H₂ & RENEWABLE ENERGY: A CASE STUDY IN NORTH-WESTERN ITALIAN ALPS

In the mainframe of a research contract, a feasibility predesign study of an Hydrogen-fuelled Laboratory Village has been carried out: the goals are the design and the simulation of a demonstration plant, based on hydrogen as primary fuel, produced by electrolysis, with a grid connected plant using a mix of hydroelectric power and solar in a small remote village located in Valle d'Aosta (Italy).
The electricity production from hydroelectric plants in Valle d'Aosta has a very low cost, due to large water availability; plants are essentially with fluent water (only two plants have reservoirs). Therefore, the production of hydrogen during the night (instead of selling the electricity to the grid at very low prices) could become a good economic choice, and hydrogen could be a competitive fuel in term of costs, if compared to oil or gas.
Local mobility and heating requirement of three buildings are supplied with hydrogen.
Special emphasis has been laid on a detailed design and on an economic analysis. A dynamic simulation of the plants (developed with TRNSYS) has been carried out in order to outline their behaviour during a year of operation.