This project investigates the feasibility of hydrogen refueling stations using photovoltaic systems for fuel cell scooters. The aim was to identify the solar electricity generation potential of noise barriers in the Netherlands and the connection between this and future theoretical hydrogen demand for fuel cell powered two wheelers (scooters or mopeds). Noise barriers block noise from inhabited areas, which is also where mopeds and their owners reside. Noise barriers retrofitted with solar panels, or Energy Walls, coupled with a hydrogen production, storage and dispensing system is proposed. This system would enhance sustainable, carbon neutral mobility as well as contribute renewable energy to the grid electricity mix. Particulate matter, greenhouse gases and noise pollution are reduced with electric drive vehicles such as fuel cell powered two wheelers. A case study of a noise barrier on the A20 in Rotterdam Noord was modeled; other suitable locations were identified as well, such as Amsterdam or Delft. The characteristics of the barrier in Rotterdam provided a lower levelized cost of PV electricity and was thus chosen to simulate specifically. A range of electrolyzer capacities was also simulated to understand the effect of the electrolyzer capacity and the final cost of hydrogen to the user. The demand base case was 100 scooters which traveled 2.5 km/day each on average. Provided a single metal hydride canister has a range of 25 km and capacity of 45 gH2 , this demand configuration means 0.45 kgH2/day needs to be produced for the users. An hourly simulation of the energy production was modeled using two control strategies, which focused on maximizing the Energy Wall input and the use of the electrolyzer respectively. The second strategy had higher electricity costs as compared to the first, however the cost of the electrolyzer was minimal regardless of the number of panels. The cost of hydrogen depends on the size of the Energy Wall and the electrolyzer capacity; for the lowest cost setup the price of hydrogen ranged between 14.3 and 7.2 EURO/kgH2 . The cost per kilometer traveled by fuel cell scooters was found to be between 2.57 and 1.4 ¢/km. Battery electric vehicles are still much cheaper to operate in this aspect, driving at a cost mileage of between 0.3 and 0.6 ¢/km, however gas powered scooters had the highest cost per kilometer (3 - 5¢/km). This model finds that the operational costs of a hydrogen fuel cell scooter are lower than its gas scooter counterpart, but not low enough to compete with battery powered scooters. The one advantage of gas scooters is the range on one refuel, however with their relatively high operational costs and emissions, electric drive engines become favorable. Battery electric have a good cost efficiency. Fuel cell scooters are quickly recharged with canisters, and are mid-cost range to operate compared to the other two technologies.

The focus of this investigation is the location, sizing and performance of a Hydrogen Fueling Station (HFS) in The Netherlands in 2030. The transportation sector is one of the main air pollution sources, reaching 17% of the total emissions from The Netherlands in 2015. By promoting zero emission vehicles, like Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs), The Netherlands could reduce its environmental impact and reach its future emission goals.
The proposed HFS model consists of a wind turbine, electrolyzer, hydrogen compression and storage system, hydrogen cooling and dispensing system, and a hydrogen tube trailer for buying or selling hydrogen on the industrial market. This system is capable of producing hydrogen on-site with wind energy, reducing the emissions from hydrogen production. The location was based on the re-utilization of existing petrol fueling stations in The Netherlands, meaning that around 3,800 locations were considered. Based on existing legislation for wind turbine placement that regulate noise, safety, and environmental protection, locations were filtered to eliminate infeasible petrol fueling stations, thus leaving 106 locations that allow to install a wind turbine (2.7 % of the existing petrol fueling stations).
By extrapolating the possible hydrogen demand from a single HFS, an hourly demand profile for a whole year was created. The annual consumption was based on the expected petrol dispensed by an average Dutch petrol fueling station in 2030. This demand profile considered hourly, weekly, and seasonal variations in demand. The GIS study indicated that Zoetermeer had average conditions from the feasible locations. Therefore, the wind speed profile was taken from a nearby weather station in Voorschoten. Surface roughness was studied to perform the wind speed extrapolation from 10mto 160 m, the hub height of the wind turbine.
To select the sizes of the wind turbine, electrolyzer, and grid capacity, 90 HFS configurations were simulated and compared with minimum values of environmental (kgCO2eq/kgH2), reliability (Loss of Supply Probability and Equivalent Loss Factor), and financial metrics (CAPEX, OPEX, and LCoH). The recommended system configuration was: one 4.2MW wind turbine, a PEM electrolyzer with a capacity of 45 kgH2/hour (2.4 MW), and 1 MW grid connection for the electrolyzer. The HFS is capable of producing 335 tH2 per year, at 5.034 Euro/kgH2 with 2.74 kgCO2eq/kgH2. This configuration requires a CAPEX of 13.2 MEuro and an annual OPEX of 1.39 MEuro. The efficiency of the complete HFS is 56.4 kWh/kgH2.
If implemented in all the feasible locations, the proposed HFS has the capacity to supply hydrogen to 289,000 passenger FCEVs, removing 467 ktCO2eq from the environment every year. Although this is only 1.4% of the total transportation emissions, it is a step in the right direction to reduce the CO2 emissions in The Netherlands.

The rapid growth of the PV industry has meant that prices have been falling steeply, making them more accessible for a wider range of applications. The combined use of noise barriers as energy generating facilities, usually coined as PVNBs has been occurring since the late 80’s. It has not realised wide spread implementation, remaining mostly in the research domain. These structures are predominantly built in urban areas with high populations and energy consumption. In an attempt to shine light on the economic potential of these projects, an engineering design study has been carried out. By focusing on the retrofitting of current infrastructure it is hoped to stimulate investment for Energy wall projects.

The initial concept was coined as the Energy wall, which differed from PVNBs in that it consisted of a hybrid wind and solar system. However, in this thesis the focus remains on the solar aspect but the name Energy wall remains. An initial investigation of the infrastructure in the Netherlands was carried out using GIS, to determine what lengths of suitable noise barriers are currently available for conversion. A dataset gained from the Rijkswaterstaat, part of the Dutch ministry of infrastructure and the environment, was the base of this analysis. Calculations were made to add relevant attributes for determining the infrastructures suitability for conversion considering nearby spatially relevant data. The output of this, was used to develop a model that would perform a multi-criteria analysis, exploring PV types, configurations and PV systems costs. The focus was around the Rotterdam ring road to allow the methodology to be developed but with the hopes that the same process could be applied to a nationwide or multinational level. System costs were implemented based on interviews and research, which allowed for comparisons to be made and costs of energy to be found. A stakeholder analysis was also used to find the relevant parties for different system sizes, from here subsidies could be applied.

The model offers a guide for pricing of major components, highlighting critical parameters that could affect the success of the project. The main methodology for system comparisons is the LCOE. The application of subsidies can make project much more attractive to cooperation’s or nearby companies for tax refunds or self-consumption. While on a large scale, economies of scale make the project competitive with conventional PV systems. Installations of this scale are rarely seen in the built environment and could have a major contribution to grid balancing.

Current urban systems have a linear metabolism; they rely on imported resources, which are used inefficiently, and they produce waste flows. Urban areas can become productive and not only consumptive if a well-planned distributed energy system is implemented. Switching to renewables, however, means rethinking today’s urban landscape entirely. Decisions made for the future need to be built on a robust understanding of urban energy systems. There is a need to bring creative perspectives to include local potentials into urban planning and study the energetic gaps and opportunities that can foster a circular metabolism.
This thesis presents a modular energy generation system with an innovative noise-barrier integration feature. This novel concept, formally known as the Energy Wall, is designed to capture the local wind and solar energy resources of urban areas and transform them for urban use while exploiting the benefits of reusing existing urban stock. This paper embarks on a comprehensive assessment of the potential of this system taking a full approach from experimental data to energy and cost modeling. A study area located in Delft, the Netherlands, has provided a solid basis for this research. The base-case Energy Wall module in this area generates per year almost enough energy to supply the annual demand of a residential household. To account for the great diversity of urban environments, the energy supplied by the system is investigated in different scenarios with varying local characteristics. A number of cost reduction opportunities have been identified increasing the appeal of noise-barrier integration. Despite this, the small-wind system faces economic burdens hindering its profitability. Field measurements from sonic anemometers are employed to investigate the wind concentrator effect of a noise-barrier showing an acceleration effect up to 30% depending on flow perpendicularity. The robustness of current vertical wind profile scaling techniques is tested to gauge its reliability within the urban boundary layer. Results have underscored important gaps in the theory of near-surface wind speed prediction methods. The higher complexity and uncertainty of urban wind energy generation has given this research a special focus on understanding why this technology has lagged behind over the recent years and, most importantly, what steps should be taken to change this situation.

As one of the carbon-free emission transportation method, fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) have become a very popular research topic for the recent years. However, as the fuel of FCEV, the hydrogen is usually produced by traditional steam reforming method, which is still not an environmentally friendly process.

This report focuses on the study of infrastructure for hydrogen producing and refueling with zero carbon emission. An on-site water electrolysis hydrogen producing and refueling system powered by wind energy is designed and simulated in this study.

The hydrogen is produced by on-site PEM electrolyzer powered by distributed wind turbine. First of all, the suitable petrol stations for such hydrogen refueling station modification are selected by GIS data analysis in Germany. By applying the constraints for safety and noise consideration, about 500 stations are selected from over 10000 petrol stations in Germany.

Furthermore, the hydrogen producing and refueling system is designed and simulated by MATLAB modelling. The system is composed of five main components: wind turbine, PEM electrolyzer, compressors, storage tank and hydrogen dispenser. The technical and economic details for each of these devices are defined by a series of literature review. Besides, some parameters are from the real commercial products to make the system model more practical.

A case study is built to validate the designed model for a 330kg/day H2 refueling station in Germany based on both current and future scenarios. The results show that more than 170 tons hydrogen can be produced annually. It can cover most of the hydrogen demand for the refueling throughout the year, which eliminates most of the hydrogen delivery cost from the other producer to the refueling station.

In addition, by using the optimal pre-allocation control strategy, the system can become partially stand-alone with the grid. Only the high-pressure compressor system and cooling system for dispenser need energy supply from the grid, which is less than 1% of the system energy consumption. It means no extra grid reinforcement is needed. The wind energy can be used in a very efficient way. More than 95% of wind energy can be used for hydrogen producing while the other 5% supplies for the compressors as the electricity. The sensitivity research is also performed based on the climate data in a different year, which shows the stable operational behavior for the system.

Last but not least, the economic analysis is carried out based on the case study. For the current scenario, the hydrogen production cost of the system is €6.1/kg and the overall dispensing price is €10.9/kg. It is expensive because the distributed wind turbine and on-site PEM electrolyzer are still costly technologies for now.

However, with the R&D progress of these technologies, the production cost and the dispensed hydrogen fuel cost price for the future scenario will reduce to €2.6/kg and €5.1/kg respectively, which makes the hydrogen a very competitive fuel for the vehicles in the future.