrogen production, hot water and elec-
stantial environmental impact. The use of renewable energy tricity. The exergoeconomic analysis is conducted to study the
sources is attracting more attention as a replacement of other system performance under different environmental and
sources like fossil fuels. The main reasons are diminishing operating conditions. It suggested an improved system when
fossil fuel sources, global warming and CO2 gas emissions. heat from a fuel cell is utilized to heat the domestic water.
Clean and sustainable energy solutions for present and future Kaabeche et al. [7] presented a system of combined wind and
requirements are renewable energy sources. The fundamental solar sources. It followed the power supply and deficiency by
utilizing iterative optimization techniques.

* Corresponding author. Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland240 Prince Phillip Drive St.
John's, Newfoundland and Labrador A1B 3X5, Canada.
E-mail addresses: haris.ishaq@uoit.net (H. Ishaq), Ibrahim.Dincer@uoit.ca (I. Dincer), gnaterer@mun.ca (G.F. Naterer).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.03.139
0360-3199/© 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Ishaq H, et al., Performance investigation of an integrated wind energy system for co-generation of
power and hydrogen, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.03.139
2 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 e1 2

Ozlu and Dincer [8] investigated a hybrid system based on of hybrid renewable energy systems. The review paper also
solar and wind sources and performed an exergoenvir- considered a feasibility analysis, modeling, control aspects,
onmental and exergoeconomic analysis. The study calculated optimum sizing, reliability issues and also evolutionary
the number of houses in Toronto where the system can pro- techniques in renewable energy.
vide the supply. In the multigeneration system, the effi- Carmo et al. [18] presented a comprehensive study on
ciencies are higher than the single energy systems. Tina and water electrolysis by proton exchange membrane (PEM) elec-
Gagliano [9] modeled a system based on the wind speed data trolysis. Hydrogen storage is considered as one of the best
and probabilistic solar irradiance and found the designed means to store the energy produced from various sources and
input of a pre-processing stage. The different types of wind a proton exchanger membrane electrolyzer provides a
turbines and their thermodynamic limits are studied and also continuous solution of hydrogen production. Some challenges
reported for different wind energy plants [1]. regarding electro-catalysts, current collectors, solid electro-
Cao et al. [10] investigated a TieCreMn system for potential lytes and modeling efforts are also addressed in this study.
applications to hybrid storage devices. The effects on the The study provided new research directions to expand PEM
hydrogen storage properties were investigated by partial electrolysis commercially.
replacement of Cr by Mo and W and Ti by Zr. The alloy com- Wang et al. [19] presented a parametric study on the per-
bination of (Ti0.85Zr0.15)1.1Cr0.9Mo0.1Mn showed the best overall formance of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. The
properties among the alloys with an H2 desorption pressure of experimental effects of various operating parameters on the
9.54 atm and capacity of 1.78 wt%. Cao et al. [11] investigated a PEM fuel cell performance using hydrogen at the anode and air
combination of ZreFeeV-based alloys for hybrid storage de- at the cathode were studied. Several experiments were con-
vices. The composition (Zr0.7Ti0.3)1.04Fe1.8V0.2 showed the best ducted by varying the operating parameters like temperature
properties among these alloys with a H2 desorption pressure of fuel cell, operating pressures, humidification temperature
of 11.2 atm and capacity of 1.51 wt%. on the cathode and anode and several other combinations in
Aziz [12] demonstrated a load frequency control system by order to analyze the PEM fuel cell performance. A three-
fluctuating the power of a wind turbine due to the fluctuation dimensional fuel cell is also modeled in this study and com-
in wind speeds and explained that power generation is parisons with experimental data are also presented.
required to be compensated with some other controllable Takeichi et al. [20] introduced a hybrid hydrogen storage
source. It was concluded that the combination of wind control vessel. The potential of a novel high-pressure H2 storage
area and base load plant provide better performance as vessel combined with an aluminum-carbon reinforced plastic
compared to the combination of wind control area and peak composite is described including the hydrogen storage system
load plant. Notton et al. [13] studied remote locations for wind weight and volume for 5 kg of hydrogen. The study concluded
and solar hybrid systems. The temporal complementarity of that conventional hydrogen storage techniques can be
wind and solar sources is discussed for five different sites in replaced by a hydrogen storage system in terms of both
the Mediterranean islands. The profitability and sizing of two gravimetric and volumetric hydrogen density. This hybrid
selected sites are compared. hydrogen storage vessel requires a high volumetric hydrogen
Amer et al. [14] studied a system design for Missouri Uni- density, gravimetric density and hydrogen pressure.
versity of Science and Technology, consisting of a power Zafar and Dincer [21] introduced a hybrid system consist-
system, for combined heat and hydrogen, which was achieved ing of PV/T and fuel cells for the purpose of producing elec-
by methane using a fuel cell. A resource availability and en- tricity and heat for the residential applications. The hydrogen
ergy flow study was conducted to identify the source of is produced by an electrolyzer utilizing the excess power. The
feedstock which is required for the fuel cell to operate at fuel cell will be operated when the power demand will be
maximum capacity. It was concluded that this combined higher and the fuel cell will produce electricity, water and
system reduced the greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel heat. Zhang et al. [22] proposed a hybrid system which com-
utilization for the university design. Pade et al. [15] considered prises a high-temperature fuel-cell like molten carbonate fuel
the challenges faced by fuel cell technology for residential cell and solid oxide fuel cell, and heat engines like Brayton,
purposes and conducted a study of different challenges like Diesel and Carnot engines. The main irreversible losses which
energy prices, heating demand, ownership structures, support exist in heat engines and fuel cells are investigated.
scheme and electricity demand in three countries e Portugal, Ezzat and Dincer [23] studied a new hybrid system which
France and Denmark. consists of a photovoltaic-fuel cell and Li-icon battery and
Sahin [16] presented a study on recent progress in renew- compared this system with the base system consisting of a
able energy sources and specifically wind energy imple- PEM fuel cell and Li-ion battery. They investigated the effects
mentation in various industries. This study reported on wind when the system is exposed to the photovoltaic arrays and
energy history, wind-turbine technology, wind-power mete- also its effect on the energy and exergy efficiencies of the
orology, wind-hybrid applications, wind energy economics, overall system. Xie et al. [24] discussed that the combined heat
and various installed wind energy systems. Khare et al. [17] and power (CPH) system based on a fuel cell as an efficient
presented a review paper on hybrid renewable energy sys- means of overcoming residential energy requirements in
tems. The continuously increasing global energy demand is terms of cost if the cost target can be met. A micro-CPH system
difficult to be met by non-renewable sources because of the is designed in Aspen Plus which produces 1 kW of electricity. It
environmental impact. Hybrid energy systems are a combi- was found that the energy associated with the unused
nation of two or more renewable energy sources. This primary streams is the main cause of exergy and energy losses.
objective of the review paper was to study the various aspects Zabalza et al. [25] presented a feasibility study for fuel cell

Please cite this article in press as: Ishaq H, et al., Performance investigation of an integrated wind energy system for co-generation of
power and hydrogen, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.03.139
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 e1 2 3

applications for a combined power and heat system. The be proceed towards a fuel cell to provide the required amount
author presented some strategies and established the criteria of electricity.
for the distributed generation system optimal design on the The excess electricity will be provided to a PEM electrolyzer
basis of fuel cells by an environmental, economic and tech- to produce hydrogen by the electrolysis of water. The elec-
nical point of view. tricity is utilized in this process for the decomposition of water
Hosseini et al. [26] presented a study for the thermody- molecules to the oxygen and hydrogen molecules and this is
namic analysis of fuel tank filling with hydrogen. The author an endothermic reaction. Produced hydrogen proceeds to-
investigated how initial conditions impact on exergy wards a two-step compression system for storage. The anal-
destruction of the filling process and performed parametric ysis of hydrogen production is done on the basis of different
studies to determine the pressure and temperature changes wind speeds.
during filling of the tank. El-Shatter et al. [27] designed a The hydrogen produced by the electrolyzer is stored in a
hybrid system combining photovoltaic and fuel cells engaging hydrogen storage tank after getting through a two-stage
the electrolyzer for hydrogen production which is applicable compression system. The storage tank analysis is performed
in remote areas. A controller was incorporated with the sys- and the exergy efficiency is calculated as 89%. This stored
tem via a fuel cell or photovoltaic array to accomplish con- hydrogen is processed towards a hydrogen fuel cell to produce
stant water supply. electricity whenever the wind speed will be less then the
This paper aims to develop a wind energy system that is average speed.
integrated with a hydrogen fuel cell and proton exchange The fuel cell is integrated with the system to provide the
membrane electrolyzer to provide two useful commodities e required electricity when the wind speed is less then the
electricity and heat e to a community of households under average speed in Toronto. At that time, the hydrogen which is
various operating conditions and criteria. It also aims to offset stored in a storage tank proceeds towards the fuel cell to
the mismatch between demand and supply by employing supply the electricity requirement. In the fuel cell, some heat
both electrolyzer and fuel cell subsystems which are incor- is also produced which is used in cogeneration heating.
porated into the main system for a sustainable community
initiative. Wind turbines meet the electricity demand when
there is sufficient wind energy available. During high wind System analysis and assessment
speeds, the excess electricity generated is supplied to the
electrolyzer to produce hydrogen which is stored in a storage A wind based cogeneration system integrated with an elec-
tank. It is later utilized in the fuel cell to provide electricity trolyzer and fuel cell is illustrated in Fig. 1 with state points.
during periods of low wind speeds to overcome the shortage of The thermodynamic analysis is done considering the ther-
electricity supply. modynamic principles. In order to analyze the described
system, some reasonable assumptions are taken to calculate
the inlet and outlet pressures, temperatures, mass flow rates,
System description exergies and enthalpies. To exhibit the irreversibilities of the
system, exergy destructions are also considered. The
The cogeneration system is a system integrating a wind tur- following assumptions are made for the system analysis and
bine with an electrolyzer and fuel cell. This system is evaluation [8].
providing electricity to a community of 25 households. One of
the challenges is the storage of electricity because the wind
The system and its components are operated under steady
speed has an intermittent behavior. So when the wind speed state conditions.
is higher, excess electricity is produced and the co-generation
There are insignificant changes in potential and kinetic
system will help in converting that excess electricity into energies and exergies.
hydrogen for storage purposes. When excess electricity is
The reference state pressure is P0 ¼ 101.325 Pa and tem-
available because of an enhanced wind speed, excess elec- perature is T0 ¼ 25  C.
tricity will be provided to the electrolyzer to produce
The compressor operates adiabatically with an efficiency
hydrogen. The hydrogen will be stored in a storage tank with of 72%.
the help of compressors and intercoolers and this stored
The pressure drops in the fuel cell are negligible.
hydrogen will be utilized in a fuel cell to provide electricity
The wind turbine efficiency is assumed as 90%.
when enough wind speed will not be available to fulfill the
The heat production rate in the fuel cell is 1518 W.
requirement. The system is shown in Fig. 1.
Toronto wind speed is taken as the average wind speed of
A wind turbine is used to produce the electricity which the turbine.
mainly depends on the wind speed. The total electricity de-
Hydrogen behaves as an ideal gas.
mand for this co-generation system is 34,750 W based on 25
households. Consider a wind turbine in Toronto with a wind The general balance equations of mass, energy, entropy
speed of 4.16 m/s and a wind turbine that provides the elec- and exergy are described as follows for the system provided in
tricity to the community of 25 houses. When the air speed will Fig. 1 respectively:
be more, excess electricity will be transferred to the integrated
electrolyzer to produce hydrogen and this hydrogen will be X X dmCV
m_ i  m_ e ¼ (1)
stored for a time when the wind speed will not be enough to i e
dt
supply the whole load of 25 houses. Then stored hydrogen will

Please cite this article in press as: Ishaq H, et al., Performance investigation of an integrated wind energy system for co-generation of
power and hydrogen, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.03.139
4 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 e1 2

Fig. 1 e Schematic layout of co-generation system.

Also the exergy efficiency can be expressed by:

X  V2
 X 
V2

dECV
Q_  W_ þ m_ hi þ i þ gZi  m_ e he þ e þ gZe ¼ hwt ¼
Pwt
(8)
i
2 e
2 dt _ wt
Ex
(2)
The exergy destruction of the wind turbine can be calcu-
lated with the following expression:
dSCV X X X . 
S_gen ¼ ¼ m_ e se  m_ i si  Q_ k Tk (3)  
dt e i k _ dest;wt ¼ 1
Ex Pwt (9)
Cp;wt
X X
_ Qþ
Ex m_ i exi ¼ _ w þ Ex
m_ e exe þ Ex _ d (4)
i e
PEM Electrolyzer Subsystem

Wind Turbine Subsystem In the PEM electrolyzer, water decomposes into oxygen and
hydrogen by utilizing electricity. The overall reaction can be
The power obtained from the wind turbine at the average described as:
speed which is supplied to the community can be calculated
as: 1
H2 O þ DH/H2 þ O2 (10)
2
1
Pwt ¼ h r Awt Cp;wt V3 (5) where DH is the enthalpy change in the reaction. This
2 wt air
hydrogen production reaction is endothermic and electricity
where Pwt is the wind turbine power, rair is the density of air in is utilized by the electrolyzer.
kg/m3, hwt is efficiency of the wind turbine, V is the wind ve- The required electrolyzer energy can be expressed as:
locity in m/s2, and Cp,wt is power coefficient of turbine [8].
The total energy input can be calculated by: DH ¼ DG þ TDS (11)

1 where TDS represents the thermal energy and DG represents

Input ¼ r Awt Cp;wt V3 (6) the Gibbs function.
2 air
The hydrogen production rate from the electrolyzer can be
The exergy of the wind turbine can be calculated as:
calculated as [28]:

_ wt ¼ 1 rair Awt V3
Ex (7) Jel
2 N_ H2 ¼ (12)
2F

Please cite this article in press as: Ishaq H, et al., Performance investigation of an integrated wind energy system for co-generation of
power and hydrogen, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.03.139
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 e1 2 5

where F denotes Faraday's constant and Jel represents the The rate basis energy balance on the intercooler can be
current density. written as:
The excess electricity is taken as the input energy rate in
the electrolyzer and can be expressed as [28]: m_ 2 h2 ¼ m_ 3 h3 þ Q_ out (24)

The entropy balance equation can be written as:

W_ PEM ¼ Jel V (13)
Q_ out
where the voltage V is: m_ 2 s2 þ S_gen ¼ m_ 3 s3 þ (25)
T0
V ¼ V0 þ Vact;a þ Vact;c þ Vcon;a þ Vcon;c þ VOhmic (14)
The exergy destruction is calculated by the exergy balance
Here V0 represents the reversible cell potential and can be to consider the irreversibilities present in the system. The
calculated by the Nernst equation [28]: exergy balance can be determined by:
0
 0:5 1  
T0
DG RT B pH2 pO2 C m_ 2 ex2 ¼ m_ 3 ex3 þ Q_ out 1  (26)
V0 ¼ þ ln@ A (15) TIC
nF nF pH2 O
The exergy destruction of the PEM electrolyzer can be
where n represents the number of moles of electrons trans- calculated based on the following expression [31]:
ferred and p denotes partial pressure. _ H2O þ W
_ dest;el ¼ Ex _ PEM  Ex
_ H2  Ex
_ O2
Ex (27)
The exchange current density and activation over-
potential can be calculated by Ref. [28]:
   
RT Jel
Fuel Cell Subsystem
Vact;i ¼ sinh1 (16)
F 2Jo;i

  The performance of the proton exchange membrane fuel

ref Eact;i cell (PEMFC) is determined by:
Jo;i ¼ Ji exp (17)
RT
E ¼ Er  Eact  EOhm  Econc (28)
where i denotes cathode or anode, Jo,I represents exchange
current density and Jref
i denotes the pre-exponential factor. where Er denotes the reversible cell potential, EOhm represents
In a PEM electrolyzer, the Ohmic over-potential can be ohmic polarization, Eact is the activation polarization and Econc
evaluated as: represents concentration polarization.
The total activation potential is the sum of both anodic and
VOhmic ¼ RPEM Jel (18) cathodic activation potentials and can be expressed as:

Eact ¼ Eact;an þ Eact;ca (29)

Compressor  
RTFC J
Eact;i ¼ ln (30)
ai nF J0
For a compressor, the mass balance equation per unit time
can be represented as [29]: where R is the universal gas constant, TFC is the temperature
of the fuel cell, ai is the electron transfer coefficient of the
m_ 1 ¼ m_ 2 (19)
cathode and anode, n is the number of fuel cells, F is Faraday's
The energy balance for the compressor on the rate basis constant, J0 is the exchange current density and J is current
can be expressed as: density. The exchange current density J0 is determined by:

m_ 1 h1 þ W_ C ¼ m_ 2 h2 (20) J0 ðTÞ ¼ 1:08  1021  expð0:086  TFC Þ (31)

The entropy balance equation can be written as: By the Nernst equation, the reversible cell potential can be
calculated with the liquid water product:
m_ 1 s1 þ S_gen ¼ m_ 2 s2 (21)  
Er ðT; Pi Þ ¼ 1:482T  0:000845T þ 4:31  105 ln pH2 P0:5
O2 (32)
From the exergy balance equation, the exergy destruction
is calculated for the compressor and exergy balance equation where P represents partial pressure and T indicates the tem-
as [30]: perature of the fuel cell.
_ C ¼ m_ 2 ex2 þ Ex
_ d;C The expressions for measuring membrane conductivity
m_ 1 ex1 þ W (22)
smem and membrane water content lmem can be expressed as:
Intercooler  
1 1
smem ¼ ð0:005139lmem  0:00326Þexp 1268  (33)
303 TFC
The mass balance equation per unit time for the intercooler
can be represented as: lmem ¼ 0:043 þ 17:81a  39:85a2 þ 39:85a3 ; 0 < a  1 (34)
m_ 2 ¼ m_ 3 (23) The concentration polarization can be expressed as:

Please cite this article in press as: Ishaq H, et al., Performance investigation of an integrated wind energy system for co-generation of
power and hydrogen, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.03.139
6 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 e1 2

     
RT J RT PH2 J RT J Pwt þ m_ H2 LHVH2
Econc ¼ ln 1  þ ln 1 þ  ln 1  hov ¼ (44)
2F JL;an 2F PH2 O JL;an 4F JL;ca Input
(35) In the second scenario, the wind speed will be equal to a
where JL,an and JL,ca represent the limiting current densities. Toronto average wind speed, 4.2 m/s. In this case, the demand
The amount of heat released by the fuel cell is denoted by will be covered by the wind turbine and electrolyzer and the
Q_ FC and the heating rate is 1518 W. The power produced in one fuel cell will not operate. So the overall efficiency can be
cell of the designed fuel cell can be expressed as: calculated by the expression:

Pwt
_ cell ¼ EðIÞ  J  Acell hov ¼ (45)
W (36) Input

where Acell represents the geometric area of a single cell. The A third scenario is considered when the wind speed will be
stack power of the whole fuel cell is calculated by multiplying less then the average speed. In this case, a part of the demand
W_ cell with the number of cells, n. will be covered by the wind turbine and a remaining part will
be compensated by the fuel cell using stored hydrogen. The
W_ Stack ¼ n  W_ cell (37) overall efficiency for this case can be calculated by the
The exergy destruction of the fuel cell without using water equation:
can be calculated with the following expression:
Wstack þ Q_ FC
hov ¼ (46)
m_ H2 LHVH2
Ex _ O2  Q_ fc  W
_ H2 þ Ex
_ dest;fc ¼ Ex _ stack (38)
The exergy efficiency can be defined by:
 

Hydrogen Storage Subsystem Wstack þ Q_ FC 1  Tboundary
T0

jov ¼ (47)
m_ H2 LHVH2
By analysing the compressors and intercoolers, the ther-
modynamic states of H2 are obtained. The exergy analysis of
the hydrogen storage tank provides with time-dependent Results and discussion
exergy balance equation. So the initial exergy of the tank
plus the exergy input equals the total exergy plus exergy The thermodynamic properties are calculated by using the
destruction during the filling process [26]. software Engineering Equation Solver (EES). The temperature,
pressure, specific enthalpy, specific entropy and specific
m1 ex1 þ ðm_ i tÞexi ¼ m2 ex2 þ ExDest (39)
exergies are calculated and tabulated in Table 3. A pressure of
The exergy values for these three states are calculated by 101 kPa and the temperature of 25  C are considered as
using the following expressions: reference conditions. Some parameters of the PEM electro-
lyzer are tabulated in Table 1. The rates of exergy destruction
ex1 ¼ ðu1  u0 Þ  T0 ðs1  s0 Þ þ P0 ðv1  v0 Þ (40) of the major components are shown in Fig. 2 and it can be
described that the maximum rate of exergy destruction occurs
exi ¼ ðhi  h0 Þ  T0 ðs1  s0 Þ (41) in the hydrogen storage tank and the efficiency can be
increased by reducing the irreversibilities.
ex2 ¼ ðu2  u0 Þ  T0 ðs2  s0 Þ þ P0 ðv2  v0 Þ (42) Table 1 contains some parameters used for the analysis of
The chemical exergy remains the same during the filling the PEM electrolyzer. The parametric study is done on the
process so only physical exergy is considered. The exergy ef- basis of different wind speeds from 0 to 15 m/s which provides
ficiency of the hydrogen tank can be represented by Ref. [26]: data of excess electricity available and hydrogen production.
This relation is shown in Fig. 3. While increasing the wind
speed, the excess electricity increases which is then
m_ 2 exðtÞ2
jfilling ¼ (43)
m_ 1 ex1 þ ðm_ 1  tÞexi

Overall System Efficiencies Table 1 e Operating and design parameters of PEM

electrolyzer [28].

The major useful outputs of this co-generation system are Parameter Value
electricity, hydrogen and heat. The efficiency of this system 
Temperature (T) 80 C
can be defined in three different scenarios. Activation energy at anode Eact,a 76,000 J/mol
The first scenario occurs when the wind speed will be more Activation energy at cathode Eact,c 18,000 J/mol
4a 14
than the average speed. In this case, a wind turbine will pro-
4a 10
duce excess electricity and the electrolyzer will be working in ref
Anode pre-exponential factor Ja 1.7  105 A/m2
this scenario while the fuel cell will be on hold because the Cathode pre-exponential factor Ja
ref
4.6  103 A/m2
wind turbine will fulfill its demand. In this scenario, the Membrane thickness (D) 0.1 mm
overall efficiency of the system can be written as: Faraday's constant 96,486 C/mol

Please cite this article in press as: Ishaq H, et al., Performance investigation of an integrated wind energy system for co-generation of
power and hydrogen, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.03.139
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 e1 2 7

parameters used for the electrolyzer analysis are defined in

Table 2 e Operating and design parameters of the fuel cell
Table 1, such as activation energy and pre-exponential factors
[23].
at the anode and cathode, membrane thickness of 0.1 mm and
Parameter Range
Faraday's constant.
Current density 11,500 A/m2 In a case when the wind speed is less then the average
Cell area 0.1 m2 wind speed of Toronto, the wind turbine is not capable of
Cell operating temperature 80  C
supplying the full electricity. So when the speed is reduced,
Cell operating pressure 100 kPa
Fuel cell heat rate 1518 (W)
the wind turbine power Pwt is reduced and fuel cell power
Wstack from the fuel cell increases by using stored hydrogen to
overcome the requirement. In the case when no wind is
transferred towards the electrolyzer and this electricity re- available, no electricity is produced through the wind turbine
sults in increased hydrogen production. and the fuel cell operates to fulfill a high power requirement
The exergy destruction of each major component of the pro- which is represented in Fig. 4. A sequence of Pwt and Wstack is
posed system is calculated and presented in Fig. 2. The system described with respect to the average wind speed. At the
efficiency can be enhanced by reducing the exergy destruction. Toronto average wind speed, the wind turbine power reaches
Major factors for reducing exergy destruction are reducing the 34,750 W and provides the community with the electricity
irreversibilities of the system, reducing frictional losses and while during the interval when the wind speed is less than the
reducing temperature differences. By working on these factors, average speed, the fuel cell produces the electricity to
this can increase the efficiency of the proposed system. compensate the requirement and when there is zero wind
Some designed parameters of the fuel cell are shown in speed, the fuel cell operates to provide 34,750 W of electricity
Table 2. For a hydrogen storage tank, the design and operating and heating to the community.
parameters are tabulated in Table 4. The exergy efficiency of The activation overpotential is linked with the electrodes.
the hydrogen storage tank is calculated as 89%. The The activation potential is associated with different

Table 3 e Thermodynamic properties of the system.

State no. Fluid Temperature Pressure Specific enthalpy Specific entropy Specific exergy
( C) (kPa) (kJ kmol1) (kJ kmol1 K1) (kJ kmol1)
0 Water 25 101.3 104.8 0.367 0
0 Air 25 101.3 298.6 5.696 0
1 Water 80 100 6035 19.37 343
2 Hydrogen 80 100 1596 135.6 99.48
3 Hydrogen 640.6 500 18,076 150.1 12,259
4 Hydrogen 80 500 1596 122.2 4087
5 Hydrogen 640.6 2500 18,076 136.7 16,246
6 Hydrogen 80 2500 1596 108.8 8075
7 Hydrogen 80 100 1596 135.6 99.48

Fig. 2 e Rates of exergy destruction in major components of the system.

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8 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 e1 2

Fig. 3 e Variation in hydrogen production rate and excess electricity with wind speed.

In Fig. 6, the change in membrane conductivity of the fuel

Table 4 e Problem parameters for the hydrogen storage
cell represented by smem and the fuel cell power denoted by
tank [26].
Wcell is shown with the variation in fuel cell temperature TFC.
Parameter Range
The membrane conductivity mainly depends on the mem-
Dispensed hydrogen temperature Ti 60  C brane water content lmem and fuel cell temperature TFC and
Dispensed hydrogen pressure Pi 2500 kPa the activation energy of the fuel cell Eact depend upon the fuel
Filling time 120 s
cell temperature which impacts the fuel cell power. From
Ambient temperature T0 25  C
Ambient pressure P0 101.3 kPa
Fig. 6, the membrane conductivity increases with the increase
in fuel cell temperature while the fuel cell power decreases
parameters like temperature of the fuel cell TFC, ion exchange with an increase in fuel cell temperature.
densities, number of electrons and electron transfer co- In the case when the wind speed is more than the average
efficients. The variation in the activation overpotential of the speed, the overall efficiency is calculated by Equation (44).
cathode and electrode is shown in Fig. 5 with respect to the When the wind speed is higher, the wind turbine produces
variation in the fuel cell temperature TFC. The activation po- more electricity and excess electricity is sent towards the
tential of the cathode decreases more with an increase in electrolyzer to produce hydrogen. This hydrogen is stored in
temperature while the activation overpotential of the anode the storage tank with the help of a double stage compression
reduces slightly. system and stored hydrogen is used when the wind speed is

35000 35000

30000 30000

W Stack
25000 25000
Wstack (W)

P wt
Pwt (W)

20000 20000

15000 15000

10000 10000

5000 5000

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5

Wind Speed (m/s)

Fig. 4 e Power distribution between wind turbine power and fuel cell stack power when speed is less then the average
speed.

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 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 e1 2 9

1.2
Vfc,acta
0.28
Vfc,actc
1.16

0.24

1.12

Vfc,actc (V)
Vfc,acta (V)

0.2

1.08

0.16

1.04

0.12
1
80 90 100 110 120

T (C)

Fig. 5 e Fuel cell activation overpotential of cathode and anode with respect to temperature.

1800 700
Wcell
1700 600

cm-1)
-1
1600 500

Membrane conductivity (
Wcell (W)

1500 400

1400 300

1300 200

1200 100

1100 0
40 50 60 70 80
T (C)

Fig. 6 e Change in membrane conductivity and fuel cell power with varying fuel cell temperature.

less then the average speed or no wind is available. The overall The fuel cell comes into operation when the wind speed is
efficiency for the first scenario is plotted against the wind less then the average wind speed. So for the third scenario
speed in Fig. 7. With an increase in wind speed, the overall where a fuel cell is in operation, the overall energy and
efficiency deceases. The main reason behind the efficiency exergy efficiencies are calculated by Equations (46) And (47).
decrease with an increase in speed is because in this system, The overall energy and exergy efficiencies are plotted against
the demand for 25 houses is 34,750 W. So with the increase in the wind speed in Fig. 8. Energy and exergy efficiencies are
wind speed, the input of the system continues increasing but reduced with an increase in wind speed. In approaching the
the system demand is fixed. Thus, this kind of increase in the average wind speed, the fuel cell workload keeps on
input is a cause for a decrease in the efficiency with the in- decreasing because the remaining demand is delivered by
crease in wind speed and the efficiency decreases until 16% at the wind turbine. While at the average wind speed, the fuel
wind speed of 12 m/s. cell stops working and the whole demand is provided by the
In Table 2, some design and operating parameters of the wind turbine and the energy and exergy efficiencies are
fuel cell like operating temperature and pressure, current reduced from 28% to 30% to zero at the average wind speed
density and cell area are tabulated respectively. The current because at this speed, the wind turbine produces enough
density of 11,500 A/m2 and the cell area of 0.1 m2 are used as power for the community. Some system parameters of the
designed parameters. hydrogen storage tank like hydrogen dispensed temperature

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10 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 e1 2

0.9

0.8

Overall efficiency
0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Wind speed (m/s)

Fig. 7 e Overall efficiency of the system when the wind speed is higher than the average speed.

0.35 0.35

ov,en
0.3 0.3

ov,ex
0.25 0.25

Exergy efficiency
Energy efficiency

0.2 0.2

0.15 0.15

0.1 0.1

0.05 0.05

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Wind speed (m/s)

Fig. 8 e Energy and exergy efficiency of the system when the fuel cell is in operation at a wind speed less than the average
speed.

and pressure, filling time, and ambient conditions are tabu- temperature at a wind speed of 4 m/s. With the increase in
lated in Table 4. ambient temperature, the overall energy efficiency remains
The energy and exergy efficiencies of the overall system constant while the overall exergy efficiency decreases less.
are plotted against different ambient temperatures for The wind speed is plotted against the electricity produc-
different wind speeds in Fig. 9. The range of ambient tem- tion in Fig. 10. It shows that when the wind speed is less then
perature is taken from 15 to 45  C and the overall energy and the average speed, no excess electricity is available. This
exergy efficiencies are calculated by setting different speeds. explains the negative value in the graph. At a speed more
The two lines at the top show the overall energy and exergy of than the average Toronto wind speed, the wind turbine starts
the system at a wind speed of 3 m/s with respect to the vari- producing the excess electricity. When the wind speed be-
ation in ambient temperature. By varying the ambient tem- comes more then the average wind speed, excess electricity
perature, the overall energy efficiency remains constant. The is provided to the electrolyzer to produce hydrogen for stor-
exergy efficiency decreases slightly with an increase in age and excess electricity is plotted against wind speed in
ambient pressure. The bottom two lines are the overall energy Fig. 10. Increasing the wind speed results in an increased
and exergy efficiencies of the system against ambient excess electricity.

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 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 e1 2 11

0.2

ov,3(m/s)
0.15
ov,3(m/s)
Overall efficiency
ov,4(m/s)

ov,4(m/s)
0.1

0.05

0
15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Ambient temperature (C)

Fig. 9 e Effect of ambient temperature on the overall energy and exergy efficiency.

500000 500000

Pw t
400000 400000
Excess

Excess Electricity (W)

300000 300000
Pwt (W)

200000 200000

100000 100000

0 0

-100000 -100000
2 4 6 8 10

Wind speed (m/s)

Fig. 10 e Effect of wind speed on the electricity production.

efficiency of the system is calculated at different wind speeds.

Conclusions The overall energy and exergy efficiencies at a wind speed of
3 m/s are evaluated as 19.3% and 18.3% respectively and at a
A cogeneration system comprising a wind turbine energy sys- wind speed of 9 m/s, the overall efficiency is evaluated as 39.5%.
tem integrated with a hydrogen fuel cell and proton exchange
membrane electrolyzer is developed and analyzed in this Nomenclature
paper. The integrated system meets an electricity demand of 25
households. In addition, the heat generated in the fuel cell is A area, m2
utilized for heating. Different cases for varying wind speeds are E actual voltage of cell, V
considered. When there is sufficient wind speed available, the Eact,a activation overpotential of anode, V
wind turbine meets the electricity demand. However, during Eact,c activation overpotential of cathode, V
high wind speeds, the excess electricity generated is supplied Econc concentration overpotential, V
to the electrolyzer to produce hydrogen which is stored in a Eohmic ohmic overpotential, V
storage tank. During periods of low wind speeds, the stored ex specific exergy, kJ/kg
hydrogen is utilized in the fuel cell to generate electricity to _
Ex exergy rate, W
overcome the shortage of electricity supply. The overall F Faraday constant, C/mol

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12 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y x x x ( 2 0 1 8 ) 1 e1 2

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