IEEE International Conference on Innovations in Green Energy and Healthcare Technologies(ICIGEHT’17) 1

Hydrogen Energy Storage Based Green Power Plant

in Seashore of Bangladesh: Design and Optimal Cost
Analysis
S.M. Baque Billah1,*, Kazi Meharajul Kabir1, Md. Onik Islam1, Sujoy Barua1, Md. Sultan Mahmud2,
Md. Shahadat Hossain1
1
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Science & Technology Chittagong (USTC)
Chittagong, Bangladesh
2
Department of Green Energy Technology, Pondicherry University
Puducherry, India
*
baque.ustc06@gmail.com

Abstract— Adequate energy supply capability is the key factor it is obligatory to develop and endorse unconventional energy
for the development of any country. Despite of having enormous sources. Due to the shortage of fossil fuels and limitations of
energy resources, Bangladesh is facing acute shortage of using natural fuels, the government has already started to shift
Electricity and needs to enhance the power generation capacity its focus on various renewable energy resources like wind,
to support the rising demand. Power production and its related solar, tidal and the underlying technologies used to extract
environmental issues are becoming a major concern to our energy from these resources. A huge amount of sunlight
country. Effective and efficient use of sustainable energy sources during the day is a great blessing for Bangladesh as it
will be an environment friendly attempt towards reducing power contributes to a yearly average of about 500W/m2/day [4] [5].
crisis. In this paper we came up with an idea to establish a green Wind flow is also reasonable in coastal areas and annual
(environment friendly) power plant at various seashores average solar radiation is similar throughout the coastal areas
throughout the country, based on hydrogen energy storage. of Bangladesh. Patenga is one of the coastal area with an
Proposed power plant will store solar and wind energy using average annual solar radiation of 4.63 KWh/m2/day and
hydrogen storage which is a green fuel to generate electricity monthly average wind speeds at a height of 30 meters is 2.74
during peak load demand. For design and optimization, we have m/s. So, based on solar and wind energy, it is feasible to
chosen Patenga seashore where wind flow is reasonable as well as
implement a grid connected hybrid power system in the area
the solar radiation is optimal. The major objective of this
proposed optimized design to be able to meet peak load demand
which will solve energy crisis to some extent. The grid
using hydrogen energy with low THD (total harmonics distortion) connected hybrid technology faces quite a few problems such
and also reduce the GHG (Green Houses Gas) emission. Here, as, energy storage for storing excess electricity and total
HOMER is used to examine the most cost effective harmonics distortions (THD) from inverter where THD should
configurations among a set of systems for electricity requirement be 5% of rated inverter output [6].To overcome this situation,
of 8 MWh/day peak load demand in patenga. hydrogen economy is widely discussed by researchers be a
solution to the world’s future energy and play an important
Keywords— Sustainable energy; hydrogen energy; peak load; role as an energy carrier. In near future Hydrogen may be
cost effective; harmonics distortion; green house gas; converted into useful forms of energy more efficiently than
fossil fuels [7]. In addition, water electrolysis is a very
I. INTRODUCTION promising technology for future production of renewable
Bangladesh is a developing country with 152 million hydrogen [8]. Hydrogen production from water electrolysis
people spread across a land of 147,570 sq km. A thriving can be performed using renewable energy and PEM
economic expansion, rapid urbanization and increasing electrolyzer become known as one of the most clean and
industrialization have increased the country’s demand for talented alternatives to reduce fossil fuel dependency [9].
electricity. Around 62% [1] of the total population (counting Electrolytic hydrogen (H2) is appropriate for seasonal storage
renewable energy) have access to electricity and 321 KWh [2] applications because of its inborn high mass energy density,
is per capita generation. Compared to other developing leakage from the storage tank is insignificant and it is easy to
countries this power generation is very low. In Bangladesh the install anywhere in contrast to battery storage which is
power supply is lacking and cannot meet the peak demand. commonly used in hybrid technology [10].
About 75 percent population in rural area are beyond the This paper proposes a novel power system at patenga
range of grid electricity. At this time, the country is facing a seashore based on hydrogen economy. In this proposed
critical electricity emergency due to growth of almost each system, power plant consists of 3MG alternator which will be
and every sector. According to the BREB (Bangladesh Rural run by hydrogen gas. Hydrogen will be produced from sea
Electrification Board), scarcity of electricity is almost 15-20 water electrolysation using solar and wind energy and further
percent of actual generation during present peak and off peak stored in a tank. As alternator produces pure sin wave so
hours. To meet the growing electricity demand the use of power grid will experience low THD. As hydrogen is a green
fossil fuels need to be increased which in turn has negative fuel so there is no (CO2) carbon emission from the proposed
environmental effects. The power sector alone contributes to system.
40% of total CO2 emissions in Bangladesh [3]. In this case, to
ensure energy security without raising environmental impacts,

978-1-5090-5778-8/17/$31.00 ©2017
Department of BME & EEE, Dr.N.G.P. Institute of Technology
 IEEE International Conference on Innovations in Green Energy and Healthcare Technologies(ICIGEHT’17) 2

II. SYSTEM METHODOLOGY

We want to establish a green energy plant and thus we
have used two renewable energy (solar and wind energy).
When solar radiation falls on the PV panel and wind rotates
the turbine both will produce DC power. The power obtained
from both sources will then feed to PEM electrolyzer
throughout a converter. Using this DC power PEM
electrolyzer will produce Hydrogen (H2) from sea water which
will be eventually stored in a tank .We use a hydrogen fuel
generator to generate AC power from hydrogen (H2). All of
the calculations, analysis, simulations are done by HOMER
Pro. Software. Fig. 1 shows the block diagram of the proposed
system.
Fig. 2: Plant Model by Homer

IV. RESOURCE DATA ANALYSIS

We have collected all the data of annual solar radiation
and wind speed form Bangladesh Meteorological Department
airport patenga branch and The National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA). Table III shows the Global
Horizontal Irradiation (GHI) value for Patenga, Chittagong.
Table 4 dhows the Wind speed data for Patenga, Chittagong
TABLE III
GLOBAL HORIZONTAL IRRADIATION (GHI) VALUE FOR PATENGA,
CHITTAGONG

NASA Weather Office

Month Clearness Daily Radiation Daily Radiation
Index KWh/m2/day KWh/m2/day
[11] [12,13]
January 0.335 4.597 4.240
Fig. 1: Block diagram of the proposed system
February 0.379 5.126 6.350
III. PROPOSED PLANT MODEL March 0.490 5.634 7.800
April 0.540 5.760 8.110
Propose model consists of two renewable primary sources May 0.577 5.786 7.750
(solar, wind), tank, load, converter, Hydrogen generator and June 0.613 4.335 5.040
sea water which is used by electrolyzer. Table 1 shows the July 0.598 4.048 5.590
proposed plant location. Table 2 shows proposed plant August 0.571 4.224 4.320
specification. Fig. 2 shows plant model by Homer September 0.528 4.083 4.670
TABLE I October 0.453 4.725 4.180
PROPOSED PLANT LOCATION November 0.360 4.409 6.910
December 0.324 4.391 5.250
Location Golden Beach Road, Patenga, Chittagong,
Annual 0.543 4.63 5.85
Bangladesh Average

Latitude 22 degrees 15 minutes North TABLE IV

WIND SPEED DATA FOR PATENGA, CHITTAGONG

Longitude 91 degrees 48 minutes East Weather Office

Month Wind speed Average wind
from NASA[11] speed(m/s)
TABLE III (30 feet)[12,13]
PROPOSED PLANT SPECIFICATION
January 2.480 2.220
PV Generic flat plate PV 2.5 MW February 2.730 2.220
March 2.900 2.500
Wind Norvento nED 7 MW
April 3.070 2.500
Turbine
May 3.040 3.050
Generator 3MW Genset 3 MW June 3.420 2.780
July 3.250 3.050
Electrolyzer PEM Electrolyzer 5 MW August 2.930 2.780
Storage Tank Hydrogen Storage tank 10000 Kg September 2.440 2.500
October 2.040 1.390
Converter Converter 5 MW November 2.240 1.940
December 2.330 1.670
Annual Average (m/s) 2.74 2.38

Department of BME & EEE, Dr.N.G.P. Institute of Technology

 IEEE International Conference on Innovations in Green Energy and Healthcare Technologies(ICIGEHT’17) 3

V. SIMULATION & RESULTS

The simulation of our model was carried out using the
HOMER pro software.
A. Component specification for simulation

Solar cell 2500KW

Lifetime 20 yr
Derating factor 80%
Tracking system No Tracking
Fig. 5 Generator efficiency curve
Slope 23.000 deg
Azimuth 0.000 deg Our main target was to fulfill the peak load demand in patenga
Ground reflectance 20.0% Chittagong. The daily demand is 8MW and the duration of
Fig, 3 shows the solar GHI resource Peak demand is from 6pm to 10pm and total demand in a year
is 2920000KWh/yr. Fig. 6 Shows electrical peak load demand
in patenga.

Fig. 3 Solar GHI Resource

Wind Turbine: 14
Rated capacity : 500 KW
Rotor Diameter : 22m
Hub Height ; 30 m
Life time : 20 year
Figure 4. shows the wind speed Fig. 6 Electrical peak load demand curve

B. Optimization results
Fig. 7 shows the monthly hydrogen production by the system
using HOMER. Also, Fig. 8 shows the electrolyzer output

Fig. 4 Wind Speed

Converter capacity :5000KW

Hydrogen Storage tank : 10000Kg
Electrolyzer : PEM Electrolyzer
Capacity : 5000KW
Life Time : 20 yr
Efficiency: 85%

Generator : 3000KW
Fuel : Hydrogen
Efficiency : 80% Fig. 7 Hydrogen production curve
Fig. 5 shows the generator efficiency curve

Department of BME & EEE, Dr.N.G.P. Institute of Technology

 IEEE International Conference on Innovations in Green Energy and Healthcare Technologies(ICIGEHT’17) 4

Fig. 8 Electrolyzer output curve

Fig. 10 Hydrogen Generator output Curve
Generator: 3000kW Genset
Quantity Value Units
Hours of operation 1457 hrs/yr
Number of starts 365 starts/yr
Operational life 34 Yr
Fixed generation cost 0.43 $/hr
Marginal generation cost 0.00 $/kWh
Electrical production 2910906 kWh/yr
Mean electrical output 1998 kW
Min. electrical output 485 kW Fig. 11 Generator electricity production curve

Max. electrical output 3000 kW

The following result are obtained
Fuel consumption 116436 L/yr Table V shows the overall system production output.
Specific fuel consumption 0.04 L/kWh TABLE V
Fuel energy input 3881214 kWh/yr SYSTEM PRODUCTION

Mean electrical efficiency 75 % Component Production (yr)

Hydrogen production 122,275 kg
Hydrogen generator 2,910,906KWh
Fig. 9 shows the fuel consumption for fulfillment of target
production. Fig. 10 Shows hydrogen generator production Electrical AC load 2,917,683 KWh
output and Fig.11 Shows generator electricity production Hydrogen consumption 116,601 kg
curve.
VI. COST ANALYSIS
1$ = 80TK
Table VI & VII. Shows the cost analysis of the system .From
mentioned table it’s very much clear that system net present
cost is around 3,878,582$ and annual system cost is 283,415$.
TABLE VI
NET PRESENT COSTS

Component Capital O&M Total

PV 937,500 13,685 951,185

Wind turbine 1,450,000 27,370 1,477,370
3000kW 250,000 598 246,732
Genset
Converter 1,000 0 1,000
Electrolyzer 1,200,000 1,369 1,201,369
Fig. 9 Fuel Consumption Curve Hydrogen 1,000 0 926
Tank
System 3,839,500 43,022 3,878,582

Department of BME & EEE, Dr.N.G.P. Institute of Technology

 IEEE International Conference on Innovations in Green Energy and Healthcare Technologies(ICIGEHT’17) 5

TABLE VII [4] Meteonorm, On-line available at www.meteonorm.com, accessed on

ANNUALIZED COSTS August 29, 2015.
[5] Solar Energy in Urban Bangladesh: An Untapped Potential, Nazmul
Hasan Shiblee, Dhaka, Bangladesh, ChE Thoughts, December 2013,
Component Capital O&M Total Volume, Issue 01.
[6] Characteristics of the Utility Interface for Photovoltaic (PV) Systems,
PV 68,505 1,000 69,505 IEC61727, Dec. 2004.
[7] Veziroglu T.N and al. Hydrogen Energy Technologies, UNIDO-
Wind turbine 105,954 2,000 107,954 Emerging Technologies Series, United Nations Industrial Development
Organization, Vienna, Austria. 1998.
3000kW 18,268 44 18,029 [8] FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership: Hydrogen production overview of
Genset technology options. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/
hydrogenandfuelcells/pdfs/h2_production_roadmap.pdf (2009).
Converter 73 0 73 Accessed 8 May 2013
[9] K. Cristian, F.P. Paul, A.M. Miguel and P.H. Attila, Control Oriented
Electrolyzer 87,686 100 87,786 Modeling and Experimental Validation of a PEMFC Generation System,
IEEE, 2011.
Hydrogen 73 0 68 [10] K. Agbossou, M. Kolhe, J. Hamelin, and T. K. Bose, ‘‘Performance of a
Tank Stand-Alone Renewable Energy System Based on Energy Storage as
Hydrogen’’, IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, Vol. 19, No. 3,
System 280,559 3,144 283,415 September 2004.
[11] NASA surface meteorology and solar energy,
http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov
The overall cost summary are shown in fig. 12. [12] Bangladesh Meteorological Department, "Monthly wind speed data",
weather data , Climate Division- patenga airport branch ,Chittagong
,Bangladesh.
[13] K. M. Kabir, S. Mazumder, S. U. Chowdhury and M. R. Haq, "Design
& simulation of photovoltaic, wind, battery, grid connected hybrid
power system for Patenga, Chittagong, Bangladesh," 2015 International
Conference on Advances in Electrical Engineering (ICAEE), Dhaka,
2015,pp.1-4. doi: 10.1109/ICAEE.2015.7506782

Fig. 12 overall cost summary

VII. CONCLUSIONS
Proposed system is suitable for sea based areas in
Bangladesh and completely green energy model. For that
system has not CO2 emissions & pollution free. Basically
proposed design is just for contributing in peak load demand
but if the hydrogen storage is sufficient it can also contribute
in base load demand. The initial cost of the system is very
high but per unit cost of the system is 0.09$/KWh which is
profitable than the conventional quick rental power plants of
0.23$/KWh cost per unit. As alternator gives pure sign wave
so generated power has no THD. Finally the proposed system
is reliable and efficiency is very high with negligible system
loss.

REFERENCES
[1] http://www.powercell.gov.bd, accessed on August 29, 2015.
[2] www.powerdivision.gov.bd/user/brec1/30/1, accessed on August 29,
2015.
[3] R. M. Shrestha, G. Anandarajah, and M. H. Liyanage, "Factors
affecting CO2 emission from the power sector of selected countries in
Asia and the Pacific," Energy Policy, vol. 37, pp. 2375-2384, Jun 2009.

Department of BME & EEE, Dr.N.G.P. Institute of Technology