Dynamic simulation of a hydrogen-fueled system for zero-energy buildings using TRNSYS software

Department of Architectural Science, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Canada

Abstract

As a result of global warming and environmental pollution over the past few decades, life on Earth has been adversely affected. For this reason, large-scale zero-energy buildings have garnered considerable attention for utilizing clean energy resources. Hydrogen is a green and sustainable fuel with remarkable features of having high efficiency, higher energy content than diesel and gasoline, and producing only water as waste. Hydrogen can be integrated with a hybrid renewable energy system as safe and reliable energy storage for a longer time in net zero energy buildings compared to batteries with short-time energy storage capability. The focus of this study is to find the optimum design for a hydrogen storage system to isolate a small lab building from grid power by providing its hourly energy needs with renewable resources located in Toronto, Canada. Hence, a model using TRNSYS software is developed to study the behaviour of an energy system that could supply electricity to the lab building. To conduct a case study, TRNSYS is used to extract the solar irradiance during one year for climate data of Toronto. The system mainly comprises solar panels, an electrolyzer, a fuel cell, and a hydrogen storage tank. According to the results, renewable energy system reliability can be increased throughout the entire year period, and grid dependency reduced by adding a hydrogen storage system. Based on the optimized simulation results the system can supply the load demands of the lab in a year with the solar panel electricity production and the hydrogen storage unit without requiring grid power.