A hybrid wind-Hydrogen energy system in Ethiopia

The use of hydrogen storage enables long term energy storage in hybrid wind-fuel cell energy system. The aim of this research is to study the feasibility of a wind-hydrogen energy system that produces electricity to households,health post, grinding facility, schools and water pumps in rural areas. The system consists mainly of wind turbines, fuel cells, electrolyzers and hydrogen tanks. The wind resource in the country was studied after selecting five representative cities that are geographically different. These are Addis Ababa, Nazareth, Mekelle, Debre Brehan and Dire Dawa.The system The best system is chosen for each location based on net present cost(NPC) and detail analysis of system performance. The results indicate that the system enables high renewable fraction with up to 8 days of energy autonomy only at moderate increase in NPC over a wind-diesel-battery system.