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Containerised Bespoke Stand-Alone Microgrid Power
Australia's harsh and spread landscape presents many challenges to energy authorities responsible for providing power to our population, and the numerous residents and businesses that exist in these areas. Historically these problems have been solved in 2 primary ways.
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Very long Single Wire Earth Return (SWER) power lines: these long lines are subject to extreme events of nature (fires, winds, floods) and as a result don't provide the reliability (and sometimes capacity) that is needed for residents and businesses they support.
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Diesel generators: while the power is reliable, bringing in bulk diesel can also be hampered by extreme weather events, requiring larger stock piles for critical risk periods. There is also an obvious biproduct of burning fossil fuel, which is not sustainable.
Using todays technology, smaller power users (often singular houses/farms) have been able to substitute their power needs with hybrid solutions that include solar power and lithium-ion batteries. This is certainly a highly efficient option however when large amounts of energy are required or seasonal factors of renewable generation come into play, lithium-ion can not provide the solution that is necessary. Hydrogen can store energy indefinitely.
A hydrogen based Stand-Alone Power microgrid can therefore be an important solution for numerous locations in the vast expanses of Australia, whether for mid-size living communities, or agribusiness operators. It has numerous clear advantages in that:
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Hydrogen is energy dense, and can store large amounts of energy in a small footprint (~13MW of useable energy in a 40' container).
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Energy is generated locally and doesn't rely on transportation. Local generation can be supported by external supply as necessary.
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As costs of diesel and related transportation continue to increase, levelised cost of energy become considerably lower with renewables and hydrogen.
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Energy costs are fixed for the life of the equipment (expected to be 25 years), once capital acquisition is made.
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Power is reliable; being an electrochemical solution (no moving parts) other than the compressor, there is less to break down.
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Biproducts from making hydrogen are valuable, if their use is designed into the solution (high purity oxygen and low grade heat).
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It can be integrated with existing systems and scale up in energy produced/stored, as local demand increases.
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It is emission free; the system uses renewable energy to power a site, with excess stored in hydrogen for 24/7/365 use.
Nillson Energy have designed and produced a stand-alone power system that can operate a microgrid that supports a location to operate 24/7/365 days of the year on renewable energy. This is achieved by understanding the power consumption profile of the site, and sizing the individual elements appropriately. From here, the proprietary Nilsson Energy software manages each component to provide complete energy coverage, while importantly managing the longevity of each piece of equipment.
As per all Skai Energy partners, Nilsson Energy also builds the complete system into containers, and fully tests them before shipping to the customer site. The number of containers will depend on the configuration of site power needs, and capacity of each individual component. At the basic level, each system will include:
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Electrolyser
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Compressor (if required)
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Storage
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Fuel Cell
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Battery (small, to form the grid)
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Electronics to support the equipment
Skai Energies works with you to build up a site profile of energy use and ensure appropriate fundamentals to begin down the path of diesel or SWER Line displacement. Once broad capability is established, a project would commence with Skai Energies to complete a solution and deliver a project and hardware to complete renewable reliability.
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