Large-scale production of green hydrogen from solar energy in Australia: Operation and control of a multi-unit PEM electrolyser system

Large-scale production of hydrogen using clean electricity from renewable energy sources (RESs) is gaining more momentum in attempts to foster the growth of the nascent hydrogen energy market. However, the inherited intermittency of RESs constitutes a significant challenge for the reliable and economic operation of electrolysers and consequently the overall hydrogen production plant. This paper proposes a power allocation control strategy to regulate the operation of a multi-unit electrolyser plant fed by a solar power system, for improved efficiency and economic hydrogen production. Proper implementation of the proposed control strategy can decrease the number of switching times, increase hydrogen production, raise the efficiency, and extend the operational lifespan of the utilised electrolyser units. A solar-hydrogen system comprising a 1 MW electrolyser plant and a battery system is designed, and implemented in MATLAB/Simulink environment to validate the efficacy of the proposed control strategy in improving the performance and reliability of an Industrial Green Hydrogen Hub (IGHH). The simulation results showed an improvement of 52.85% in the daily production of hydrogen with an increase of 71.088 kg/day, a 68.67% improvement in the efficiency, and an enhancement of more than 80% in the utilisation factor of the IGHH compared to other control techniques (traditional choppy control). • Coordinating the operation of multi-unit multi-MW electrolysers is investigated. • A BESS is integrated to suppress the fluctuations in renewable energy output. • Segmented control is used to control the operation of large multi-unit electrolysers. • The utilised control improved the yield and efficiency of green hydrogen production. • The utilised control enhanced the utilisation of the renewable power-to-X systems.