Hydrogen Based Provision of Flexible Primary Control Reserve in Thermal Power Plants

In order to achieve the aims of the Paris Agreement, renewable energies have to be expanded drastically. The volatility of wind and solar energy leads to a fluctuating provision to the electrical grid, which causes an increasing demand for primary control. At the same time coal-fired and nuclear power plants are shutdown, which are currently the main providers of primary control. Thus, new concepts and technologies have to be developed to cover the large demand.

The project Hydrogen Based Provision of Flexible Primary Control Reserve in Thermal Power Plants adresses the possibility to burn hydrogen together with oxygen directly within the steam cycle of a combined cycle power plant for a short-term increase of the power output (PriO₂H₂ - Primary Control by Oxigen and Hydrogen Combustion). This is an example of a high-grade use of hydrogen which forms a storage system that uses both products of the electrolysis. The project is part of the Innovation Lab Sustainable Hydrogen Combustion Concepts and it is carried out by ITV, the Institute of Power Plant Engineering and Heat Transfer and Jade Hochschule Wilhelmshaven. It is funded by the Ministery for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony with funds of the VolkswagenStiftung.

The PriO₂H₂ uses the heat of the combustion to vaporise water, which is supplied additionally. Accordingly, the desired power enhancement is achieved by the increased steam mass flow through the turbine while the steam temperature remains constant. At ITV the combustion of hydrogen with oxygen is studied under steam conditions. For this the kinetics of the reactions have to be investigated under theses conditions. On this basis, a model for describing the interaction between combustion and water injection is developed by means of experimental test cases. In collaboration with Jade Hochschule Wilhelmshaven all results are scaled up with respect to the future application.