Self-sufficient and regenerative electricity supply systems with hydrogen based energy storage

The utilization of renewable energy sources, especially for self-sufficient small scale electricity supply, necessitates – in consequence of their fluctuations – decoupling of electricity generation and consumption. Different storage technologies are available among which hydrogen arises as an appropriate solution since it has proven eligible for short-, middle- and long term range. In particular metal-hydride beds promise easy and safe hydrogen storage. The operational performance of this recent technology is investigated experimentally, leading to an appropriate simulation model which – together with other component models – is further used in the frame of a design tool for equitable planning, as well for developing reasonable operation strategies of hydrogen storage based small energy systems.