Achieving net zero emissions will require an expanded share of renewable energy and a range of technologies and solutions. Hydrogen is clean and efficient, and has the potential to become a widely used fuel. In addition, it is an energy carrier that can be stored, transported, and converted into other compounds or synthetic fuels in the medium and long term. Hydrogen is the carrier of different derivatives. However, the scale development of hydrogen energy still faces many challenges, the following is a brief introduction of ABB’s own technology to promote the development of hydrogen energy:

Create a real factory process environment with digital twins

Hydrogen is highly flammable even at low concentrations, and due to the characteristics of hydrogen, combustion in air presents a light blue flame, which is almost impossible to see with the naked eye in natural environments. Before hydrogen can be used as a fuel or energy carrier, the safety of its production and transportation needs to be ensured.

ABB creates digital twins for hydrogen production plants that cover the entire life cycle of the project, including the planning, execution and operational phases to help optimize performance, reduce risk and improve safety. ABB Process Power Simulator(PPSim) integrates with process models and simulation control systems to create a realistic dynamic behavior of factory processes, which helps manufacturers optimize various configurations during the planning stage. Importantly, it creates a real environment where operators can observe the behavior of the equipment under real process and power conditions and scenarios. This gives factory operators a valuable “hands-on experience,” similar to pilots being trained on flight simulators. They can see how the system responds to different power input scenarios during normal operation and learn on the simulator how to respond to emergencies, such as leaks or fires, and the system will also generate additional predictions of potential outcomes. Especially in emerging industries, this is the ideal way for operators to safely gain confidence and experience.

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Accurate calculation of hydrogen plant size to reduce costs

The cost of producing green hydrogen can be four to five times higher than producing grey hydrogen. Although it is a zero-carbon emission fuel, if the cost of green hydrogen is so high, it is much less competitive in the value chain. Utilize technology to reduce the life cycle cost of hydrogen by optimizing the size of the production plant while maximizing the use of renewable energy sources.

If you break down the life cycle cost of hydrogen, about 14% of the cost comes from the capital expenditure cost of the construction project, and about 69% comes from the cost of electricity. ABB has developed the HPP(Hydrogen Production Plant) Scale Analysis Tool, a web-based software that fully optimizes the scale of hydrogen production plants by considering the best operating model at the planning stage. To reduce the life cycle cost of hydrogen, it is critical to accurately calculate the size of the hydrogen production plant and include energy management systems as part of the process design. Our tools can run different scenarios, including storage, cell type, and power input type. It is user-friendly and provides a graphical overview that lets customers build, manipulate, and compare different scenarios within the digital twin of the proposed plant.

While green hydrogen is the ultimate goal, we know that in the energy transition, hydrogen production will increase the proportion of renewable energy and reduce energy from the grid. By optimising plants in the planning stage, producers will be able to resize plants for low hydrocarbon production and improve competitiveness in the hydrogen value chain.