Exploring the Feasibility of Battery Electric and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles as Peaker Plant Substitutes at Low Wind and Irradiation Conditions

Kurzfassung

In this paper a comparison between the use of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) to span cold dark doldrums (“Dunkelflaute”) in a future energy system with a high penetration of renewable energy supply is presented. A big problem with the cold dark doldrums is the rareness of the situation. Any power plant built to specifically be used during those special weather conditions will be operated only 0.1 % of the time according to a study on the energy demand in Germany in 2050 Aurora (2021) even though 10 GW are required to meet the demand. A prototype FCEV docking station to measure power transfer efficiencies was built. By this, we investigated supplying a district with energy via FCEVs by simulating a district with varying amounts of BEVs present. It is possible to supply a district with a low number of FCEVs although a stationary hydrogen connection would be beneficial. The efficient transfer of energy from a FCEV to a building requires a careful design of the plate heat exchangers and depends on the temperature level of the supplied building.