i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 2 ( 2 0 1 7 ) 1 4 6 4 1 e1 4 6 4 8

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Investigation of distributed power generation

based on renewable energy sources and hydrogen
batteries*

F.R. Ismagilov, I.H. Hayrullin, V.E. Vavilov, A.M. Yakupov*,

G.F. Yakupova, R.F. Aflyatonov
Ufa State Aviation Technical University, 12 Karl Marx Str., Ufa, 450000, Russia

article info abstract

Article history: The paper deals with investigation of distributed renewable power sources use efficiency
Received 27 September 2016 by the example of solar power plant, wind farm and biogas power plants. The paper uses
Accepted 9 October 2016 statistical data collection on weather conditions and solar radiation in different regions of
Available online 11 May 2017 the Russian Federation to assess effectiveness. It has been found out that arrangement of
solar power plants and wind farms in the Republic of Bashkortostan is more profitable than
Keywords: their arrangement in other regions (Astrakhan, Vladivostok, Gorno-Altaisk, Makhachkala,
Solar panels St. Petersburg), and the use of biogas power plant is profitable in the region, where the
Crystalline modules production of biofuels is possible, including the Republic of Bashkortostan. Moreover, the
Micromorph modules paper presents a high-speed magnetoelectric generator for microturbines. In order to save
Microturbine and generate electric energy in accordance with consumer load curve, hydrogen batteries
Hydrogen batteries have been examined.
© 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

power and solar energy, as well as the use of biomass as fuel

Introduction
Today, the issue of efficient use of energy resources along with
hydrocarbons' rising prices has arisen, so engineering solu-
tions based on renewable energy sources (RES) receive wide-
spread use in Russia. There are various types of RES in Russia,
and the existing alternative energy technologies could result
in future economic benefits while investing in renewable
energy.
So far, there are some local projects on use of domestic RES
in Russian regions, particularly in the Republic of Bashkorto-
stan. Different types of alternative energy, such as wind
have been developed there. For example, in 2001 “Bashkir-
energo” OJSC installed and put into operation the third
powerful in Russia Tyupkildy wind farm in Tuymazinsky
District of the Republic.
The following advantages of wind power could be pointed
out: the absence of oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide and
other pollutants emissions, and the effect on earth atmo-
sphere heat balance; the ability to convert into various kinds
of energy (mechanical, thermal, electric); as well as the use of
inexhaustible and renewable energy sources along with sav-
ings in conventional fuels, their extraction and transfer

*
This paper is the English version of the paper reviewed in Russian and published in International Scientific Journal for Alternative
Energy and Ecology “ISJAEE”, issue 191e192, number 03e04, date 29.02.2016.
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: aynurpov@mail.ru (A.M. Yakupov).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.04.209
0360-3199/© 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
14642 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 2 ( 2 0 1 7 ) 1 4 6 4 1 e1 4 6 4 8

(MTU can operate equally efficiently on conventional fuels e

Nomenclature natural gas, liquefied gas, diesel fuel and kerosene e as well as
on low-heating-value gases and sour gases, such as casing-
D wind rotor diameter, m
head gas, colliery gas and biogas). Besides, MTU has high ef-
r air density equal to 1.23 kg/m3
ficiency (up to 92% in cogeneration mode).
P wind turbine capacity
Hydrogen is environmentally friendly and very convenient
Pmax highest active power generated by TFES during
method of surplus energy conservation, since it could be used
a day
directly for heating, in fuel cells and in vehicles.
Pnom TFES rated capacity
v wind speed, m/s

Greek Letters Goals and objectives

А area swept by wind rotor, m2
x output coefficient of wind power Renewable energy has also some disadvantages, and the most
h coefficient of rotor shaft-to-working machine critical of them is the dependence on weather conditions
transmission losses (WT efficiency) which results in additional use of hydrogen batteries and
hг generator efficiency (hг ¼ 0.9) microturbines, installed to provide energy in the event of
hр gearbox efficiency (mechanical efficiency manufactured load decrease and load-factoring. Block dia-
hр ¼ 0.9) gram of the system is shown in Fig. 1.
However, the combined use of several sources of electric
Acronyms
power doesn't fully solve the problem of RES-power plants'
ASU Astrakhan State University
efficient operation, so the problem of rational distribution of
GASU Gorno-Altaisk State University
wind turbines (WT) and solar panels (SP) in the territory of
HMG high-speed magnetoelectric generator
Russia to provide inexpensive power generation, highly
IP DSC RAS Institute of Physics of Daghestan Scientific
competitive with electric power generated by conventional
Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences
energy sources is of paramount importance in estimating
MTU microturbine unit
development prospects of these sectors of alternative energy
PTI Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute of the Russian
in the Republic of Bashkortostan.
Academy of Sciences
Thus, the main goal of the paper is investigation of self-
RES renewable energy sources
contained power supplies such as WT, SP, biogas power
SP solar panel
plant with hydrogen batteries, while its main objective is ef-
SPP solar power plant
ficiency study of self-contained power supplies based on
TFES photovoltaic systems for monitoring of thin-
alternative sources.
film and crystalline photovoltaic modules
This requires accomplishing tasks of collection and anal-
USATU Ufa State Aviation Technical University
ysis of statistical data on WT and SP performance in various
WF wind farm
weather conditions of Russian regions.
WT wind turbine

Investigation of solar panel efficiency

processes. The primary wind energy conversion devices are
wind power plants including wind farms.
Solar energy is projected to be the most promising
renewable energy industry, the development of which is also
related to renewable energy support programs, implemented
in USA, Japan, European and other countries. Sunlight energy
which comes to Earth is almost inexhaustible since it exceeds
the energy of all global reserves of oil, gas, coal and other
energy resources including renewable resources. In May 2014
the Government of Republic of Bashkortostan signed cooper-
ation agreement with Hevel Solar LLC and Avelar Solar
Technology LLC to develop solar power plants (SPP) [1].
The major advantage of biomass is the fact that it is more
ecofriendly than conventional energy sources. One of biogas
technology development prospects in decentralized energy is
the use of microturbine units (MTU) with high-speed magne-
toelectric generators (HMG), hybrid magnetic bearings-based
preferably [2]. The advantages of MTU are minimum amount
of rotating groups (turbine, compressor and electric generator
are directly connected in present day MTU designs), ability of
cogeneration and trigeneration, versatility of consumed fuel
Collection of statistical data on SP in Russia is carried out by
means of photovoltaic systems for monitoring of thin-film
and crystalline photovoltaic modules (TFES). The systems
are intended for establishing insolation level; they collect,
store and transfer via Internet such data as panels' charac-
teristics, ambient temperature and panel surface tempera-
ture, solar flux level, wind speed and wind direction, etc. [3].
Such system is also used in Bashkortostan by student design
office SKB-3 to investigate solar cells efficiency. The
measuring complex for TFES monitoring system is placed on
the roof of USATU 8-th building, and it consists of two types of
solar panels and the meters which determine wind direction,
wind speed, temperature, solar radiation and other climatic
and weather conditions [3]. Besides, the complex is connected
under the roof to hydrogen batteries and HMG, installed for
redundancy and load-factoring.
The authors of the paper have analyzed the data obtained
by means of such measuring complexes, used for the
following TFES:
e Astrakhan, Astrakhan State University (ASU);
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 2 ( 2 0 1 7 ) 1 4 6 4 1 e1 4 6 4 8 14643

Fig. 1 e Block diagram of distributed generation based on renewable energy sources.

e Vladivostok; Table 1 e Comparison of TPVS by Pmax/Pnom value of PV

e Gorno-Altaisk, Gorno-Altaisk State University (GASU); modules (winter).
e Makhachkala, Institute of Physics of Daghestan Scientific Location PMAX/PHOM
Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IP DSC RAS); Micromorph PV Crystalline PV
e St Petersburg, Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute of the Modules Modules
Russian Academy of Sciences (PTI); Saint- 0.91 1.09
e Ufa, Ufa State Aviation Technical University (USATU). Petersburg
Ufa 0.88 0.99
Location map of TFES in investigated regions is shown in Makhachkala 0.77 0.90
Fig. 2. Astrakhan 0.68 0.90
Vladivostok 0.67 0.81
Then TFES have been compared by relative capacity Pmax/
Gorno-Altaisk 0.64 0.77
Pnom values, where Pmax is the highest active power, generated
by TFES during the day; Pnom is TFES rated capacity. To level
the effect of weather conditions, various for each solar panel The comparison characteristic of SPP with micromorph
location at different times, the days with approximately and crystalline PV modules efficiency within a year is shown
identical weather have been determined. The following pa- in Figs. 3e4.
rameters have been considered to characterize the weather: As illustrated in Fig. 3, SP with micromorph PV modules
ambient temperature, daylight hours and cloudiness [4e6]. located in Ufa has relatively high efficiency within a year
The results of comparative analysis are summarized in Tables compared to similar units operated in other regions: it ranks
1e4. Pmax/Pnom values have been determined separately for 2nd by Pmax/Pnom value in winter and in summer, and it ranks
micromorph and crystalline photovoltaic (PV) modules [7,8]. 3rd out of 6 in autumn and in spring.

Fig. 2 e Geographic location of investigated objects.

14644 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 2 ( 2 0 1 7 ) 1 4 6 4 1 e1 4 6 4 8

area swept by wind rotor could be obtained from the following

Table 2 e Comparison of TPVS by Pmax/Pnom value of PV
equation:
modules (spring).
Location PMAX/PHOM pD2 3; 14,22
А¼ ¼ ¼ 3; 14m2 ; (1)
Micromorph PV Crystalline PV 4 4
Modules Modules where D is wind rotor diameter, m (2 m here).
Saint- 0.91 1.09 WT capacity could be obtained from the following
Petersburg equation:
Ufa 0.84 1.0
Makhachkala 1.13 1.33 A
P ¼ r v3 ,x,h ¼ 1; W; (2)
Astrakhan 1.07 1.19 2
Vladivostok 0.84 1.03
where r is air density equal to 1.23 kg/m3; v is wind speed, m/s;
Gorno-Altaisk 1.06 1.24
x is output coefficient; h is coefficient of rotor shaft-to-working
machine transmission losses (WT efficiency) which could be
defined as follows:

hп ¼ hр hг ; (3)
Table 3 e Comparison of TPVS by Pmax/Pnom value of PV
modules (summer). where hp is gearbox efficiency (mechanical efficiency hp ¼ 0.9);
Location PMAX/PHOM hг is generator efficiency ðhг ¼ 0:9Þ.
Micromorph PV Crystalline PV Calculations for other regions of WT potential distribution
Modules Modules are similar. The obtained results are summarized in Tables 5e8.
Saint- 0.84 0.62
Comparative chart for calculation analysis is shown in
Petersburg Fig. 5.
Ufa 0.95 0.98 As indicated in Fig. 5, WT located in Ufa has relatively low
Makhachkala 0.9 0.96 efficiency compared to similar units, operated in other re-
Astrakhan 0.92 0.98 gions: it ranks 6th in spring and 3rd in summer and autumn,
Vladivostok 1.73 1.07
while it ranks 2nd in spring, in summer and in autumn, and
Gorno-Altaisk 0.86 0.94
3rd in winter by capacity.

Microturbine units
Table 4 e Comparison of TPVS by Pmax/Pnom value of PV
modules (autumn).
The systems less than 1 mW$e have been unprofitable for a
Location PMAX/PHOM long time; however, the situation is changing now. Today
Micromorph PV Crystalline PV manufacturers develop the systems with lower capacities and
Modules Modules there are turbines less than 25 kW$e. Thus, the power range of
Saint- 0.8 0.89 microturbines is from 25 up to 200 kW$e. Microturbine is
Petersburg manufactured in the form of the construction with one
Ufa 0.91 0.62 moving element e rotary shaft, on which electric generator,
Makhachkala 1.18 1.27 compressor and turbine itself are arranged in axial alignment.
Astrakhan 0.8 1.04
High-speed shaft rotates at 96,000 revolutions per minute at
Vladivostok 0.87 1
nominal load and it is supported by air bearings which don't
Gorno-Altaisk 0.94 1.04
require liquid lubricant. Fig. 6 illustrates a sketch of micro-
turbine, produced by Capstone Corporation.
The prime fuel for microturbine is natural gas, but it also
Fig. 4 demonstrates that SP with crystalline PV modules can run on diesel fuel, gasoline and other power-intensive fuel
located in Ufa has relatively low efficiency within a year types. Today, the work is in progress on the use of biogas
compared to similar units operated in other regions: it ranks [12e15]. Microturbines have environmental advantages: NOx
2nd by Pmax/Pnom value in winter, and it ranks 6th out of 6 in emissions are about 10e25 ppm. In relation to microturbines
spring, in summer and in autumn [9e11]. study, the prototype of high-speed magnetoelectric generator
based on magnetic bearings with a capacity of 120 kW and a
mass of 32 kg (Fig. 7) is developed at Department of Electro-
Analysis of wind turbines efficiency mechanics at USATU.
This prototype has higher efficiency at minimum weight-
Further, we shall compare wind power potential of these re- dimension factors compared to analogs, which is accom-
gions. To this end, we use TFES statistical data, and in this plished by the unique design concept of hybrid magnetic
case, it's average wind speed. We shall calculate capacity of bearings, developed at Department of Electromechanics at
horizontal axial wind turbine (WT) by the example of Ufa. The USATU [8e11].
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 2 ( 2 0 1 7 ) 1 4 6 4 1 e1 4 6 4 8 14645

Fig. 3 e Micromorph PV modules efficiency within a year.

Fig. 4 e Crystalline PV modules efficiency within a year.

Table 5 e Wind turbine potential capacity (winter).

Astrakhan Vladivostok Gorno-Altaisk Makhachkala Saint-Petersburg Ufa
Wind speed, m/s 4 4 1 2 2 1
Wind turbine capacity, W 25.04 25.04 1.56 6.26 6.26 1.56

Table 6 e Wind turbine potential capacity (spring).

Astrakhan Vladivostok Gorno-Altaisk Makhachkala Saint-Petersburg Ufa
Wind speed, m/s 5 3 5 3 4 4
Wind turbine capacity, W 39.12 14.08 39.12 14.08 25.04 25.04
14646 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 2 ( 2 0 1 7 ) 1 4 6 4 1 e1 4 6 4 8

Table 7 e Wind turbine potential capacity (summer).

Astrakhan Vladivostok Gorno-Altaisk Makhachkala Saint-Petersburg Ufa
Wind speed, m/s 1 1 2 3 1 2
Wind turbine capacity, W 1.56 1.56 6.26 14.08 1.56 6.26

Table 8 e Wind turbine potential capacity (autumn).

Astrakhan Vladivostok Gorno-Altaisk Makhachkala Saint-Petersburg Ufa
Wind speed, m/s 1 2 2 1 1 1
Wind turbine capacity, W 1.56 6.26 6.26 1.56 1.56 1.56

Fig. 5 e Wind turbine efficiency within a year.

Fig. 6 e Turbec T 100 microturbine unit [7]: 1 e HSG; 2 e turbine; 3 e pipe from the recuperator; 4 e recuperator; 5 e heat
exchanger; 6 e air ventilation output; 7 e exhaust manifold; 8 e water inlet manifold to heat exchanger; 9 e hot water
manifold to the consumer; 10 e power electronics; 11 e manifold to recuperator; 12 eoil pump; 13 e exhaust air pump; 14 e
cooling water pump; 15 e control system; 16 e combustion chamber; 17 eair inlet; 18 e air filter.
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 2 ( 2 0 1 7 ) 1 4 6 4 1 e1 4 6 4 8
Fig. 7 e Noncontact magnetoelectric generator (capacity of
120 kW, rotor speed of 60,000 rpm).
Hydrogen batteries
More and more wind farms and solar power plants are built
every year. As noted earlier, they have yet a significant
disadvantage e irregular output capacity, which varies
depending on the time of day and the weather, so energy
storages should be built for reliable power supply, which could
replenish power supply in case of power loss. Electrolysis
plants would perform the task of such energy storages split-
ting water into hydrogen and oxygen by means of “extra”
electricity, generated by wind turbines or solar panels [16].
For example at present, more than 20 experimental stor-
ages in the form of several transport baskets with electrolysis
equipment, pressurised hydrogen tanks and generator for
hydrogen-to-electricity reverse transformation have been
built in Germany.
Electrolysis has been considered so far as not very effective
way of energy transformation, since up to 65% of initial energy
is lost during this process. However, the situation is changing
gradually due to technological advancement and widespread
use of renewable energy sources. Hydrogen storages in com-
bination with wind turbines and solar panels can't thus far
compete with low-cost natural gas. Though, the new tech-
nology could be taken up during greenfield establishment of
energy infrastructure. Besides, in some instances building of a
new “green” power plant could be more profitable than
modification of gas engine.
Today, wind turbine capacity has attained high values;
thus Danish Vestas V164 wind turbine has an output capacity
of 8 mW, and this is enough to power 7500 households. So,
secure self-contained power system could be built up, capable
to generate energy and fuel from “no-cost raw material”: wind
and water [17].
Conclusion
Thus, the use of solar energy in the territory of the Republic of
Bashkortostan from the perspective of climatic resources is
energetically relatively attractive, and the most promising
14647
direction in this region herewith is the use of micromorph PV
modules. During most of the year SP high efficiency is kept,
and Bashkortostan is the 3rd among 6 regions (following
Gorno-Altaisk and Makhachkala or Saint-Petersburg) by this
value. The use of SPP would allow achieving high values of
specific electric energy production by solar power plants and
increase energy independence of the region in an environ-
mentally sound manner.
The investigation has also shown that the use of wind
energy in the territory of Bashkortostan is unprofitable. Dur-
ing most of the year WT efficiency remains relatively low, and
only in spring WT ultimate theoretical capacity equal to 25 kW
could be achieved, which exceeds similar WT output capacity
in Makhachkala.
It has been also concluded that hydrogen batteries in
combination with microturbine units based on high-speed
magnetoelectric generators allow increasing security of
power supply and quality of electrical energy significantly.
HMG developed for use at biogas power plants has been rep-
resented in this paper, which would allow increasing specific
capacity and decreasing overall dimensions.
Hydrogen batteries allow using energy resources with se-
curity and quality required by consumer and power system, as
well as increasing power system stability.
Acknowledgement
The investigation has been financially supported by Russian
Foundation for Basic Research (Project No. 16-38-60001).
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