Faculty of Computing, Engineering andMedia – Course work Specification

Transport Fuels and Energy Storage Systems

Academic Offences and Bad Academic Practices: These include plagiarism, cheating, collusion, copying work and reuse of your own work, poor referencing or the passing off of somebody else’s ideas as your own. If you are in any doubt about what constitutes an academic offence or bad academic practice you must check with your tutor. Further information and details of how DSU can support you, if needed, is available at:

How the work will be marked: To achieve a ‘Distinction’ mark of 90 – 100%, the work must demonstrate an exceptional ability and insight, indicating the highest level of technical competence. It must have the potential to influence the forefront of the subject, it may be of publishable quality and it must demonstrate relevant generic skills at the highest possible standard. To achieve a ‘Distinction’ mark of 80 – 89%, the work must demonstrate an outstanding ability and insight based on authoritative subject knowledge and a very high level of technical competence. It must be considered to be close to the forefront of the subject, it may be close to publishable quality and it must demonstrate relevant generic skills at a very high level. To achieve a ‘Distinction’ mark of 70 – 79%, the work must demonstrate authoritative, current subject knowledge and a high level of technical competence. It must be accurate and extensively supported by appropriate evidence, it may show some originality with clear evidence of capacity to reflect critically and deal with ambiguity in the data, and it must demonstrate relevant generic skills at a high level. To achieve a ‘Merit’ mark of 60 – 69%, the work must demonstrate a sound, current subject knowledge it must contain no significant errors in the application of concepts or appropriate techniques but it may contain some minor flaws. It must be well developed and coherent, it may show some originality and clear evidence of capacity to reflect critically and it must demonstrate relevant generic skills at a good level. To achieve a ‘Pass’ mark of 50 – 59%, the work demonstrates satisfactory subject knowledge, with some evident weaknesses; possibly shown by conceptual gaps, or limited use of appropriate techniques. The work is generally sound but tends toward the factual or derivative, with limited evidence of capacity to reflect critically. The work must demonstrate relevant generic skills at a satisfactory level. A ‘Fail’ a mark of 40 – 49% indicates that the work demonstrates limited core subject knowledge and contains some important weaknesses; possibly shown by factual errors, conceptual gaps, or limited use of appropriate techniques. The work lacks sound development; it provides little evidence of capacity to reflect critically and demonstrates a quality of the relevant generic skills that do not meet the requirements of the task. A ‘Fail’ a mark of <30 indicates that the work demonstrates inadequate subject knowledge. It lacks coherence and evidence of capacity to reflect critically and demonstrates a quality of relevant generic skills that do not meet the requirements of the task.

Assignment A: Electrolysis for fuel production and demand shaping.

In a low carbon economy, it is anticipated that many fuel stations will produce hydrogen by on-site electrolysis for fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).

Your assignment is to investigate the potential for using electrolysis as a method of both producing hydrogen as an energy source for fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and for providing industrial-scale demand shaping services to smart energy networks.

To assist you in structuring your report, the assignment has been broken down into 4 sub-tasks. The sequence of tasks is intended to start with the broader context and background followed by a focussing-in on the core subject of electrolysis and finishing with some simple calculations to illustrate the key concept. You are encouraged to use this framework as a basis for conveying clearly (using figures, tables and graphs where they serve to enhance communication and understanding for the reader) the rationale for considering electrolysis as a facilitator of fuel production and demand shaping in a future low-carbon society.

Tasks

Explain what is meant by ‘demand shaping’ or ‘demand-side response’ (DSR) and why it is of importance to a low-carbon energy system. Provide examples of devices, systems or modes of operation that are suited to providing DSR and discuss the pros and cons of implementing it at both domestic and industrial scales.
Explain why and how the transport sector is reducing its reliance on fossil fuels and, in particular, the relative merits of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).
Describe the basic principles of water electrolysis and its role in the production of hydrogen fuel and the provision of demand shaping services to low-carbon energy networks.
Using the following assumptions, assess the commercial viability of a forecourt operator providing demand shaping services by responding to tariff incentives its electricity supplier, while ensuring that hydrogen fuel is always available to FCEV drivers using the refuelling station.
- At a certain forecourt, where an electrolysis system is to be installed, the average daily demand for hydrogen fuel is expected to be 160kg, which amounts to 58,400 kg/y of fuel sales. The assumed specific energy consumption for the electrolyser and its Balance of Plant (BoP) is 65kWh/kg of hydrogen produced, giving a typical annual energy demand of 3,796,000 kWh.

Calculate which of the following 3 tariff options and equipment configurations is likely to be the most profitable for this forecourt operator.

An 8kg/hour rated electrolyser, a 180kg hydrogen store and a flat-rate electricity tariff of £0.08/kWh.
A 24kg/hour electrolyser, a 180kg hydrogen store and a 2-tier, fixed-rate electricity tariff of £0.13/kWh for 17 hours per day of peak time and £0.03/kWh for 7 hours per day of off-peak time.
A 24kg/hour electrolyser, a 800kg hydrogen store and a dynamic electricity tariff whose variation is heavily influenced by fluctuations in renewable energy yield. Making use of the larger store and exploiting price dips, the forecourt operator pays an average of £0.02/kWh.

As well as determining the annual profit on fuel production and sales, your calculations should include an average cost per kilogram of hydrogen produced in each case.

Assume:

Including Balance of Plant (BoP), such as compressors, electronics and water purification electrolyser systems cost approximately £20,000 per kg/h of rated capacity, and last about 10 years. The interest rate over this 10-year lifetime averages 5%, giving a Capital Recovery Factor (CRF) of 0.13.
Compressed hydrogen gas storage systems cost approximately £400 per kg of rated capacity and last about 10 years
The forecourt operator sells hydrogen at a fixed price of £5.00/kg;

Report format

Your report must address all the Tasks. The word count for the main text, excluding references, should not exceed 2000.

Use a portrait single column A4 format, like this document. Include page numbers.

Graphs and tables will be helpful, but these should be mainly be produced by you and not from third parties. All tables and figures must be numbered and referred to in the text.

Avoid repeating large amounts of information from this Brief.

You should use Arial, Times New Roman or similar font of size no less than 10 points. Leave a ½ or 1 line space between paragraphs.

Your report should not have an executive summary, nor any appendices, but must include the following, in this order (including your own headings):

Title page (include your name, P number, course code, module name, month and year of submission) – use a title relevant to the topic, not just ‘Assignment B’.
Introduction
[your chosen headings]
Conclusions
References (all of these should be relevant and cited in the text). Use a standard format such as IEEE or Harvard.

Sources of information

Internet links are shown in blue.

For general information about electrolysers and their role in demand shaping, here are the websites of some of the leading manufacturers:
- https://www.itm-power.com
- https://www.hydrogenics.com
- https://nelhydrogen.com
A good primer for hydrogen and fuel cells in general is “Fuel cell systems explained”, 2^nd Edition, 2003, by Larminie and Dicks (available from DMU Library: https://dmu.summon.serialssolutions.com/?q=#!/search?ho=t&l=en-UK&q=fuel%20cell%20systems%20explained)
There is a vast amount of literature on smart grids and demand-side response, but the book “Smart grid redefined: transformation of the electric utility”, 2018, by Subramanian Vadari, provides a good, very readable (if rather US-centric), overview of the field. It can be obtained as an e-book through the DMU Library (https://zr7av6yc4v.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fsummon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.title=Smart+Grid+Redefined&rft.au=Vadari%2C+Subramanian&rft.date=2018-01-01&rft.pub=Artech+House&rft.isbn=9781630814762&rft.externalDocID=EBC5430708&paramdict=en-UK)
There are, of course, also numerous academic journal sources covering the above, which you are strongly encouraged to make use of.

Marking allocation

Marks will be allocated as follows:

	Marks
Task 1. Explanation of ‘demand shaping’	20
Task 2. Description and comparison of BEVs and FCEVs	20
Task 3. Overview of electrolysis	20
Task 4. Calculation and conclusion	20
Report structure, writing and presentation	10
Use of appropriate sources, citation and referencing	10
TOTAL	100

If you have any queries contact the Module Leader.