By: Inspenet, Dec 8, 2022
NuScale Power, LLC together with Shell Global Solutions and their industry partners will develop and evaluate a concept for an economically optimized Integrated Energy System (IES) for hydrogen production using electricity and process heat from a NuScale VOYGR™ Small Modular Reactor (SMR) power plant.
The project, titled “Development and demonstration of a concept for an economically optimized HEI”, will be completed in two phases. Other research participants include Idaho National Laboratory, Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS), Fuel Cell Energy, FPoliSolutions and GSE Solutions.
NuScale’s flexible SMR technology has the potential to balance and stabilize power grids dominated by renewable energy through the production of hydrogen. Energy markets present reliability problems at times when energy demand is high and renewable energy production is low.
In these markets, the hydrogen would be used as an end product or as a stored energy source that would be processed through a reversible solid oxide fuel cell (RSOFC) for electricity generation.
“Hydrogen has been identified as a pathway to global decarbonization, and NuScale’s SMR technology complements this goal through low-carbon hydrogen production,” said John Hopkins, president and CEO of NuScale Power.
A NuScale control room simulator will be modified to evaluate IES dynamics and will include models for the Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell (SOEC) system for hydrogen production, as well as an RSOFC for electricity production. The investigation will consider the number of NuScale Power Modules™ needed for use in SOEC hydrogen production and the amount of hydrogen stored for subsequent electricity production. In addition, the local economic factors of the UAMPS Carbon Free Power project will be evaluated, such as the impact on the Western Energy Imbalance Market, resource adaptation programs and other local market factors to be defined.
“We are pleased to join this collaboration, which is in line with our efforts to explore technologies that have the potential to enable decarbonization and support the energy transition,” said Dirk Smit, Shell’s vice president of research strategy.
Cover photo : NuScale SMR module. Credit : NuScale Power
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