Skip to content
1900

Optimizing Hydrogen Production for Sustainable Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles: Grid Impacts in the WECC Region

Abstract

The fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) is a promising transportation technology for resolving the air pollution and climate change issues in the United States. However, a large-scale penetration of FCEVs would require a sustained supply of hydrogen which does not exist now. Water electrolysis can produce hydrogen reliably and sustainably if the electricity grid is clean, but the impacts of FCEVs on the electricity grid are unknown. In this paper, we develop a comprehensive framework to model FCEV-driving and -refueling behaviors, the water electrolysis process, and electricity grid operation. We chose the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) region for this case study. We modeled the existing WECC electricity grids and accounted for the additional electricity loads from FCEVs using a Production Cost Model (PCM). Additionally, the hydrogen need for five million FCEVs leads to a 3% increase in electricity load for WECC. Our results show that an inflexible hydrogen-producing process leads to a 1.55% increase to the average cost of electricity, while a flexible scenario leads to only a 0.9% increase. On the other hand, oversized electrolyzers could take advantage of cheaper electricity generation opportunities, thus lowering total system costs.

Funding source: This research was funded by Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation Project, grant number ZR2023QE192 and 2027HWYQ-071.
Related subjects: Applications & Pathways
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journal6793
2025-01-30
2025-02-14
/content/journal6793
Loading
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error