Storage Highlights 2020 – Gigawatt Winner: Areva H2Gen

With the new decade, pv magazine brings forth yet another energy storage highlights. Approximately two weeks of work went into sifting through this year’s 22 highlights submissions, conducting research, and preparing them for the jury. Once again, this year’s work was crowned by the moderation of the jury meeting, in which six leading industry experts discussed the technologies and solutions. Differing from previous years, the jurors have selected the top five “Gigawatt” winners, followed by five “Megawatt” winners, and a series of “Finalists” which will be published in the coming weeks, leading up to Energy Storage Europe.

Image: Areva H2Gen

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Built in partnership with Messe Düsseldorf and Energy Storage Europe, pv magazine’s annual Energy Storage Highlights 2020 special edition is hot off the press. Join us to celebrate this year’s top five awardees at our Insight panel session with discussion among our Gigawatt winners and panel of expert jurors.

Introducing our fifth Gigawatt Winner…

Areva H2Gen

Highly dynamic electrolyzer provides control power

While unlikely to stand out visibly in the Hoechst industrial park near Frankfurt, Germany – where pipes, valves, and pressure vessels are commonplace – the new Areva H2Gen project for hydrogen production and grid stabilization surely has the attention of jurors. As part of the MethQuest research project, the company’s solution shows promise for a new direction in the development of large-scale proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis. Areva H2Gen and project partners are developing a PEM electrolysis system with 1 MW nominal power and an overload capacity of 100% – thus capable of temporarily operating at 200% – to deliver frequency containment reserve (FCR) with the overload power.

According to rough cost estimates by project manager Lucas Busemeyer, Areva H2Gen hopes its technology will provide hydrogen for €3.60 per kilogram, including electricity costs at €0.05 per kilowatt-hour without FCR. However, this would require near full utilization of the device, at 8,000 hours per year over a 20 year duration. In order to do so, it must accompany renewables with operating grid power.

pv magazine Storage Highlights Ceremony

Now as a Webinar!

You are invited to join us online for the pv magazine Storage Highlights Ceremony on March 11, 10am – 11:30am (CET)!

The Energy Storage Europe Düsseldorf has been postponed indefinitely due to Coronavirus. Consequently, we will not be able to host our Insight event live onsite. However, in the age of digitalization we will host the Storage Highlights Ceremony as a webinar.

The five Gigawatt Winners will pitch their winning applications to the expert jury panel with a subsequent discussion by the independent leading analysts.

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Register now and join us! 

To open up new revenue streams, Areva intends to bring its device to the market for FCR, which would also provide flexibility to support the integration of renewable energy.

The challenge to accomplish this is that the electrolyzer must not only be able to run temporarily with twice the nominal output, but it must also be able to run with only 250 kW – without premature damage or aging. If accomplished, this wouldn’t increase investment costs by more than 20% compared to a standard system, explains Busemeyer. He expects that the additional revenue would translate to a three-to- five year payoff. When cross-financing the hydrogen production with FCR, the price of hydrogen would lower even further to approximately €3.45 per kg.

Jury Comment

Xavier Daval: “The solution can deliver FCR and grid stabilization. Once the energy is converted to hydrogen, it can be used for multiple applications such as mobility or industry.”

Jurors

Xavier Daval | CEO, kiloWattsol

Xavier Daval is an international solar and storage expert, and the CEO of French solar technical advisory firm kiloWattsol SAS, which he founded in 2007. Daval is an electrical engineer and the former EMEA director of a NYSE-listed manufacturer in the electronics industry. He is also the vice president of French renewable energy association Syndicat des Energies Renouvelables-SER, the chair of its solar commission SER-SOLER, and the director of the Global Solar Council (GSC).

James Frith | Head of Energy Storage, Bloomberg NEF

James Frith spearheads the energy storage team at BloombergNEF. He leads the company’s coverage on energy storage technologies and the lithium battery supply chain to provide insights on technology, markets, policies, and regulation. He leverages his background in battery research to provide key insights into the chemistries, applications, and markets for lithium-ion batteries.

Mark Higgins | COO, Strategen

Mark Higgins is the COO of Strategen, a professional services firm focused on market development for a decarbonized grid. Higgins also serves on the board of the Vehicle-Grid Integration Council, a nonprofit organization committed to advancing the role of smart EV charging. His past experience includes serving as the director of utility west at SunEdison, vice president of finance for Hu Honua Bioenergy, and Pacific Gas & Electric’s lead for key policy areas, including interconnection and transmission planning.

Julian Jansen | Senior Market Analyst - Solar & Energy Storage, IHS Markit Technology

Julian Jansen is a research manager at IHS Markit Technology, leading the group’s global research on stationary energy storage to provide deep insights on the key value drivers and emerging business models accelerating storage deployment across Europe and North America. Jansen also delivers strategic advice for bespoke projects on a range of new energy technologies.

Florian Mayr | Partner, Apricum

Florian Mayr is a partner at Apricum, where he provides expertise on energy storage, renewables, and e-mobility. Mayr supports companies around the world to advance clean technologies by providing counsel for strategy and transactions in the sector. Prior to joining Apricum, Mayr spent eight years in senior positions at McKinsey & Company and German utility RWE.

Nina Munzke | Teamleader Stationary Energy Storage Systems, Karlsruhe institute of Technology

Nina Munzke has worked at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, serving as the team leader of “Systems Control and Analysis” since 2012. At the KIT Electrotechnical Institute, her focus is on energy storage systems. Munzke has extensive experience in the field of dimensioning and simulation, in addition to developing intelligent system controls for stationary storage systems. She is also an expert in the evaluation of the performance of stationary storage systems.

 

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