EU Islands and the Clean Energy Transition 3031230655, 9783031230653

Table of contents :
Preface
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
1 Review of Research Projects that Promote EU Islands’ Energy Systems Transition
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Review of Research Projects for the Energy Transition of Isolated Energy Systems in the European Union
1.3 Review Discussion
References
2 A Review on the Peculiarities that Characterize EU Islands’ Energy Systems: An Application to the Canary Islands
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Some Aspects Common to Many Island
2.3 Economy Based Almost Exclusively on Tourism
2.4 Abandonment of Agriculture
2.5 Food Dependency
2.6 Lack of Water
2.7 Lack of Fertilizers
2.8 Soil Desertification
2.9 Few Diversification and High Dependence on Foreign Energy
2.10 High Need for Air, Sea, and Land Transport
2.11 High Unemployment Rates
2.12 Seasonal Energy Storage
2.13 Difficult Integration of Discontinuous Renewables
2.14 Strong Relationship with Other Territories
2.15 Conclusions
References
3 Technology Description
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Seawater Desalination
3.3 Hydrogen
3.3.1 Production of H2
3.3.2 Hydrogen Transport and Storage
3.4 Production of Electrical Energy Through Renewable Energy
3.4.1 Wind Energy
3.4.2 Photovoltaic Energy
3.5 The Iberian Electricity Market
3.6 Nitrogen
3.6.1 Getting Nitrogen from the Air
3.6.2 Nitrogen Storage and Transport
3.7 Ammonia Storage and Transport
References
4 Hexageneration Project
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Designs Made
4.2.1 First Design. Mono-generation Plant. Hydrogen Production
4.2.2 Second Design. Bi-generation Plant. Hydrogen and Water Production
4.2.3 Third Design. Tri-generation Plant. Production of Hydrogen, Water and Ammonia
4.2.4 Fourth Design. Tetra-generation Plant. Production of Hydrogen, Water, Ammonia and Electricity
4.2.5 Fifth Design. Hexa-generation Plant. Production of Hydrogen, Water, Ammonia, Electricity, Oxygen, and Nitrogen
4.2.6 Future Design. Seventh-Generation Plant. Production of Hydrogen, Water, Ammonia, Electricity, Oxygen, Nitrogen and E-fuel
4.3 Raw Materials
4.4 Flowchart of the Set of Processes
4.5 Ability to Build Long-Term Resilience to Future Crises
4.6 Ability to Respond Directly to the Impacts Suffered
4.7 Ability to Catalyze Progress Towards a Sustainable and Equitable Blue Economy
4.8 Ability to Meet International Commitments Such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement
4.9 Reduction of CO2 Emissions from the Proposal Contemplated in this Book
4.10 Optimization of the Energy Management of the Hexa-generation Plant
4.10.1 Definition of Variables
4.10.2 Optimization Objectives
References
Appendix Data of Interest for the Proposal Presented in this Book
A.1 Compound Characteristics
A.2 Product Prices
A.3 Energy Consumption for Production
A.4 Efficiency of Each of the Cycles
A.5 Simulation of a Production System
A.6 Electric Tariff
References

Citation preview

SpringerBriefs in Energy Gabriel Winter-Althaus · Antonio Pulido-Alonso · Lourdes Trujillo · Enrique Rosales-Asensio

EU Islands and the Clean Energy Transition

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Gabriel Winter-Althaus · Antonio Pulido-Alonso · Lourdes Trujillo · Enrique Rosales-Asensio

EU Islands and the Clean Energy Transition

Gabriel Winter-Althaus Department of Mathematics University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

Antonio Pulido-Alonso Department of Electrical Engineering University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

Lourdes Trujillo Department of Applied Economics University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

Enrique Rosales-Asensio Department of Electrical Engineering University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

ISSN 2191-5520 ISSN 2191-5539 (electronic) SpringerBriefs in Energy ISBN 978-3-031-23065-3 ISBN 978-3-031-23066-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23066-0 © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

EU ISLANDS AND THE CLEAN ENERGY TRANSITION

H2

NH3 H2O

Preface

Isolated energy systems face specific challenges related to their energy supply. These specific challenges include high dependence on imported fossil fuels; a more restricted energy supply due to the absence of electricity and gas interconnections; greater difficulty than continental energy systems in balancing supply and demand; higher energy costs than continental systems due to the use of more expensive fuels and the lower efficiency of power plants. As a consequence of all this, isolated energy systems need specific measures to mitigate this situation. In this sense, the use of renewable energy resources could represent an opportunity to, among other things, secure their energy supply, limit the need to import energy, or reduce the cost of such energy, and achieve the search and difficult decarbonization of these territories. The creation of clean electricity and fuels, such as hydrogen and ammonia, would mark a path toward the decarbonization of society as a whole. The seasonality of natural energy resources (sun and wind) requires seasonal storage, which could be avoided by trading energy abroad using ammonia as a hydrogen carrier energy vector, facilitating the storage and transport of hydrogen. This book will contextualize the islands of the European Union and their energy systems, as well as review the research projects carried out in these isolated energy systems. Specifically, this book will present the feasibility of using in isolated territories of the European Union schemes based on reverse osmosis desalination plants, electrolyzers, ammonia synthesizer, fuel cells, nitrogen generators, electric batteries, recharging stations for electric vehicles, hydrogen and/or ammonia combustion generators, ammonia crackers, and complementary installations such as tanks, pumps, compressors, and auxiliary elements. With the production of these green fuels, not only full decarbonization is achieved, but also energy independence and geopolitical influence. The islands have sea (water), therefore hydrogen and oxygen; air (nitrogen); with its movement and the sun, renewable energy is obtained. In short, the use of conventional energy sources would not be necessary. This work involves a transfer of knowledge and technology in sectors and applications hitherto unexplored. In addition to the social benefit projected to society, it also demonstrates that its implementation is economically viable despite the lack vii

viii

Preface

of aid or economies of scale linked to this technology compared to other technologies that are more widely implemented. It opens up a range of possibilities for new sustainable business models based on hitherto minority energies. Depending on the environmental conditions, the results of exploration and the technical feasibility, but always with a great commercial potential of the innovations presented here, which, if they also had public funding, would achieve greater business development. In each island, it would be necessary to determine what natural energy resources and what energy demand it has. The islands have an advantage in obtaining water, which is the availability of seawater. Although it can be obtained from the humidity of the air, the energy expenditure would be much higher. In the case of the Canary Islands analyzed here, water is scarce, and an osmosis plant has been considered in the process. In other cases, it may not be. But it will always be possible to connect various flexible production processes, save the variability of resources, and try to find a solution to save seasonality. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

Gabriel Winter-Althaus Antonio Pulido-Alonso Lourdes Trujillo Enrique Rosales-Asensio

Contents

1 Review of Research Projects that Promote EU Islands’ Energy Systems Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Review of Research Projects for the Energy Transition of Isolated Energy Systems in the European Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 Review Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 1 3 4 5

2 A Review on the Peculiarities that Characterize EU Islands’ Energy Systems: An Application to the Canary Islands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Some Aspects Common to Many Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 Economy Based Almost Exclusively on Tourism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4 Abandonment of Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5 Food Dependency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6 Lack of Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.7 Lack of Fertilizers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.8 Soil Desertification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.9 Few Diversification and High Dependence on Foreign Energy . . . . 2.10 High Need for Air, Sea, and Land Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.11 High Unemployment Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.12 Seasonal Energy Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.13 Difficult Integration of Discontinuous Renewables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.14 Strong Relationship with Other Territories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.15 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

9 9 9 13 14 14 15 16 17 18 18 19 20 21 22 22 23

3 Technology Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Seawater Desalination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 Hydrogen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.1 Production of H2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

29 29 29 31 31 ix

x

Contents

3.3.2 Hydrogen Transport and Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Production of Electrical Energy Through Renewable Energy . . . . . . 3.4.1 Wind Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.2 Photovoltaic Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5 The Iberian Electricity Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.6 Nitrogen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.6.1 Getting Nitrogen from the Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.6.2 Nitrogen Storage and Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7 Ammonia Storage and Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

32 33 34 36 39 40 40 41 42 48

4 Hexageneration Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Designs Made . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.1 First Design. Mono-generation Plant. Hydrogen Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.2 Second Design. Bi-generation Plant. Hydrogen and Water Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.3 Third Design. Tri-generation Plant. Production of Hydrogen, Water and Ammonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.4 Fourth Design. Tetra-generation Plant. Production of Hydrogen, Water, Ammonia and Electricity . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.5 Fifth Design. Hexa-generation Plant. Production of Hydrogen, Water, Ammonia, Electricity, Oxygen, and Nitrogen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.6 Future Design. Seventh-Generation Plant. Production of Hydrogen, Water, Ammonia, Electricity, Oxygen, Nitrogen and E-fuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Raw Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4 Flowchart of the Set of Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 Ability to Build Long-Term Resilience to Future Crises . . . . . . . . . . 4.6 Ability to Respond Directly to the Impacts Suffered . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.7 Ability to Catalyze Progress Towards a Sustainable and Equitable Blue Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.8 Ability to Meet International Commitments Such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement . . . . 4.9 Reduction of CO2 Emissions from the Proposal Contemplated in this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.10 Optimization of the Energy Management of the Hexa-generation Plant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.10.1 Definition of Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.10.2 Optimization Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

55 55 55

3.4

55 56 57 58

60

61 61 63 64 65 67 68 69 70 71 74 77

Contents

xi

Appendix: Data of Interest for the Proposal Presented in this Book . . . . . . 81 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

List of Figures

Fig. 2.1 Fig. 2.2 Fig. 2.3 Fig. 2.4 Fig. 2.5 Fig. 2.6 Fig. 2.7 Fig. 2.8 Fig. 2.9 Fig. 2.10 Fig. 2.11 Fig. 2.12 Fig. 2.13 Fig. 2.14 Fig. 2.15 Fig. 2.16 Fig. 3.1 Fig. 3.2 Fig. 3.3 Fig. 3.4 Fig. 3.5 Fig. 3.6 Fig. 3.7 Fig. 3.8

Galapagos eared seals. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . La Gomera industrial area. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . Photovoltaic integrated installation. Source Own elaboration . . . . Fuerteventura farm land. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . Electric transport grid. Balearic Islands. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tourist beach in Gran Canaria. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . Abandoned farmland in Canary Islands. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Greengrocery in Madeira Islands. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . Reverse osmosis desalination plant. Gran Canaria. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fertilizer. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dry land. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tanker. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Transportation systems. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Unemployment office. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dam in Gran Canaria isle. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . Electric batteries. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reverse osmosis tubes. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Operation algorithm desalination plant. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Solar thermal power plant with thermal storage. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Passive and active aerodynamic stall. Source Own elaboration . . . Wind concentrator building. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . Offshore turbine in small port (up) taken by Cristina winter and urban wind turbine (down). Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . Variation of I–V curves with temperature. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Telescopic structure for adaptation. Source Own elaboration . . . .

10 10 11 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 17 18 19 20 21 22 30 31 34 35 35 37 38 39 xiii

xiv

Fig. 3.9 Fig. 3.10 Fig. 3.11 Fig. 3.12 Fig. 3.13 Fig. 3.14 Fig. 3.15 Fig. 3.16 Fig. 3.17 Fig. 4.1 Fig. 4.2 Fig. 4.3 Fig. 4.4 Fig. 4.5 Fig. 4.6 Fig. 4.7 Fig. 4.8 Fig. 4.9 Fig. A.1 Fig. A.2 Fig. A.3 Fig. A.4 Fig. A.5 Fig. A.6

List of Figures

Destruction of the topography. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . EU electricity markets. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nitrogen storage. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ammonia cycle, as fuel or hydrogen carrier. Source [85] . . . . . . . Ammonia-powered vessel. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . Energy consumption in each process. Source Own elaboration . . . Production diagram. Source Own elaboration from [98] . . . . . . . . Material flow diagram. Source Own elaboration from [99] . . . . . . Combustion of hydrogen and ammonia possibilities. Source Own elaboration from [100] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hydrogen production plant. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . Hydrogen and desalinated water production plant. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trigeneration production plant. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . Tetrageneration production plant. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . Hexageneration production plant. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . Heptageneration production plant. Source Own elaboration . . . . . Atmospheric air. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Seawater. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Process flow diagram. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hydrogen isobaric for 1 bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hydrogen isothermal T = 20 °C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ammonia isobaric for 1 bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ammonia isothermal T = 20 °C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Flow energy two days. Source Own elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Installation electrical energy flow. Source Own elaboration . . . . .

39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 56 57 58 59 60 62 62 63 64 87 87 87 88 88 89

List of Tables

Table 2.1 Table 2.2 Table 3.1 Table 3.2 Table 4.1 Table 4.2 Table 4.3 Table 4.4 Table 4.5 Table 4.6 Table 4.7 Table A.1 Table A.2 Table A.3 Table A.4 Table A.5 Table A.6 Table A.7 Table A.8 Table A.9

Ratio of inhabitant per cultivated area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Desalinated water ratio in Canary Island, 2018 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The calorific value of fuels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Candidate dispatchable unit mass-specific energy I/O . . . . . . . . . CO2 emissions avoided with the project 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Electric energy prices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amount of product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Electricity price value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Product prices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LCV and emissions of fossil fuels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fossil fuel consumed in Gran Canaria 2018 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Compound characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Product prices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Energy consumption and emissions by production . . . . . . . . . . . . Consumption obtain green ammonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Energy consumed by each of the processes to obtain hydrogen or ammonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Electricity production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cycle efficiencies (electricity to chemical to electricity) . . . . . . . Data from the simulation of a hexageneration plant . . . . . . . . . . . Simulation solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

14 16 32 42 69 71 72 73 73 75 75 81 82 83 83 83 83 84 85 86

xv

Chapter 1

Review of Research Projects that Promote EU Islands’ Energy Systems Transition

1.1 Introduction Isolated energy systems face specific challenges related to their energy supply. These specific challenges include (i) a high dependence on imported fossil fuels; (ii) a more restricted energy supply due to the absence of electricity and gas interconnections; (iii) greater difficulty than continental energy systems in balancing supply and demand; (iv) higher energy costs than continental systems due to the use of more expensive fuels and the lower efficiency of power plants; and (v) high seasonality of demand. As a consequence of all this, isolated energy systems need specific measures to mitigate this situation. In this sense, the use of renewable energy resources could represent an opportunity to, among other things, secure their energy supply, limit the need to import energy, or reduce the cost of such energy. This chapter will contextualize the islands of the European Union and their energy systems, as well as to review some research projects carried out in these isolated energy systems. Isolated power systems in the European Union are small systems [1], in which the integration of distributed generation and renewable energy resources must be carefully balanced and controlled due to their inherent fluctuations [1]. From the data available so far, it can be estimated that these isolated energy systems would supply, in the European Union alone, a total population of more than 20,500,000 inhabitants, which represents 4.6% of the total EU-27 population [2]. As for energy supply, the vast majority of these isolated energy systems depend on fossil fuels [3– 5], and are less efficient [6] and more vulnerable [7] than continental energy systems due to the lack of interconnections. To this should be added the seasonal variability of energy demand and the volatility of fuel prices, which add additional complexity [8]. In this sense, the high cost of imported oil in small island power systems would improve the economic feasibility of using local renewable energy resources [9]. As a consequence of the above mentioned, these isolated energy systems are essential elements for the experimentation of the energy transition [10]. The definition of the island concept has evolved over the last thirty years. In this sense, in 1994, Eurostat defined the term island in the “Portrait of the Island” study, © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 G. Winter-Althaus et al., EU Islands and the Clean Energy Transition, SpringerBriefs in Energy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23066-0_1

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which excluded islands that were national capitals [11, 12]. This definition was used in European Commission reports for years [13, 14]. After several modifications, in 2010, the “Fifth report on economic, social and territorial cohesion” defined isolated regions as “NUTS 3 regions where the majority of the population live on one or more islands without fixed connections to the mainland, such as a bridge or a tunnel” [15]. The NUTS (Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) classification divides the economic territory of the European Union for the purpose of, among others, carrying out a socio-economic analysis of different regions [16]. In this case, the NUTS 3 regions would be small regions for specific diagnoses [16]. In this sense, according to the indications of the European Commission, the following four requirements must be met simultaneously for a region to be considered as an island [17–19]. These requirements would be that the territory in question (i) has a minimum area of 1 km2 ; (ii) a minimum distance between the island and the mainland of 1 km; (iii) a resident population of more than 50 inhabitants; and (iv) that there is no fixed link (bridge, tunnel, dyke) between the island and the mainland [17–19]. Finally, following [20], the European Commission distinguishes five categories of islands, namely (i) regions where the main island has less than 50,000 inhabitants; (ii) regions where the main island has between 50,000 and 100,000 inhabitants; (iii) regions where the main island has between 100,000 and 250,000 inhabitants; (iv) regions corresponding to an island with between 250,000 and 1 million inhabitants; and, finally, (v) regions that are part of an island with at least 1 million inhabitants. Something to take into account is the fact that power plants are usually the main emitters of sulfur dioxide on islands [21], so the need has forced these islands to be pioneers in the global energy transition [22, 23]. In this sense, the exploitation of local energy resources of renewable origin (such as solar, wind, or geothermal energy) [20] and an electrical interconnection of isolated regions [24, 25] would imply a number of social and economic benefits for the islands of the European Union [20, 24, 25]. In addition to reduced energy costs, the transition to renewables in isolated energy systems could strengthen sustainable tourism, decrease air and water pollution from fossil fuel combustion, and create new employment opportunities [26–29]. Projects that have received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program include those that have studied (i) smart islands energy systems involving the islands Samsø (Denmark), Orkney islands (Scotland), and Madeira (Portugal) (SMILE project) [30]; (ii) those that have studied the technology innovation for the local scale optimum integration of battery energy storage at Rhodes island (Greece) (TILOS project) [31]; or those that have studied how to maximize the impact of innovative energy approaches in the islands Unije (Croatia), Bornholm (Denmark) Madeira (Portugal) (INSULAE project) [32]. In May 2017, the European Commission, together with 14 Member States, signed the “Political Declaration on Clean Energy for EU Islands” under the Maltese Presidency [33]. This initiative aims to accelerate the clean energy transition in the more than 2400 inhabited islands of the European Union and to reduce their dependence on energy imports through a better use of their own renewable energy sources [34].

1.2 Review of Research Projects for the Energy Transition of Isolated …

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The work presented here will aim to contextualize the challenges and barriers of island energy systems in the European Union and to review the research projects and policy initiatives carried out in these systems. In the scientific literature it is possible to find a large number of research articles exploring the technical, economic and social aspects of island energy systems. Among the most notable are research by Taibi et al. [35], which described the main challenges and barriers to renewable energy development in Pacific island countries; Wolf et al. [36], which contextualized the barriers and proposed strategies that can be used to ensure access and continuous supply of energy in small island developing states; Nuru et al. [37], who explored socio-technical barriers and strategies to overcome obstacles to solar mini-grid deployment in rural island communities in Ghana; and Herenˇci´c et al. [38], who provided a comprehensive techno-economic and environmental comparative analysis of different multi-energy vectors for decarbonization of energy islands. However, the benefits provided by hexageneration schemes to EU island energy systems and their energy transition have not enjoyed the same attention, so a study heading in this direction is needed. From a deeper survey of updated literature [39– 46] related to the topic addressed here, it was possible to find that—even though there are plenty deal of different approaches—this book undoubtedly contributes to the pool of existing knowledge. By performing this thorough literature review, we ensure the originality of the idea presented here. From this line of analysis, a much clearer insight of challenges, and barriers affecting EU islands’ energy systems and their transition is gained (so far not explicitly shown to our knowledge in any scientific publication). This chapter is structured as is indicated in the following lines. In Sect. 1.1 the objectives of the chapter are indicated and an adequate background is provided, without going into detail in the literature or obtained results. Section 1.2 reviews research projects and policies for the energy transition of isolated energy systems in the European Union. Finally, in Sect. 1.3, the importance of the results of the chapter as well as its political implications are presented.

1.2 Review of Research Projects for the Energy Transition of Isolated Energy Systems in the European Union Investment decisions in new technologies in the European Union are, in general, closely linked to the tariff schemes of each Member State [47]. However, the singularities of isolated energy systems mentioned at the beginning of this chapter call for a specific approach for these regions. In line with this specific vision for isolated energy systems, different public funding and research mechanisms have been used in the European Union [47]. Among the research projects carried out thanks to the mechanisms available in the European Union, the following projects, should be highlighted:

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TWENTIES (2010–2013). This proposal consisted of a series of development and demonstration projects with the aim of developing new modeling tools and new operational support tools for an electricity system with large amounts of wind energy in joint operation with thermal power plants [48]. This project was developed in the Faroe Islands, Denmark [49]. ECOGRID (2011–2015). The objective of the EU EcoGrid project was to demonstrate that information technologies and innovative market solutions make it possible to operate power electricity systems with a penetration of renewable energy resources above 50% [50]. This project was developed on the island Bornholm, Denmark [50]. NETfficient (2015–2018). This project demonstrated and deployed innovative local storage technologies and developed a management and decision support tool. This project was developed on the Borkum Islands, Germany [51]. ISLANDER (2020–ongoing). This project goes one step further with respect to the NETfficient project, paving the way towards full decarbonization of EU island energy systems through smart grids that will combine renewable energy production with storage technologies in real environments. This project is currently being developed on the islands of Borkum, Germany [52]. TILOS (2015–2019). The main objective is to demonstrate, within a smart microgrid with a high penetration of renewable energy, the potential of small-scale battery storage. This project was developed on the island of Tilos, Greece [53]. SMILE (2017–2021). The overall objective of the SMILE project is to demonstrate a set of solutions, both technological and non-technological, that enable functionalities in smart grids, energy storage, and energy systems integration. This project was developed on the islands of Orkney (UK), Samsø (Denmark), and Madeira (Portugal) [54].

1.3 Review Discussion Past and ongoing research projects address the main challenge of isolated power systems based on renewable energy resources, namely their reliability. To address the fundamental aspects of reliability and security of supply, the first research projects that studied isolated power systems in the European Union turned to distributed generation and improved control of generators from renewable energy sources. Subsequently, and due to a progressive drop in battery costs from 2010 onwards, energy storage systems were also considered as an unavoidable part of the solution. Although distributed generation, control of generators based on renewable energy sources, and energy storage remain a central part of these research projects, in recent years efforts are also focusing on possible synergies between different energy systems, in particular between electrical systems, mobility systems and heating systems. Batteries in electric vehicles could provide ancillary services to the power grid. Thermal storage could also provide flexibility at lower cost. Note that water/energy nexus interactions could also provide flexibility (e.g., desalination based on renewable energy resources, or energy storage using water reservoirs located at different heights).

References

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The uncertainty related to the actual generation of variable renewable energy sources such as wind and photovoltaics is another aspect of interest in isolated system energy transition research projects. In fact, although forecasting techniques are improving, forecasting errors do exist. Another aspect to take into account is the fact that, although several research projects have studied the coordination of different sources of flexibility, these are more focused on demonstrating the technical possibilities and the added value of their joint integration. So far, the optimal planning and operation of systems that, while maximizing the penetration of renewable energies, minimize the overall cost of energy for society, have not been part of the main points of study. There is research work on these issues, but it is still mainly academic, with no real demonstrators. Finally, another challenge addressed only to a limited extent by previous research projects is the stability of isolated power systems dominated by power electronic converters associated with distributed generators and their coordination.

References 1. Maldonado E. Energy in the EU outermost regions (renewable energy, energy efficiency). https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/policy/themes/outermost-regions/pdf/energy_ report_en.pdf. Accessed on 27 Jan 2022 2. Haase D, Maier M (2021) European parliament islands of the European Union: state of play and future challenges. European Parliament, Policy Department for Structural and Cohesion Policies, Brussels 3. Meschede H, Holzapfel P, Kadelbach F, Hesselbach J (2016) Classification of global island regarding the opportunity of using RES. Appl Energy 175:251–258 4. Irena (2016) A path to prosperity: renewable energy for islands, 3rd edn. International Renewable Energy Agency, Masdar City 5. Ioannidis A, Chalvatzis KJ, Li C, Notton G, Stephanides P (2019) The case for islands’ energy vulnerability: electricity supply diversity in 44 global islands. Renew Energy 143:440–452 6. EIA. Hawaii: state profile and energy estimates. https://www.eia.gov/state/analysis.php? sid=HI. Accessed on 27 Jan 2022 7. IEA (2021) Japan 2021: energy policy review. International Energy Agency, Paris 8. Kougias I, Szabó S, Nikitas A, Theodossiou N (2019) Sustainable energy modelling of noninterconnected Mediterranean islands. Renew Energy 133:930–940 9. Tsagkari M (2020) Local energy projects on islands: assessing the creation and upscaling of social niches. Sustainability 12:10431 10. Skjølsvold TM, Ryghaug M, Throndsen (2020) European island imaginaries: examining the actors, innovations, and renewable energy transitions of 8 islands. Energy Res Soc Sci 65:101491 11. Dijkstra L, Poelman H. Regional typologies overview. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statis tics-explained/index.php?title=Archive:Regional_typologies_overview&oldid=69975#cite_n ote-4. Accessed on 1 Feb 2022 12. PoliRural project. D1.7. Deliverable rural attractiveness: the post-evaluation update. https://pol irural.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/D1.7.pdf 13. European Commision. FINAL REPORT summary 2000.CE.16.0.AT.118 analysis of the island regions and outermost regions of the European Union: part I the island regions and territories. https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/studies/pdf/ilesrup/isl ands_part1_summary_en.pdf. Accessed on 1 Feb 2022

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14. European Commision. Territories with specific geographical features. https://ec.europa.eu/reg ional_policy/sources/docgener/work/2009_02_geographical.pdf. Accessed on 1 Feb 2022 15. European Commission (2010) Investing in Europe’s future: fifth report on economic, social and territorial cohesion. European Commission, Brussels 16. European Commission. NUTS—nomenclature of territorial units for statistics. https://ec.eur opa.eu/eurostat/web/nuts/background. Accessed on 1 Feb 2022 17. Eurostat. Glossary: Island region. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php? title=Glossary:Island_region&oldid=415821. Accessed on 1 Feb 2022 18. ESPON (2012) Territorial impact assessment of policies and EU directives: a practical guidance for policymakers and practitioners based on contributions from ESPON projects and the European Commission. ESPON, Luxembourg 19. European Commission (2013) Commission staff working document assessing territorial impacts: operational guidance on how to assess regional and local impacts within the commission impact assessment system. European Commission, Brussels 20. European Commission. In focus: EU islands and the clean energy transition. https://ec.eur opa.eu/info/news/focus-eu-islands-and-clean-energy-transition-2021-jul-15_en. Accessed on 2 Feb 2022 21. Spyropoulos G, Chalvatzis K, Paliatsos A, Kaldellis JK (2005) Sulphur dioxide emissions due to electricity generation in the Aegean islands: real threat or overestimated danger? In: 9th international conference on environmental science and technology 22. meetMED (2020) Sustainable energy solutions for islands and remote areas: front-runners for the energy transition in the Euro-Mediterranean Region. In: 7th Medener international conference on the energy transition in the Mediterranean Region 23. The Cowrie SIDS Times Magazine (2018) Second edition. https://sustainabledevelopment.un. org/content/documents/21271Cowrie2nd_EditionEnergy_Final.pdf. Accessed on 2 Feb 2022 24. Georgiou PN, Mavrotas G, Diakoulaki D (2011) The effect of islands’ interconnection to the mainland system on the development of renewable energy sources in the Greek power sector. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 15(6):2607–2620 25. Qiblawey Y, Alassi A, Abideen MZ, Bañales S (2022) Techno-economic assessment of increasing the renewable energy supply in the Canary Islands: the case of Tenerife and Gran Canaria. Energy Policy 162:112791 26. Taibi E, Journeay-Kaler P, Bassi A (2014) Renewable energy opportunities for island tourism. IRENA, Masdar City 27. Arnedo EG, Valero-Matas JA, Sánchez-Bayón A (2021) Spanish tourist sector sustainability: recovery plan, green jobs and wellbeing opportunity. Sustainability 13(20):11447 28. Tsagkari M (2020) Local energy projects on islands: assessing the creation and upscaling of social niches. Sustainability 12(24):10431 29. United Nations Environment Programme and World Tourism Organization (2012) Tourism in the green economy—background report. UNWTO, Madrid 30. SMILE. Smile project. https://www.h2020smile.eu/. Accessed on 3 Feb 2022 31. TILOS. Tilos project. https://www.tiloshorizon.eu/. Accessed on 3 Feb 2022 32. INSULAE. Insulae h2020. http://insulae-h2020.eu/. Accessed on 3 Feb 2022 33. European Commission. Clean energy for EU islands. https://euislands.eu/whatwedo. Accessed on 3 Feb 2022 34. European Commission, Directorate-General for Energy (2021) Clean energy for EU islands: technology solutions booklet. Available from: https://doi.org/10.2833/03574 35. Taibi E, Gualberti G, Bazilian M, Gielen D (2016) A framework for technology cooperation to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy in Pacific Island countries. Energy Policy 98:778–790 36. Wolf F, Surroop D, Singh A, Leal W (2016) Energy access and security strategies in small island developing states. Energy Policy 98:663–673 37. Nuru JT, Rhoades JL, Gruber JS (2021) The socio-technical barriers and strategies for overcoming the barriers to deploying solar mini-grids in rural islands: evidence from Ghana 2021. Technol Soc 65:101586

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38. Herenˇci´c L, Melnjak M, Capuder T, Androˇcec I, Rajšl I (2021) Techno-economic and environmental assessment of energy vectors in decarbonization of energy islands. Energy Convers Manage 236:114064 39. Groppi D, Pfeifer A, Garcia DA, Krajaˇci´c G, Dui´c N (2021) A review on energy storage and demand side management solutions in smart energy islands. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 135:110183 40. Prina MG, Groppi D, Nastasi B, Garcia DA (2021) Bottom-up energy system models applied to sustainable islands. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 152:111625 41. Meschede H, Esparcia EA, Holzapfel P, Bertheau P, Ang RC, Blanco AC, Ocon JD (2019) On the transferability of smart energy systems on off-grid islands using cluster analysis—a case study for the Philippine archipelago. Appl Energy 251:113290 42. Stephanides P, Chalvatzis KJ, Li X, Lettice F, Guan D, Ioannidis A et al (2019) The social perspective on island energy transitions: evidence from the Aegean archipelago. Appl Energy 255:113725 43. Uche-Soria M, Rodríguez-Monroy C (2020) Energy planning and its relationship to energy poverty in decision making. A first approach for the Canary Islands. Energy Policy 140:111423 44. Blechinger P, Cader C, Bertheau P, Huyskens H, Seguin R, Breyer C (2016) Global analysis of the techno-economic potential of renewable energy hybrid systems on small islands. Energy Policy 98:674–687 45. Scandurra G, Thomas A, Passaro R, Bencini J, Carfora A (2020) Does climate finance reduce vulnerability in Small Island developing states? An empirical investigation. J Clean Prod 256:120330 46. Eras-Almeida AA, Egido-Aguilera MA (2019) Hybrid renewable mini-grids on noninterconnected small islands: review of case studies. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 116:109417 47. World Energy Council (2012) World energy perspective smart grids: best practice fundamentals for a modern energy system—annexes. World Energy Council, London 48. Danish Energy (2010) Intelligent energy systems: a white paper with Danish perspectives. Brussels: Danish Energy 49. Dong Energy. Large share of wind power Challenges and innovative solutions. https://ec. europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/documents/5.1%20The%20Faroe%20Island%20-%20Solu tions%20for%20integrating%20a%20large%20share%20of%20renewables-%20Anders% 20Birke%20-%202015.pdf. Accessed on 4 Feb 2022 50. ARENA (2015) Stocktake database results. Australian Renewable Energy Agency, Canberra 51. Netfficient (2018) Energy and economic efficiency for today’s smart communities through integrated multi storage technologies. Deliverable 7.4 Report on Press releases 52. EUISLANDS. The Islander project and its demonstration site on Borkum. https://euislands. eu/node/999. Accessed on 3 Feb 2022 53. Dowel Management. Cooperation between Horizon 2020 Projects in the field of smart grids and energy storage: the bridge initiative and project fact sheets. https://www.h2020-bri dge.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Brochure-of-BRIDGE-projects_March_2019_V11.pdf. Accessed on 4 Feb 2022 54. SMILE Project. Smart Island energy systems deliverable D8.1 reference energy simulation models for the three pilot islands. http://www.h2020smile.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Del iverable-D8.1.pdf. Accessed on 4 Feb 2022

Chapter 2

A Review on the Peculiarities that Characterize EU Islands’ Energy Systems: An Application to the Canary Islands

2.1 Introduction A strong, healthy, high-value-added productive sector is essential for the efficient functioning of a modern economy, to facilitate commercial transactions, and to enable the production and provision of other high-value services. Service innovation involves both, the systematic development and testing of new services, processes and business models. Because these services are directed at the entire economy, innovation in the productive sector is very important to achieve the objectives of smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth. The objective of this chapter is to contextualize the peculiarities of one of the islands of the European Union (in this case, Canary Islands) in order, in subsequent chapters, to be able to make proposals that favor the appearance of new energy models. This includes an X-ray of the economic situation of these islands from which to be able, in later chapters, to carry out an analysis and propose an energy approach conducive to carrying out the necessary energy transition.

2.2 Some Aspects Common to Many Island . High Biodiversity and protected area. The islands are portions of land isolated by the sea, which favors the evolution of peculiar species due to their specific conditions. The Canary Islands are considered a biodiversity hotspot, due to the large number of endemic species it contains, it is a fragile ecosystem, thus 42% of its surface is protected. In the case of the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador) (Fig. 2.1) this percentage increases to 95% of the territory. . Low level of industrialization. The scarcity of raw materials and conventional energy resources, together with the high costs of transporting energy and raw materials, to elaborate a product there and then export it abroad, means that except

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 G. Winter-Althaus et al., EU Islands and the Clean Energy Transition, SpringerBriefs in Energy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23066-0_2

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Fig. 2.1 Galapagos eared seals. Source Own elaboration

Fig. 2.2 La Gomera industrial area. Source Own elaboration

in the case of products with a high added value, or for local use, the implantation of industries in these territories is not an attractive option (Fig. 2.2) . The islands can have great autonomy from the outside world and a very low population density, with fishing and other local resources being the economic engine, or in many other cases, tourism is the engine, being able to reach high population ratios. In 2019, the Canary Islands had 301 inhabitants/km2 , the Cayman Islands 247.5, Hawaii 45.3, and Malta 1613. . Soil scarcity. There are many uses that human beings give to the soil, and it can be protected, agricultural, urban or industrial. When locating energy infrastructures there are times that require a lot of land. For this reason, compatibility with another type of use is successful today, so we can observe photovoltaic installations on already anthropized land, it’s usually called Building Integrated Photovoltaic system BIPV, it can be on a roof or in the street like (Fig. 2.3), or forming part of different structures like road guard [1], wind farms on industrial or agricultural land. Or using outside the coastline. On the islands, the soil is usually very scarce. . High dependence on many types of goods and resources, including energy from foreign countries. This phenomenon must be reduced by improving the use of

2.2 Some Aspects Common to Many Island

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Fig. 2.3 Photovoltaic integrated installation. Source Own elaboration

endogenous resources (0 km). In many cases, these resources have a marked seasonality, which requires important storage systems. In the Canary Islands, the two great energy resources (wind and sun) are maximum in summer. Reducing energy dependency should not increase food dependency, so we must protect fertile land from photovoltaic farms and other energy infrastructure. However, there are some islands with sufficient energy resources such as large watercourses (Madeira) or geothermal energy (Iceland, Pantelleria). In many other cases, energy dependence is majority (Cyprus, Greenland, Malta). It is expensive and increases the risk of shortages, an island with a certain degree of energy autonomy is very rare, they are normally small, like El Hierro or Eigg. The OECD advises that each member country has fuel storage equivalent to 90 days of consumption, in the Canary Islands the same level has been adopted, the reason is the distance from continental Spain. . As in many other island systems in the Canary Islands, much of the agricultural land has been abandoned. Tourism has stolen workers, water, and land. At present, more than 65% of agricultural land on the islands is unexploited (Fig. 2.4), and food dependency from abroad exceeds 80%. . It requires a highly reliable transport and communications system with the outside, the airports and ports for the landing of supplies and fuel must be reliable and sure.

Fig. 2.4 Fuerteventura farm land. Source Own elaboration

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.

.

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Each island depends on itself, so the electrical transmission grid should preferably be in a ring, and the fuel supply ports reliable. The most widely used size of energy technologies has been designed for continental soil, so the island scale requires specific, smaller, and more expensive designs. Furthermore, for reasons of reliability, the generation must be divided into many groups, with a maximum size for each isle. The electrical grids in the mainland are characterized by being highly interconnected, which increases the stability and security of the systems, facilitating the integration of renewable energies. Small island systems should explore the feasibility of interconnecting with the mainland or with each other through power wires or gas pipelines or another power transmission system. In the case of the Balearic Islands, they have been connected to the mainland through a submarine wire and a gas pipeline (Fig. 2.5). In the Canary Islands, due to the great depths between islands, only Fuerteventura and Lanzarote are electrically connected. Although there are studies of more interconnections, even reaching Morocco (the distance is only 110 km). Isolated electrical systems present more difficulties to maintain [2, 3], the advantages of interconnecting electrical systems are many, hence the investment and effort [4–7]. Low diversification of the energy mix, as well as in the Canary Islands and Galapagos where more than 90% of primary energy is oil, this is changing day by day, like the recent project implemented on the island of Isabela [8]. The islands are territories that will be strongly affected by climate change. Being surrounded by sea, and having a limited territory, make them more fragile to an effect that will undoubtedly affect the entire planet.

Fig. 2.5 Electric transport grid. Balearic Islands. Source Own elaboration

2.3 Economy Based Almost Exclusively on Tourism

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Aspects of island systems in general have been listed, now we will go on to talk about specific aspects of the Canary Islands, some already mentioned, and others specific to this archipelago. Alone reference is made to those aspects, about those that the proposal to carry out, included in this book, will produce some improvement.

2.3 Economy Based Almost Exclusively on Tourism The economy of the Canary Islands is currently based on the tertiary sector (74.6%), mainly due to tourism, which has led to the development of construction. Tourism contributes 35% of the GDP in the islands [9–11]. There are many towns dedicated mainly to tourism. It has stolen land, water and labor from other economic sectors, such as agriculture. To this day so abandoned on the islands. Being almost exclusively the job opportunity for a large part of the population, and the main reason for investment. The proposal that is included will affect this aspect, making it possible to diversify the economy, allowing the creation of new economic niches, and making the tourism sector stronger by being more independent in terms of food and energy for transport by air, sea, and land, coming from of the outside. Providing a greater diversity of economic income in other sectors, and greater self-sufficiency by supplying the main activity with local products, which will continue to be tourism (Fig. 2.6). Being able to lower prices and improve competitiveness with other destinations, and reduce the carbon footprint. Fig. 2.6 Tourist beach in Gran Canaria. Source Own elaboration

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Fig. 2.7 Abandoned farmland in Canary Islands. Source Own elaboration

2.4 Abandonment of Agriculture There are many reasons why agricultural land is abandoned in the Canary Islands [12–16]. Abandonment could become an irreversible problem [17]. This proposal, by producing local and cheaper water and fertilizers, will be able to stop and reverse the trend, along with other additional measures that are being carried out by the different administrations on the islands. In any case, increasing the production of fresh water and local and green fertilizers is going to drop the carbon footprint of this sector abruptly. Well, today the water is obtained by desalination with fueloil, and the fertilizers come from distant lands. A few years ago, the non-exploitative agricultural land on the islands was 66% (Fig. 2.7).

2.5 Food Dependency The food dependence of the Canary Islands is enormous, greater than 80%, the administrations try to stop and readjust this parameter [18–20]. A great mismatch is observed that should be corrected in the future. Table 2.1 has been prepared with data from the INE and the ISTAC statistics institutes in Spain and the Canary Islands, this data from the year 2018 [21, 22]. Where a ratio of people in a territory is reflected against the surface of cultivated land. Table 2.1 Ratio of inhabitant per cultivated area People/ha cultivated

Spain

Canary Islands

Gran Canaria

1.9

48

92.6

2.6 Lack of Water

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Fig. 2.8 Greengrocery in Madeira Islands. Source Own elaboration

With this proposal, reducing the price of water, and providing local fertilizers, will produce a call for agricultural activity, together with other policies that are already being adopted, they will reinforce an increase in local food production. Creating jobs, significantly reducing the carbon footprint, and increasing food autonomy (Fig. 2.8).

2.6 Lack of Water On the islands, due to the increase in population, initially agriculture, and later tourism, the water table has sunk, propelling the entry of seawater into the subsoil, counting from decades to the present with a multitude of water wells, then today are brackish, due to the fall of the water table [23]. The complete water cycle, in Canary Islands, consumes 20% of the total electricity generated [24]. We remember that the cycle includes collection, treatment, storage, distribution, recovery, purification in Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) and discharge or reuse. Within the treatment section it can be simple, but it can involve desalination (Fig. 2.9), because it is captured from the sea or from a brackish water well. The desalination of seawater in Canary Islands for different uses is a common practice [25]. The ratio of desalinated water with respect to that used per island is as follows (Table 2.2). But this need will increase in the future, due to increase population and a decrease in rainfall [27–30]. The electricity consumption dedicated to desalination on each island in 2011, has been obtained in [31], being the case of the island of Gran Canaria 187.8 MWh/year. Today it will not be less. There are more than 300 desalination plants in Canary Islands [32]. Of all the costs of agriculture, one of them is the use of water, for which the Government, both central and regional, must provide subsidies [33–35]. Climate Change is going to increase the problem, as we can see in various simulation models used by the State Meteorological Agency of Spain (AEMET), between now and the year 2100 rainfall in the Canary Islands will fall by around 20% [36].

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Fig. 2.9 Reverse osmosis desalination plant. Gran Canaria. Source Own elaboration

Table 2.2 Desalinated water ratio in Canary Island, 2018

Lanzarote

100%

Fuerteventura

100%

El Hierro

90%

Gran Canaria

90%

Tenerife

47%

Source [26]

In addition to a reduction in rainfall, it will be necessary to consider that the population of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands will grow in the coming years, rising to 188,272 inhabitants by the year 2035 compared to the year 2020 [37]. Which will bring an increase in the demand for water.

2.7 Lack of Fertilizers Fertilizer consumption on the islands is excessive, undoubtedly caused by inadequate soil management [38]. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of Spain provides data for the year 2019 on the consumption of fertilizers (Fig. 2.10) by autonomous communities in tons [39], for the Canary Islands they are nitrogenous 4785, phosphated 1359 and potassium 3024. The largest number are nitrogenous, as a result of this proposal, part of their production could be local, avoiding transporting almost 5 thousand tons of product to the islands. Obtaining economic savings and reduction of the carbon

2.8 Soil Desertification

17

Fig. 2.10 Fertilizer. Source Own elaboration

footprint, since it would be an ecological and local fertilizer. The achievement of the remaining fertilizers in a greener way is not analyzed in this proposal. Fertilizers are undoubtedly one of the main causes of Climate Change (CC) [40].

2.8 Soil Desertification Spain has a program against soil desertification [41]. The 3 islands of the province of Las Palmas have 97% of their land at risk of desertification [42] (Fig. 2.11). The proposal in this book, by providing greater production of water and fertilizers, would propel an increase in the area to be cultivated, causing greater protection against desertification. In any case, it is a problem that requires more attention from the application of projects of this type [43, 44].

Fig. 2.11 Dry land. Source Own elaboration

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Fig. 2.12 Tanker. Source Own elaboration

2.9 Few Diversification and High Dependence on Foreign Energy In 2018 it is known that 4,893,022 Tep were consumed in the Canary Islands, 100,536 were produced by renewable energies [45], and the rest by oil. More than 85% of electrical energy is oil. Except for a tram on the island of Tenerife, all transport on the islands, or passing through them, is powered by oil (Fig. 2.12). Despite the small number of renewable generation devices, since each island is a small electrical system, they have to be disconnected at times of low demand and high value of the resource [46]. This book includes new energy vectors, which would allow better use of own energy resources, and diversify the energies to be used, moving on to energies that could be cleaner.

2.10 High Need for Air, Sea, and Land Transport Every year 12 million tourists visit us, more than 80% of the food consumed comes from abroad, as does 100% of the fertilizers. Passenger and freight transport are subsidized [47, 48]. The Canary Islands are a great refueling station for maritime traffic in the middle of the Atlantic, finding a multitude of companies that offer bunkering services [49]. The fuel served to ships in 2018 was 2,474,164 Tep [45]. In the year 2018 in the Canary Islands there were a total of 393,720 flights [50], and in the Province of Las Palmas 1,514,765 between embarked and disembarked ships [51]. In December 2018, the mobile fleet of vehicles on the Canary roads was 1,698,324 [52]. As a result of this proposal, part of the needs of the transport sector (Fig. 2.13), could be achieved through clean energy. For small vehicles, or very short range, the

2.11 High Unemployment Rates

19

Fig. 2.13 Transportation systems. Source Own elaboration

electric option is the most efficient, so we can look at electric boats to visit Niagara Falls [53]. But the truth is that in the medium distance it will be hydrogen that covers the heaviest land, sea, and air vehicles [54–58]. But for long distances other fuels should be used, in the maritime case, ammonia has a wide advantage, there are thousands of citations [59]. In the case of fuel for air navigation it is more complicated, and there is still no winner, but it could be e-fuels that take the cake, the problem is that it is obtained from hydrogen and CO2 captured from inevitable combustion, to synthesize fuel from electrical energy, which could be renewable. On the one hand, the capture of CO2 from the air has been tested, but it is very poor, so initially, they will be fueled with zero contribution. Taking the CO2 from previous combustion [60]. In this project, there is a production of hydrogen, ammonia, and if there is CO2 capture, the development of an e-fuel with aviation in mind could be added. Covering the entire range exposed, the initial proposal does not intend to produce all the necessary energy in the Canary Islands, but rather to set a precedent, which allows a massive replication.

2.11 High Unemployment Rates Canary Islands have one of the highest unemployment rates in Spain and Europe (Fig. 2.14). In July 2021 the unemployment rate is 24.7%, we could think that it is an exceptional case due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on tourism. But we see that in 2019 the rate was 18.8%, the lowest in 11 years, that is, it is permanently high. Youth unemployment went from 61.4 to 52.3% in the second quarter of 2021 [61–63]. This proposal that introduces new fuels, revitalizes farming, increasing the available water, will create wealth and employment. In addition, other windows would be opened to market and train in all these new products. The islands, due to the high natural energy resource that they have, could attract highly energy-intensive industries and activities, which until now were not imagined.

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Fig. 2.14 Unemployment office. Source Own elaboration

2.12 Seasonal Energy Storage Spain has developed an Energy Storage Strategy for the year 2021 [64], in which it makes a commitment to the need to increase the discontinuous renewable contribution to the electricity system, contemplating unique projects on islands. In the Canary Islands, the electrical systems are small, and the electrical interconnections between islands will increase as renewable power requires it, as stated in the Planning of the Electricity Transmission grid 2021–2026 of Spain [65]. Which contemplates the interconnection between La Gomera and Tenerife, and other interconnections simply name as Fuerteventura-Gran Canaria. Because the islands grow out of the African continental shelf, the depth between islands is very great [66], in fact, we have not found any track between Gran Canaria and Tenerife less than 2 km deep. This hinders electrical interconnections that would facilitate the integration of renewables. There is an analysis of pumped storage systems in all Canarian electrical systems. There is only one in operation, and another project paralyzed by popular opposition. It will undoubtedly allow the inclusion of much more renewable production in the islands that have these systems. 94% of the energy stored in the world corresponds to pumping stations [67]. The Canary Islands have numerous dams, with Gran Canaria being the island in the world with the largest water storage capacity per surface, with 69 large dams (Fig. 2.15). In addition, although today, the behind-meter batteries are not profitable in Spain, the truth is that in other European countries, and in Australia, yes. There is no doubt that it is a matter of time before its use is extended, together with a high degree of self-consumption. The electrical systems must have not only various storage systems but also a large set of loads that can be shed to facilitate the operation of these renewable energies, granting flexibility to the system. One of these loads can be called Power to X. Transforming electricity into Heat, cold, a certain chemical compound (H2 , N2 , NH3 ) [68].

2.13 Difficult Integration of Discontinuous Renewables

21

Fig. 2.15 Dam in Gran Canaria isle. Source Own elaboration

There are many recent technical articles that talk about desalination, as a flexible load or a way to store energy [69, 70], and more so in a world where today there are desalination plants operating in more than 150 countries, in 2030 water scarcity will affect 40% of the planet’s inhabitants, and the proportion of plants associated with renewable energy is growing, due to the large amount of energy that the process requires [71–73]. Knowing the importance of storage systems, the proposal that appears in this book includes batteries, Power to Gas systems, and software for managing the operation of the whole. But it also opens the consideration to energy marketing, since the natural energy resources in Canary Islands are greater in summer than in winter, both the sun and the wind. Therefore, ammonia could be sold in times of high resource, and bought in times of scarcity, avoiding the creation of gigantic seasonal storage systems in its territory. As we will see later, it has two advantages: . There are many territories that are preparing for the production of ammonia to sell as fuel, as a hydrogen carrier [74, 75]. . The winds are higher in Spain and the rest of Europe in winter, unlike in Canary Islands.

2.13 Difficult Integration of Discontinuous Renewables Incorporating various storage equipment in each system (Fig. 2.16), as each one offers a different peculiarity. Some have great efficiency, others a small rate of selfdischarge over time, others, a rapid response. Combining them properly provides a better solution. Thus, today there is talk of hybrid energy storage systems [76–79].

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Fig. 2.16 Electric batteries. Source Own elaboration

Another additional measure is to increase the incorporation of flexible loads, such as the recharging of electric vehicles, many thermal loads have great inertia in their operation, especially if they are in large rooms, which would allow oscillations in their mode of operation (refrigeration systems, air conditioning, heating, DHW, etc.…), which would facilitate full use of renewable generation infrastructures [80– 82]. Today it will be difficult to increase what already exists. Without resorting to what is usual practice, the disconnection of these installations during hours of low consumption. It will require a strong economic effort to strengthen the electrical grids and increase the interconnections so that this fluctuating power can find its way [83].

2.14 Strong Relationship with Other Territories The Canary Islands are an archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic, 110 km from the African, 1700 km to European coasts and 6500 to South America, a continent with which we share a language and historical roots, as there has been great immigration in both directions, today there are innumerable relationships, including technical meetings, and of all kinds that exist [84–87]. This would facilitate the rapid dissemination of the results presented in this book. Discounting the fact that the archipelago is within Macaronesia and Europe.

2.15 Conclusions Many of these island systems have abundant renewable energy resources, which, as we have seen, are not used sufficiently, given the technical difficulty. Thus, it has always been more interesting to maintain a high dependence on foreign countries in

References

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all aspects, reaping the fruits of mass tourism, while maintaining other shortcomings. Global decarbonization needs to open a new stage, where to offer greener tourism, and provide solutions to all these problems, which is what this book intends to deal with. It is about raising your head, opening your mind, and looking a little further, contemplating the globality of reality. We all talk about the environment, Climate Change, deforestation, decarbonization, and renewable energies. And hydrogen arises as a response to many things, with endless transport and storage problems, but that is where ammonia stands out as a hydrogen-carrier. And it allows to look at things differently. Today, fuel cell technology and engines that are powered directly by NH3 are being developed. The steps to be taken in any island system is to analyze its natural energy resources, and the technology of the exploitation systems and their tendency, trying to respect the environment and the surrounding environment as much as possible when considering its implementation. Include storage systems and flexible loads, for this, it is essential to know the way of life and the reality of said community. Trying to imitate nature, which closes food chains, where each element links with the next, if a residue is generated it is used as input in a new process [88].

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63. Efe. Canarias, la comunidad con más desempleo juvenil pese a bajar en el segundo trimestre de 2021, [Internet]. Canariasahora. https://www.eldiario.es/canariasahora/economia/can arias-comunidad-desempleo-juvenil-pese-bajar-segundo-trimestre-2021_1_8180086.html. Accessed on 22 March 2022 64. Ministerio para la transición ecológica y el reto demográfico (2021) Estrategia de Almacenamiento Energético, [Internet]. Gobierno de España. https://www.miteco.gob.es/es/prensa/ ultimas-noticias/el-gobierno-aprueba-la-estrategia-de-almacenamientoenerg%C3%A9ticoclave-para-garantizar-la-seguridad-del-suministro-y-precios-m%C3%A1s-bajos-de-la-energ/ tcm:30-522653. Accessed on 22 March 2022 65. Ministerio para la transición ecológica y el reto demográfico (2021) Planificación de la Red de Transporte de Electricidad 2021–2026, [Internet]. Gobierno de España. https://www.mit eco.gob.es/es/prensa/ultimas-noticias/el-miteco-inicia-el-periodo-de-informaci%C3%B3np%C3%BAblica-de-la-planificaci%C3%B3n-de-la-red-de-transporte-de-electricidad-20212026/tcm:30-522926. Accessed on 22 March 2022] 66. EMODnet. Bathymetry, [Internet]. GGSgc. https://portal.emodnet-bathymetry.eu/. Accessed on 22 March 2022 67. International Hydropower Association (2018) The world’s water battery: pumped hydropower storage and the clean energy transition, [Internet]. www.hydropower.org/publications/. Accessed on 22 March 2022 68. Periodico de la energía (2019) ¿Cómo funcionan las tecnologías Power-to-X? [Internet]. PdlE. https://elperiodicodelaenergia.com/como-funcionan-las-tecnologias-power-to-x/. Accessed on 22 March 2022 69. Bundschuh J, Kaczmarczyk M, Ghaffour N, Tomaszewska B (2021) State-of-the-art of renewable energy sources used in water desalination: present and future prospects. Desalination 508:115035. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2021.115035 70. Atia A, Fthenakis V (2019) Active-salinity-control reverse osmosis desalination as a flexible load resource. Desalination 468:114062. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2019.07.002 71. Abdelkareem MA, Assad MEH, Sayed ET, Soudan B (2018) Recent progress in the use of renewable energy sources to power water desalination plants. Desalination 435:97–113. https:// www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0011916417321306 72. Moreira FDS, Antunes AMDS, de Freitas MAV (2019) Trends in wind-power desalination for water supply. J Environ Prot 10(6):807–820. https://www.scirp.org/Journal/paperinformation. aspx?paperid=93162 ´ c B, Pukšec T, Krajaˇci´c G, Dui´c N, Mathiesen BV, Lund H, Mustafa M (2015) 73. Novosel T, Cosi´ Integration of renewables and reverse osmosis desalination—case study for the Jordanian energy system with a high share of wind and photovoltaics. Energy 92:270–278. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.06.057 74. Saadi D (2021) UAE’s $1 bil green ammonia project to start in 2024; targets Europe, US markets, [Internet]. S&P Global. https://www.spglobal.com/platts/es/market-insights/latestnews/petrochemicals/071221-uaes-1-bil-green-ammonia-project-to-start-in-2024-targets-eur ope-us-markets. Accessed on 22 March 2022 75. Ministére du Pétrole, des Mines et de l’Energie (2019) CWP and Mauritania sign MoU for the development of a US$40 billion green hydrogen project, [Internet]. MdPdMedlE. https:// www.petrole.gov.mr/spip.php?article919. Accessed on 22 March 2022 76. Sankarkumar RS, Natarajan R (2021) Energy management techniques and topologies suitable for hybrid energy storage system powered electric vehicles: an overview. Int Trans Electr Energy Syst 31(4):e12819. https://doi.org/10.1002/2050-7038.12819 77. AEG. Almacenamiento de energía híbrida [Internet], AEG. https://www.aegps.com/es/aplica ciones/almacenamiento/almacenamiento-de-energia-hibrida/. Accessed on 22 March 2022 78. SmartGridsInfo (2021) El proyecto HyFlow desarrolla un sistema de almacenamiento de energía híbrido inteligente, [Internet]. SGI. https://www.smartgridsinfo.es/2021/01/28/pro yecto-hyflow-desarrollara-sistema-almacenamiento-energia-hibrido-inteligente. Accessed on 22 March 2022

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2 A Review on the Peculiarities that Characterize EU Islands’ Energy …

79. Guelbenzu E (2017) El almacenamiento de energía consolidará el modelo renovable, [Internet]. Interempresas/energía. https://www.interempresas.net/Energia/Articulos/214483El-almacenamiento-de-energia-consolidara-el-modelo-renovable.html. Accessed on 22 March 2022 80. Colmenar-Santos A et al (2019) Electric vehicle charging strategy to support renewable energy sources in Europe 2050 low-carbon scenario. Energy 183:61–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ene rgy.2019.06.118 81. Utama C, Troitzsch S, Thakur J (2021) Demand-side flexibility and demand-side bidding for flexible loads in air-conditioned buildings. Appl Energy 285:116418. https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.apenergy.2020.116418 82. Bloess A, Schill W-P, Zerrahn A (2018) Power-to-heat for renewable energy integration: a review of technologies, modeling approaches, and flexibility potentials. Appl Energy 212:1611–1626. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.12.073 83. Sevilla J (2020) Red Eléctrica y la Integración de Renovables, [Internet]. REE. https:// www.ree.es/sites/default/files/11_PUBLICACIONES/Documentos/Transicion_Energetica. pdf. Accessed on 22 March 2022 84. VII Foro de agua y energías renovables. Fuerteventura. https://africagua.com/es/. Accessed on 22 March 2022 85. Interreg. Canarias, África y Latinoamérica cooperan en nuevas tecnologías, energías renovables y agua, [Internet]. https://www.proyectoenermac.com/fr/component/k2/item/284-can arias-africa-y-latinoamerica-cooperan-en-nuevas-tecnologias-energias-renovables-y-agua. Accessed on 22 March 2022 86. Casa África. [Internet]. Ministerio de Asuntos exteriores, Unión Europea y Cooperación. https://www.casafrica.es/es. Accessed on 22 March 2022 87. Canarias America. [Internet]. Fundación Caja Canarias. http://canariasamerica.com/. Accessed on 22 March 2022 88. Suárez C (2021) Biomímesis, [Internet]. Ethic. https://ethic.es/2021/01/biomimesis-por-queconviene-y-mucho-imitar-a-la-naturaleza/. Accessed on 22 March 2022

Chapter 3

Technology Description

3.1 Introduction This chapter briefly reviews the different technologies that have been included in this work, to the current date. Because although, there are multiple books on each of them. Having some fundamentals will make it easier to understand the steps adopted here, and some aspect that could make this plant highly efficient. It will be very concise, providing references on which we have based ourselves for the design of the final proposal.

3.2 Seawater Desalination There are several desalination technologies [1, 2]. Today the one with the best efficiency is reverse osmosis, so we will talk a little about it. Say that the Barranco of Tirajana, a Thermal Power Plant (on the island of Gran Canaria), has this system to obtain water for its closed steam cycle. Then it is true that with it, or from it and using subsequent treatments, very high quality of water can be obtained. To feed the electrolyzer you will need good quality. This is not the case with population supply or irrigation. We know quite well a plant that has been in operation for 20 years [3], it provides water for irrigation. No compound is added afterward, the salts that are not in the water are added to the crops. In this plant, no compound is added a priori either, since it is a small plant, 6350 m3 /day, and the catchment is carried out through coastal wells, with which the water is pre-filtered by the sand of the coast, being free of contaminants and organic substances. Later it circulates through sand filters, and finally cartridge filters inside the plant. Without further ado, it goes to the racks (Fig. 3.1) with the membranes to carry out reverse osmosis. The average useful life of a Reverse Osmosis (RO) membrane in desalination is around seven years, while, in this case, only 10% of them have had to be replaced after 17 years of operation, © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 G. Winter-Althaus et al., EU Islands and the Clean Energy Transition, SpringerBriefs in Energy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23066-0_3

29

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3 Technology Description

Fig. 3.1 Reverse osmosis tubes. Source Own elaboration

when noticing increases in the conductivity of the product. This has been achieved thanks to not needing chemical additives in the intake, and usually operating at a pressure lower than the nominal one, as the plant is oversized for existing needs. In plants with a higher flow rate, or in others where this possibility has not been provided, the supply is carried out from the sea, requiring more previous treatment of the water. One aspect in which much progress has been made is in the recovery of brine pressure upon rejection. The salt-laden water that has not passed through the membrane contains a lot of energy, years ago it was passed through a turbine to recover part of that pressure, today static pressure recuperators have been developed with very good performance, where the brine pressure is transferred to a part of the feed water, so that by passing through a booster pump, the missing pressure is transmitted to it, and is added to the flow of the high-pressure pump in parallel [4]. Reverse osmosis systems, today, are consuming about 2.9 kWh/m3 [5]. It has been achieved and work continues to improve the energy efficiency of these processes [6]. Obtaining water for its various uses [7], which precisely has innumerable reservoirs where it can be stored [8], many of them in height, being able to propose energy storage, or simply supplies inside the island. In the following algorithm, we can observe the importance of establishing an operation protocol for each one, when there are processes associated with renewable energies connected to the grid. Where the variables to consider will be the expected demand for each product, the price of electricity on the market, the availability of the renewable resource at any given time and its medium-term estimate, and the state of storage. It could be the case of a stable and lasting wind resource, that the desalination plant remains in operation and the tanks are filled at an hour of high electricity prices, in such a way that it forces the plant to stop because the tanks are full, and be forced to sell the generation in hours of cheap price. In this case, the electricity will have been sold at a low price, having been desalination at an expensive price, achieving less economic benefit (Fig. 3.2).

3.3 Hydrogen

31

Fig. 3.2 Operation algorithm desalination plant. Source Own elaboration

3.3 Hydrogen 3.3.1 Production of H2 Currently, the largest production of hydrogen is associated with natural gas, emitting CO2 , known as gray hydrogen. If the CO2 is stored and buried, it is called blue hydrogen, lastly, there would be the green hydrogen, which is the one that does not have any associated production of CO2 in its elaboration [9, 10]. Within the forms of green hydrogen production, the use of electrolyzers stands out, which consist of the separation of water into its fundamental molecules. H2 O → H2 + 1/2 O2 , being in theory the necessary 237.75 kJ electrical energy to dissociate 1 mol of H2 O at 25 °C. There are various technologies, depending on the case that interests you, you can choose one or the other. In the particular case that concerns us, it is proposed to use a flexible technology, which could be the Polymer Electrolyte Membrane

32

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(PEM), although the Anion Exchange Membrane (AEM) technology is blunt, since the primary energy source is discontinuous, being wind or sun [11], and it is the best technology that adjusts to these production oscillations. Emerging other technologies such as photoelectrocatalysis [12], all of them focused on the production of green hydrogen. Hydrogen, together with electricity, is called to play a preferential role in the decarbonization of society. The whole world, and Europe understand it this way, the Government of Spain published in October 2020 the Hydrogen Roadmap [13]. The use of hydrogen will allow greater penetration of renewables. Acting as a flexible load, using surpluses in off-peak hours, which would otherwise be neglected. It is important to start from feed water to electrolyzers with adequate quality, there are several commercial houses where that offer purifiers [14].

3.3.2 Hydrogen Transport and Storage Hydrogen is a very few dense gas, volumetrically speaking, the pressure has to be raised a lot, and even so its density continues to be very low. In liquid state at − 253 °C and 1 bar, its value is 70.8 kg/m3 compared to water 1000 kg/m3 or gasoline 700 kg/m3 is very little. But in a gaseous state, at a pressure of 1 bar and 15 °C the density is 0.084 kg/m3 , even at 1000 bar it is 50.5 kg/m3 . The pressure in the Usually H2 car tanks is 700 bar, for buses (12 m) it is 350 bar. Thus, in a Toyota Mirai the capacity is 4.7 kg of H2 . Therefore, its storage is usually liquid (at cryogenic temperatures), or gaseous at very high pressures 500–900 bar. But its energy density by weight is very good, 2.8 kg of gasoline contains the same energy available in 1 kg of hydrogen (Table 3.1). In the annex we can graphically observe the variability of the volumetric density of hydrogen with respect to pressure and temperature. As can be seen, hydrogen has a high heating value by weight, but the volumetric density is very low. This is the reason why it is difficult to transport and store. The great interest in hydrogen is local production, where its consumption is needed, whenever possible. Table 3.1 The calorific value of fuels

Fuel

Lower heating value (MJ/kg)

Higher heating value (MJ/kg)

Methane

50.0

55.5

Propane

45.6

50.3

Methanol

18.0

22.7

Gasoline

44.5

47.3

Diesel

42.5

44.8

119.9

141.6

Hydrogen Source [15]

3.4 Production of Electrical Energy Through Renewable Energy

33

Europe and Spain have an extensive network of gas pipelines through which natural gas is distributed [16, 17]. Without making any modifications, mixtures with a maximum of 5% H2 can only be injected if they contain at least 95% methane from unconventional sources. But it is a great opportunity to transport it far from where it has been produced, achieving a small percentage of decarbonization immediately. Liquefying H2 is not easy, the main drawback of storing and handling the liquefied gas at these very low temperatures. The theoretical energy consumption according to the Carnot cycle of the liquefaction process is 3.3 kWh/kg of H2 . In practice, for large installations, this consumption is around 10 kWh/kg, which represents almost 30% of the energy content of hydrogen. Several hydrogen storage systems can be observed, such as those mentioned below [18–21]. • • • •

Pressurized gas In liquid form (cryogenic storage) In metal hydrides In carbon, be it activated carbon, graphite, molecular carbon beds, nanofibers, fullerenes • In the form of chemical compounds (NH3 , toluene, etc.). In the present work, we propose the use of NH3 as a hydrogen carrier, due to the benefits it provides in this case. In the annex we can graphically observe the variability of the volumetric density of nitrogen with respect to pressure and temperature, as gas or liquid.

3.4 Production of Electrical Energy Through Renewable Energy In the case of talking about Power2X, PowertX, or Power to X. It talks about being able to reconvert renewable energy, which can be non-manageable, such as the sun and the wind, into an energy resource to be used or stored [22–25]. The most developed sources to be used in the short and medium-term future, in general, on most of the planet, at any scale, is solar and wind. Much has been written about them. We want to emphasize that a renewable source is anyone that is regenerated. Thus, biomass can be renewable, or not, if it is exploited at a higher rate than is necessary for its regeneration. Renewable energies are divided into manageable and non-manageable [26, 27]. Attaching a storage device can turn a panel from an unmanageable resource into a manageable one. This occurs in thermoelectric solar power plants with molten salt storage (Fig. 3.3) [28]. The following concept is important, when we work with energies, the energy return rate, which is due to the quotient between the energy spent on building a generation facility or obtaining a resource, and the energy that it contributes or is recovered in its useful life [29].

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3 Technology Description

Fig. 3.3 Solar thermal power plant with thermal storage. Source Own elaboration

3.4.1 Wind Energy It is a very mature and consolidated technology, the most recent are the large floating offshore wind farms. Where, due to going over 60 m deep, the wind turbines are not cemented to the sea bottom, remaining floating [30–33]. There are certain basic concepts that must be had before entering in wind technology [34]. • Betz’s law. It indicates that a maximum of 59% of the energy carried by the wind can be obtained, independent of the system to be used for it. • The power of a wind turbine is proportional to its swept surface, so in this case, size is essential. • The same generator can be provided with blades of different sizes, what is achieved is that with larger blades, it requires higher wind speeds to start, but reaches its nominal power sooner. • A wind turbine cannot allow more power to be captured than the nominal power of the generator, so for high wind speeds it must stop increasing the power generated. It can be achieved in three ways. The first is passive, called an aerodynamic stall. Then there are two active methods that are based on rotating the blades on their axis, active aerodynamic stall, and regulation by blade pitch. In the passive method, a strong drop in production is obtained for wind speeds higher than the design speed (Fig. 3.4 on the left), and for the active methods, it is possible to maintain a production that is almost constant, and equal to that of nominal power, (Fig. 3.4 on the right).

3.4 Production of Electrical Energy Through Renewable Energy

35

Fig. 3.4 Passive and active aerodynamic stall. Source Own elaboration

• Winds vary with height, so the higher we have the equipment, higher winds will be captured. • The wind cannot be concentrated in large quantities, because if we put a funnel to concentrate the lines of force, the increase in pressure at the entrance of the funnel would divert the lines of wind outwards. But there is the hill effect, where wind lines are grouped without creating distortion, and allow the wind to be slightly increased, this effect can be reproduced artificially, even in both directions, vertical and horizontal. In a work that was carried out for building design, in order to capture the maximum wind speed, it was concluded that the best option is oval shapes, without important edges, producing a double hill effect, vertical and horizontal, which managed to triple the speed of the wind (Fig. 3.5). • Turbulence occurs when the wind encounters a sudden change in slope, and moves in a disorderly way, the equipment subjected to these currents, produces less energy and suffers more mechanical wear. Then it is convenient to move the wind turbines away from these situations.

Fig. 3.5 Wind concentrator building. Source Own elaboration

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3 Technology Description

Today all wind turbine units are variable speed, highlighting two technologies. The doubly fed asynchronous ones and the multipole synchronous ones. Although both technologies are observed in large units, everything that is mini-wind is multipole synchronous. Visually, both are distinguished, because while the multipole is shorter and oval gondola, the doubly fed is elongated and narrower [35], this is due to the inclusion of a gearbox inside. Wind power can be combined with photovoltaic energy, if you are lucky enough that the prevailing wind direction and the perpendicular that joins the site with the equator on Earth coincide, a combination can be made like the one in the following reference in Sweden, increasing the wind in the wind turbine, by creating an artificial hill effect concentrating the wind lines vertically [36]. When integrating the turbines in the building, extreme care must be taken not to introduce the device into an area of turbulence, advancing with respect to the façade line [37, 38], or increasing production by giving the device height [39, 40]. Although the ideal is to modify the façade front by means of some surface through an artificial hill effect, smoothing the slope to avoid turbulence [41]. In any of the cases, care must be taken with the vibrations and noise that can be transmitted to the structure and the neighbors [42, 43], where the cone around the equipment acts more like an acoustic barrier than a wind concentrator (Fig. 3.6b). Although there are times that more for aesthetic factors than for operability, the entire design of the building is conditioned to wind use, creating a vertical or horizontal hill effect, or both [44]. In buildings, when technologies are used in addition to the typical three blades, sometimes for aesthetic reasons, sometimes because they are less harmful to birds. But we must be aware that they are less efficient [45], due to technology. But they are also subject to lower winds because they are closer to the ground, and because they have a much smaller area of exposure to the wind. That is, technologically they are always the worst option, it is necessary to strongly justify that the other factors advise their use [46]. Regarding the impact of wind turbines on birds and bats, we recommend a guide by Seo-birdlife [47] and radar systems that are capable of identifying the trajectory of these species, disconnecting from the grid, and braking no stopping the wind turbines that could endanger this animal, replenishing its operation when it has passed [48].

3.4.2 Photovoltaic Energy The basic knowledge of this technology can be consulted in various documents, as an example, some of them are cited [49–51]. • It is a technology that produces electricity without moving parts, it does not carry out combustion, for these reasons it was initially used in the aeronautical industry. Today, it has become the most economical system for generating electricity [52].

3.4 Production of Electrical Energy Through Renewable Energy

37

Fig. 3.6 Offshore turbine in small port (up) taken by Cristina winter and urban wind turbine (down). Source Own elaboration

• Its production is proportional to the catchment surface, the concentration equipment allows a saving in the surface of the cells, but the surface occupied by the total is not reduced. It also produces a rise in the temperature of the cell, thereby lowering its production [53]. • It is true that solar tracking equipment causes an increase in production for a certain number of panels, but adding these devices makes the installation more expensive, by introducing mobile elements complicates its maintenance, it forces to increase the distance between elements. In addition, we must know

38

3 Technology Description

that the increase in production caused varies with the latitude of the installation. The tracking can be on one axis or on two, increasing the complexity of its movement [54]. • Lowering the cell temperatures increases electricity production (Fig. 3.7), then hybridizing photovoltaic technology with thermal technology is very interesting, since it is possible to cool the panel, increasing electricity production [55]. • The optimum inclination for a fixed panel depends on whether it is an isolated installation β = (Latitude + 10), and an almost constant production throughout the year is required, favoring the months with fewer resources, or if it is an installation connected to the grid, and maximum production is required annual β = (3.7 + 0.69·Latitude) [56]. Month-to-month production of various types of installations can be estimated for any point on the European or African continents at the following link, as well as irradiance data [57]. It is the ideal technology to use for self-consumption, due to its ease of installation and the low need for maintenance. It is a technology that demands a large amount of catchment area, so the ideal, especially in islands with a limited surface, it‘s integration on anthropized surfaces. Thus we find ourselves on buildings, on roofs, on the façade, on canopies, on reservoirs, on acoustic barriers on highways, greenhouses, on landfills, etc. [58–63]. The impact of photovoltaics on the ground are a lot, but the change of use is, without a doubt, one of the most adverse factors [64]. In (Fig. 3.8) an installation in an advanced country is observed, which, respecting the topography, has used telescopic supports to adapt the installation to it.

Fig. 3.7 Variation of I–V curves with temperature. Source Own elaboration

3.5 The Iberian Electricity Market

39

Fig. 3.8 Telescopic structure for adaptation. Source Own elaboration

Fig. 3.9 Destruction of the topography. Source Own elaboration

In (Fig. 3.9) we can see an installation in another country, where a hillside has been dismantled to carry out the installation.

3.5 The Iberian Electricity Market The electricity market in Spain is common to the Portuguese and is called Iberian Market Operator (OMIE) [65]. In the near future, progress is being made towards a single electricity market throughout Europe [66, 67]. In Fig. 3.10 we can observe the different existing markets in Europe today.

40

3 Technology Description

Fig. 3.10 EU electricity markets. Source Own elaboration

In Europe, we have smart meters, and the price of electricity fluctuates with demand, being published 24 h in advance. Penalizing peak hours, and lowering its price in off-peak hours [68]. Thus, having flexible loads, which can vary their consumption inversely to the demand curve. Consuming in off-peak hours, and disconnecting in peak hours. These loads will help the integration of renewables into the grid. Minimizing the cost of energy consumed [69, 70], and taking advantage of the energy that would otherwise be wasted [71]. As we can see in the previous references, there are times when the contracted power and the energy consumed are the cheapest. Having a system that automatically adjusts to these rate periods. It avoids the need to disconnect a certain renewable power, helps the electrical system, making production cheaper.

3.6 Nitrogen Nitrogen gas (N2 ) is a colorless and odorless gas that constitutes approximately 78% by volume, and 75.5% by weight of atmospheric air.

3.6.1 Getting Nitrogen from the Air There are various techniques for getting nitrogen from the air [72, 73]. • Fractional distillation of liquid air. It is a more stable method for large-scale production, achieving high purity nitrogen with the lowest specific energy expenditure. • By mechanical means using gaseous air:

3.6 Nitrogen

41

– Polymeric membranes – Pressure Swing Adsorption or PSA. It is a less expensive system, designed for small production scales. Depending on the purity required, and the volume of our installation, it will be advisable to use one method or another. The flexibility of operation is not as important as in the case of the electrolyzer, since the power it uses is a small fraction of the previous one. In other words, it will not be complicated for the system to maintain its operation continuously. In any case, it requires a fairly constant operation, so it is not interesting to subject them to fluctuations in operation.

3.6.2 Nitrogen Storage and Transport Nitrogen storage can be in compressed gaseous or liquid form [74–77]. The methodology to be used for storage and subsequent transport of the amount put up for sale should be chosen, since as it is part of the energy process, an increase in production is not ruled out, to be able to market independently for other purposes (Fig. 3.11). Fig. 3.11 Nitrogen storage. Source Own elaboration

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3 Technology Description

3.7 Ammonia Storage and Transport Ammonia is the second most manufactured chemical in the world, with 140 thousand tons in 2018. Its manufacture for a long time is from natural gas [78, 79]. But today the production of green ammonia is considered, starting from green hydrogen and nitrogen from the air, as a form of transport and storage of hydrogen [80]. But it is also developing combustion turbines and fuel cells that would work exclusively with ammonia [81, 82]. When using ammonia as a fuel, issues such as pressure, high autoignition temperature, cooling, corrosion, and NOx emissions need to be case of hydrogen the pressure to store is usually 200 bar, and the pressure is not allowed to drop below 1 bar, reaching 99.5%, leaving the ammonia liquid, its discharge capacity is 100% [83]. It is important to get an idea of the amount of energy that is spent in each process, which is reflected in (Table 3.2), which includes the consumption of compressors to store them, the consumption in fuel cells and combustion generators, using hydrogen or ammonia [83]. The direct use of NH3 avoids the need to reverse the reaction of ammonia to hydrogen, which can be carried out in a cracker anyway [84]. Although a portion can always be reversed and co-combusted. In (Fig. 3.12) its role as hydrogen-carrier is observed [85]. Table 3.2 Candidate dispatchable unit mass-specific energy I/O

Electrolysis

50

kWh/kgH2

PSA (N2 )

0.8

kWh/kgN2

Ammonia synthesis

3.1

kWh/kgNH3

Fuel cell H2

20

kWh/kgH2

Combustion engine NH3

1.6

kWh/kgNH3

Source [83]

Fig. 3.12 Ammonia cycle, as fuel or hydrogen carrier. Source [85]

3.7 Ammonia Storage and Transport

43

Ammonia is gaseous under ambient conditions. But below −33.34 °C ammonia is liquid at atmospheric pressure. Or at a pressure of 8.59 bar, we can keep it liquid up to 20 °C [86], as can be seen in graphs from the annex. Ammonia has multiple uses, one of the important ones is nitrogenous fertilizers [87] that can be green, and avoid many CO2 emissions into the atmosphere [88]. The most common use is in the agricultural industry (90%), it is also used in the textile, plastic, refrigerant, beauty, cleaning, explosives, and other uses. Today its energy use stands out. It is emerging as a way of transporting and distributing hydrogen, especially if there are long distances to travel, but there is also the possibility of using it directly as an energy source. In fact, it is emerging as a green fuel for long-distance maritime navigation [89, 90] (Fig. 3.13). So much so, that hundreds of projects are emerging in the world for the production and sale of ammonia that will cross the seas in ships, to supply places lacking energy, projects in Mauritania, Iceland, Singapore, Abua Dhabi, Tasmania, Japan, and more are hosting green ammonia projects for energy purposes [91–94]. This is how we talk about green ammonia, which consists of the production of green hydrogen, green nitrogen, through renewable energies, and later, through a Haber Bosch cycle, to produce ammonia, with the energy use or nitrogenous fertilizer. Ammonia production must be kept between 100 and 50%, and ramp up and ramp down must be 10–20% respectively, with only one change of operation every 4 h. A generator set to burn ammonia is considered 50% more expensive than a diesel one. A Li-ion battery has a performance of 90–95%, but it should not be discharged below 20%, in the periods of high availability of energy resources can be used, especially to operate the electrolyzer and desalination, and if fuel cells are available, return part of that energy to the grid, or give it any other use. Through a simulation process, it is possible to observe the temporal oscillation in hours of the day for the various months of the year, or even monthly or annually [95]. Ammonia can be used directly in modified internal combustion engines and gas turbines. NOx formation is highly dependent on fuel mixture composition, temperature, and other well-known factors, and can be managed [96, 97].

Fig. 3.13 Ammonia-powered vessel. Source Own elaboration

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Ammonia as a direct fuel has disadvantages with high auto-ignition temperature, low flame speed, and high heat of vaporization. The Haber–Bosch cycle requires high purity hydrogen (99.999%) and nitrogen (99.99%) to be passed over a catalyst bed at high pressures of 100–250 bar and temperatures of 400–550 °C. Due to thermodynamic equilibrium limitations, only a fraction (approximately 15%) of the feed is converted in a single pass. The remaining unreacted gases are recycled back to the converter, eventually reaching a total conversion rate of 97% [96]. The electrolyzers can withstand dynamic loads, with a nominal load range of 20 and 100%. Measured ramp-up times for PEM electrolyzers are less than 3 s to full capacity and response time to dynamic load less than one second [96]. The efficiency of the catalyst in the ammonia synthesis circuit is very vulnerable to ramps in the process, thus requiring constant operation [96]. In the following paper, we find a comparison of energy expenditure of each of the processes [96] (Fig. 3.14). A paper has analyzed the production of hydrogen and ammonia, like storing energy, which will again be reverted to the electrical grid, in 15 US cities that reflect so many climatic profiles [98]. In all 15 cases, depending on the seasonal profile of demand and natural energy resources. The optimum is sought in terms of the volume of NH3 and H2 to be stored. In all of them, the storage of both appears more profitable, but the proportions vary from one case to another. In this study, PEM electrolyzers, PSA air separators, H2 PEM fuel cells, NH3 SOFC fuel cells, and NH3 “ICE” combustion generator sets have been used. The expected cycle yields are [98]:

Fig. 3.14 Energy consumption in each process. Source Own elaboration

3.7 Ammonia Storage and Transport

45

PEM Elec.—to—H2 —to—PEM FC (44%) If 100% is the electricity to drive a PEM H2 electrolyzer, subsequently passed through a PEM fuel cell, 44% of the electricity initially entered is recovered. Alk. Elec.—to—H2 —to—PEM FC (40%) ditto with an alkaline electrolyzer and the same fuel cell. PEM Elec.—to—NH3 —to—ICE (24%) It is divided in the same way as at the beginning, in addition, N2 is produced, NH3 is synthesized and burned in a combustion generator, in total, 24% of the initial electricity is recovered. Alk. Elec.—to—NH3 —to—ICE (22%) In the case of an alkaline electrolyzer, 22% is recovered. PEM Elec.—to—NH3 —to—SOFC (32%) In this case the ammonia is converted directly into electricity in a SOFC fuel cell. Alk. Elec.—to—NH3 —to—SOFC (30%) ditto as the previous case, but in this case, the electrolyzer is alkaline. It is curious how in cases where the solar contribution is relevant, and a low seasonality in the electricity demand is observed, the proportions of storage prevail over hydrogen. On the other hand, when the wind resource prevails, or the state presents a marked seasonality in its demand, ammonia prevails. The flowchart of the study is as follows [98] (Fig. 3.15). However, storing pure H2 in a compressed or cryogenic container (below −253 °C) for several months provides low PtP (Power to Power) efficiencies (between 34 and 38%) and includes higher storage costs. Two pilot plants of an ammonia based energy storage system are currently operating in two locations around the world. Wind energy storage through ammonia production could be optimized by means

Fig. 3.15 Production diagram. Source Own elaboration from [98]

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3 Technology Description

Fig. 3.16 Material flow diagram. Source Own elaboration from [99]

of the applied multi-objective optimization approach, the accompanying flowchart explains the process designed in this case [99] (Fig. 3.16). Major engine manufacturers are beginning to develop combustion in their internal combustion engines (ICEs). The feasibility of green ammonia production on an industrial scale is already being assessed in many countries, anticipating large future markets. Technological progress has been made in converting ammonia to power, with notable progress in direct ammonia fuel cells for transportation, co-combustion with coal, and combustion in gas turbines. Ammonia-fed CCGT systems can burn hydrogen derived from ammonia, or a mixture of ammonia and hydrogen, or ammonia directly. Recent research on ammonia combustion has focused on exploring fuel blends to provide greater combustion stability as well as emission control of NOx and unburned NH3 than pure ammonia combustion. In particular, 70% NH3 /30% H2 by volume has shown the best stability and performance in gas turbine research [100]. Green ammonia is a technically feasible and economically competitive fuel for decarbonizing the electricity sector through high-efficiency gas turbine power plants by 2040. Given the consistent and predictable trends shown in other new clean technologies, it is likely that this experience brings with it cost reductions. In the following figure, we can observe three phases that are being considered to use the

3.7 Ammonia Storage and Transport

47

Fig. 3.17 Combustion of hydrogen and ammonia possibilities. Source Own elaboration from [100]

NH3 for fuel, starting from stored ammonia, it is used as fuel in the turbine from 100% hydrogen to 100% ammonia [100] (Fig. 3.17). Wind power is used to produce carbon-free ammonia fuel directly from water and air using traditional air separation units, electrolyzers, seawater desalination, and a Haber–Bosch synthesis circuit. Ammonia has been used as a liquid fuel in diesel and internal combustion engines, with little modification, and in gas turbines. Ammonia has about 40% of the volumetric energy content of gasoline and only emits nitrogen gas (N2 ) and water vapor when burned. Currently, many island communities are forced to import fuels from great distances, without using abundant natural and local energy resources [101]. The rate of ammonia formation is highly dependent on pressure, so a high pressure results in a high rate of ammonia synthesis, this is based on Le Chatelier’s principle which says that a reaction reduces the number of moles of reactants is supported by an increase in pressure. The concentration of ammonia synthesis in the reactor restricts and slows down the reaction rate so that the higher the removal rate in the recycle stream, the more favorable the reaction in the forward direction. Since the reaction is exothermic, maintaining a temperature below the equilibrium temperature favors the reaction in the forward direction [102]. This paper states that, even the worst case scenario evaluated requires that 0.78% of the cornfield be converted to a photovoltaic system, to provide enough power to generate sufficient amounts of ammonia, both as a fertilizer for the remaining corn and fuel for the tractors on the farm [103]. In any case, let’s not forget the high interest in using photovoltaics, soil already atropized, or not suitable for agricultural use. Power to ammonia conversion achieves the highest system efficiency of over 74%, much higher than biomass to ammonia (44%) and methane to ammonia (61%) [104].

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79. Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el reto Demográfico (2019) Fabricación de Amoniaco, [Internet]. Gobierno de España. https://www.miteco.gob.es/es/calidad-y-evalua cion-ambiental/temas/sistema-espanol-de-inventario-sei-/040403-fabricac-nh3_tcm30-502 315.pdf. Accessed on 22 March 2022 80. Aleasoft Energy Forecasting (2021) El amoniaco verde o cómo transportar el hidrógeno renovable, [Internet]. El periodico de la energía. https://elperiodicodelaenergia.com/el-amo niaco-verde-o-como-transportar-el-hidrogeno-verde/. Accessed on 22 March 2022 81. Asociación Bonarense de la Industria Naval (2020) Avanza proyecto de pila de combustible de amoníaco, [Internet]. Hydra. https://confluenciaportuaria.com/destacada/avanza-proyectode-pila-de-combustible-de-amoniaco/. Accessed on 22 March 2022 82. Energética (2021) Wärtsilä lanza un importante programa de pruebas con motores de hidrógeno y amoníaco, [Internet]. Energética. https://energetica21.com/noticia/war tsila-lanza-un-importante-programa-de-pruebas-con-motores-de-hidrogeno-y-amoniaco. Accessed on 22 March 2022 83. Matthew JP, Anatoliy Kuznetsov JT, Michael Reese PD (2019) A novel system for ammoniabased sustainable energy and agriculture: concept and design optimization. Chem Eng Process Process Intensification 140:11–21. ISSN 0255-2701. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cep. 2019.04.005 84. López J (2020) Japón: amoniaco líquido para generar energía sin emisiones, [Internet]. Ambientum. https://www.ambientum.com/ambientum/energia/japon-amoniaco-liquido-gen erar-energia-sin-emisiones.asp. Accessed on 22 March 2022 85. Aziz M, Wijayanta AT, Nandiyanto ABD (2020) Ammonia as effective hydrogen storage: a review on production storage utilization. Energies 13:3062. https://doi.org/10.3390/en1312 3062 86. European Chemical Agency. Fabricación de Amoniaco, [Internet]. Gobierno de España, https://prtr-es.es/NH3-amoniaco,15593,11,2007.html. Accessed on 22 March 2022 87. Yara (2021) Construirá una planta de amoniaco verde en Noruega, [Internet]. https:// www.yara.es/noticias-y-eventos/noticias/yara-produccion-amoniaco-verde/. Accessed on 22 March 2022 88. IDAE (2007) Ahorro y Eficiencia Energética y Fertilización Nitrogenada, [Internet]. ISBN: 978-84-96680-13-5. https://www.idae.es/uploads/documentos/documentos_10418_F ertilizacion_nitrogenada_07_e65c2f47.pdf. Accessed on 22 March 2022 89. Sym Naval (2021) Amoníaco como combustible para buques más limpios, [Internet]. SN. https://www.sym-naval.com/es/blog/amoniaco-combustible-buques/#None. Accessed on 22 March 2022 90. Patel S (2020) JERA planning to shift coal power fleet to 100% ammonia, [Internet]. Power. https://www.powermag.com/jera-planning-to-shift-coal-power-fleet-to100-ammonia/. Accessed on 22 March 2022 91. Eastern Pacific Shipping (2021) EPS joins ammonia bunker study, [Internet]. EPS. https:// www.epshipping.com.sg/eps-joins-ammonia-bunker-study/. Accessed on 22 March 2022 92. I·M3 (2021) FFI signs TasPorts agreement for green hydrogen plant, [Internet]. IM3. https://www.iom3.org/resource/ffi-signs-and-tasports-agreement-for-green-hydrogenplant.html. Accessed on 22 March 2022 93. OCI (2021) Fertiglobe Joins TA’ZIZ as Partner in World-Scale Blue Ammonia Project in Ruwais in Abu Dhabi, [Internet]. OCI. https://www.oci.nl/news/2021-oci-nv-7/. Accessed on 22 March 2022 94. Nippon Yusen Kaisha Line (2021) Joins project for safe use of ammonia as marine fuel, [Internet]. NYK. https://www.nyk.com/english/news/2021/20210422_01.html. Accessed on 22 March 2022 95. Islam S, Dincer I, Yilbas BS (2020) A novel renewable energy-based integrated system with thermoelectric generators for a net-zero energy house. Int J Energy Res 44:3458–3477. https:// doi.org/10.1002/er.4986 96. Osman O, Sgouridis S, Sleptchenko S (2020) Scaling the production of renewable ammonia: a techno-economic optimization applied in regions with high insolation. J Cleaner Prod 271:121627. ISSN 0959-6526. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.121627

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97. Condorchem Envitech. Eliminación de NOx, [Internet]. CE. https://condorchem.com/es/blog/ eliminacion-de-nox/. Accessed on 22 March 2022 98. Matthew JP, Prodromos D (2020) Using hydrogen and ammonia for renewable energy storage: a geographically comprehensive techno-economic study. Comput Chem Eng 136:106785. ISSN 0098-1354. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compchemeng.2020.106785 99. Verleysen K, Coppitters D, Parente A, De Paepe W, Contino F (2020) How can power-toammonia be robust? Optimization of an ammonia synthesis plant powered by a wind turbine considering operational uncertainties. Fuel 266:117049. ISSN 0016-2361. https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.fuel.2020.117049 100. Cesaro Z, Ives M, Nayak-Luke R, Mason M, Bañares-Alcántara R (2021) Ammonia to power: forecasting the levelized cost of electricity from green ammonia in large-scale power plants. Appl Energy 282(Part A):116009. ISSN 0306-2619. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2020. 116009 101. Morgan E, Manwell J, McGowan J (2014) Wind-powered ammonia fuel production for remote islands: a case study. Renew Energy 72:51–61. ISSN 0960-1481. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. renene.2014.06.034 102. Chehade G, Dincer I (2021) Advanced kinetic modelling and simulation of a new small modular ammonia production unit. Chem Eng Sci 236:116512. ISSN 0009-2509. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.ces.2021.116512 103. Ebrahimi-Moghadam A, Jabari Moghadam A, Farzaneh-Gord M, Arabkoohsar A (2021) Performance investigation of a novel hybrid system for simultaneous production of cooling, heating, and electricity. Sustain Energy Technol Assess 43:100931. ISSN 2213-1388. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2020.100931 104. Zhang H, Wang L, Van herle J, Maréchal F, Desideri U (2020) Techno-economic comparison of green ammonia production processes. Appl Energy 259:114135. ISSN 0306-2619. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.114135

Chapter 4

Hexageneration Project

4.1 Introduction This chapter proposes a highly customized energy generation and storage system for the Canary Islands. Based on its strong natural energy resources, its great need for fertilizers for its crops, its great scarcity of water, its role as a supplier of naval fuel in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and its high dependence on tourism. Being islands, battery storage, electrolysis and conventional ammonia production have been added to increase integration. Renewable ammonia could open the door to sourcing 100% renewable energy. Their natural energy resources are both greater in summer than in winter. Avoiding having to carry out seasonal energy storage, marketing it in the form of ammonia. Increasing their autonomy in energy and food aspects.

4.2 Designs Made 4.2.1 First Design. Mono-generation Plant. Hydrogen Production Today everything revolves around using hydrogen as a clean energy vector [1], the amount of water consumed is very little, so it is not relevant. So it has been based on a design that feeds on supply water, and through renewable energy, hydrogen is produced, this energy could come from the sun, the wind, or both at the same time (Fig. 4.1). We know that both resources are strong in Canary Islands. In Fig. 4.1, it can be seen that it is connected to the grid, and it is possible to choose to sell excess production or consume electrical energy from the grid when the self-generated energy is insufficient to maintain production. This would classify the flexible load plant, which would improve the integration of renewable generation on the island [2], which is to be appreciated in this case. For this reason, there is a © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 G. Winter-Althaus et al., EU Islands and the Clean Energy Transition, SpringerBriefs in Energy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23066-0_4

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Fig. 4.1 Hydrogen production plant. Source Own elaboration

PEM technology fuel cell, because it allows an operation with more oscillations than alkaline ones [3]. In order to decide which equipment is connected and in what production range, there will be software that takes into account the level of storage in the hydrogen tank, the demand that is estimated for the next few hours, and the price of electricity in the electricity market. As a result, an interesting project is obtained, which would introduce a new energy vector on the island, never tested, would imply a small additional cost of supply water, which in this case comes from desalination, but its quantity is not significant, we are also aware of the difficulties of transporting and storing hydrogen. So we think that some incorporations could be made to complement this project, adapting it more to the enclave where it will be carried out.

4.2.2 Second Design. Bi-generation Plant. Hydrogen and Water Production Although it is true that the plant’s water consumption is low, it has been possible to analyze that on the islands, water is scarce. In fact, most of it is desalinated, that is, to create energy from prior energy expenditure, it does not seem an ethically correct option. Well, no matter how efficient the plant may be, it will drag a previous energy consumption of production and distribution of water. Therefore, it has been decided in this proposal to incorporate a desalination plant, and produce not only the water necessary for the electrolyzer, but also to be able, go to market, as a form of energy storage [4–6]. That way, it’s possible incorporating another flexible load into the

4.2 Designs Made

57

Fig. 4.2 Hydrogen and desalinated water production plant. Source Own elaboration

project, which can adjust its consumption against the renewable production available at any given time. Being able to incorporate variable speed drive to the desalination pumps. The layout of the plant would remain as shown Fig. 4.2. In this case, several shortcomings observed at the beginning are solved, since producing water, on the one hand, will reduce its price, favoring the entire industrial, domestic, tourist and agricultural. Generating wealth, and providing significant added value to the proposal. As can be seen in the diagram, the water produced will be used as raw material for the process of obtaining hydrogen, and will go to market for distribution and sale. We know that given the scarcity of water, the island has numerous reservoirs and distribution networks where production could be injected. For this, desalination by reverse osmosis is counted in this proposal for continuing to apply the most modern technology with high efficiency, used in these islands [7].

4.2.3 Third Design. Tri-generation Plant. Production of Hydrogen, Water and Ammonia When analyzing the problems of the islands, it has been found that has a great seasonal nature of the natural energy resource, with the windiest and sunniest months being in summer. The winter months have least energy resource. This great seasonality would imply having to have large energy storage systems on an annual basis. However, the electricity demand, given the benign climate, remains almost constant along the year. It has been seen how the islands import more than four thousand tons of nitrogenous fertilizers from abroad every year, subsidizing the transport of goods, and increasing the carbon footprint of local agricultural production.

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Fig. 4.3 Trigeneration production plant. Source Own elaboration

In addition, the high abandonment of the local countryside has been analyzed, causing a high food dependency from abroad. What causes an expensive shopping basket, despite subsidies, negatively impacts all economic sectors. In addition to promoting a high carbon footprint due to the quantities and the great distances that must be covered. The importance of the port has been confirmed, as it plays a relevant role as a fuel supplier in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean [8]. In addition, the technical section has seen the difficulties in storing and distributing hydrogen, with ammonia being a fabulous hydrogen-carrier, allowing its commercialization by ship, and its massive storage. This would allow it to be marketed as fuel, exporting it in the months of greatest resource, and being able to import it in the months of least. It has also been seen how trans-oceanic ships will start to use ammonia as fuel. From all of this arises the following design (Fig. 4.3). Where an air separator that obtains nitrogen has been incorporated, and then a Haber–Bosch cycle. Which, feeding on this nitrogen and the hydrogen previously obtained, make ammonia. The air separator does not have flexibility of operation, but it is also true that its consumption is much lower than the previous processes. So, there would be no problem keeping it in continuous operation.

4.2.4 Fourth Design. Tetra-generation Plant. Production of Hydrogen, Water, Ammonia and Electricity Watching the section where the technical vision has been developed, it has been seen that today many types of equipment that formerly operated with fuel, now operate using electricity, not only cars but also heat pumps, with very high efficiencies, aerothermal standing out as clean energy. And implementing renewable energy on a massive scale requires increasing energy storage devices.

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59

In the local problem, it has been observed that since the islands are small electrical systems, due to the difficulty of interconnection due to the deep sea. It means that many wind farms, which have a resource during off-peak hours, must be disconnected, wasting part of their energy production. For all these reasons, we include energy storage systems in this proposal and devices that allow the fuels produced to be reverted to the electricity grid. In addition, hybrid energy storage systems are very much in vogue [9], and the software must discriminate in which to store the electricity produced, to later recover it by reverting it to the grid or keep the fuel obtained to go to the market and be used in another sector. The present proposal remains as it is shown in Fig. 4.4. Engines or turbines are watched that can use hydrogen, ammonia, or a blend of these compounds as fuel. A hydrogen fuel cell has also been incorporated, returning its energy to the grid. In the technical section, it is observed that today there is a lot of work being done on ammonia fuel cells [10], which could be incorporated into this scheme. An ammonia-hydrogen cracker has been incorporated, since it would allow ammonia to be purchased in times of low resources, or to reconvert part of the ammonia produced here, into hydrogen necessary for certain equipment. Li-ion batteries are incorporated due to their high cycle performance, although they have a high self-consumption rate, compared to other storage methods. Some electric vehicle chargers are also incorporated, these being able to be managed by the plant’s software.

Fig. 4.4 Tetrageneration production plant. Source Own elaboration

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4.2.5 Fifth Design. Hexa-generation Plant. Production of Hydrogen, Water, Ammonia, Electricity, Oxygen, and Nitrogen All the time the proposal has been looked at from an energy point of view, but after holding conversations with gas companies, they warned us that there were products listed on the markets, for purposes other than energy, and that they appeared in these processes, like nitrogen it is sold, and used in multiple uses, just like the oxygen that was obtained in the fuel cell and without further ado was rejected into the air. They are gases that are demanded in the market. For this reason, its use is proposed in this new scheme (Fig. 4.5). Without adding any equipment in the process, its storage and release to market is simply contemplated. In this case, it will be green nitrogen and oxygen, since their production does not cause any greenhouse gas emissions [11, 12].

Fig. 4.5 Hexageneration production plant. Source Own elaboration

4.3 Raw Materials

61

4.2.6 Future Design. Seventh-Generation Plant. Production of Hydrogen, Water, Ammonia, Electricity, Oxygen, Nitrogen and E-fuel One of the possible locations for the project is close to some of the two thermal power plants on the island. In the year 2020, 83.4% of the electricity produced on the island uses oil as primary energy. Emitting CO2 through the chimneys. To the plant elaborated in the previous section, e-fuel production could be added, be used as home fuel, industrial fuel, for road and maritime transport, using hydrogen for short journeys and ammonia for long journeys. Likewise, it has been seen how commuter aircraft could use hydrogen [13], but for longer trips, it is not clear what to use. Biofuels could, but in a very limited way [14], along with e-kerosene, be the only green option for aviation today. E-fuels stand out as fuels to be used, as long as there is inevitable combustion that produces CO2 . Work is being done on CO2 collectors directly from the air, but their efficiency is very low [15, 16]. But Germany makes it very clear that fuels from crops, or e-fuels that capture CO2 from unavoidable combustion. They are not a long-term sustainable solution [17]. Given that the project is located in a tourist destination with high air traffic, including a possible application of this fuel in this project would provide a global solution to all the energy needs to be considered. Therefore, the capture of CO2 from a nearby chimney is incorporated, and a Fischer–Tropsch cycle (Fig. 4.6). This last option is noted as a future possibility and is not specified. Well, in the future the capture of CO2 directly from the air will begin to be viable.

4.3 Raw Materials It is true that technology will be used to be able to start up and operate all these processes, and it will be necessary to fine-tune and maintain equipment and machinery. When selecting the equipment, its useful life will be taken into account, and what process it will undergo to recover a large part of it. It requires the use of other products like greasing, additives to the water to be desalted, purifiers, and catalysts, but all of them in a small proportion. But what is a raw material for the set of processes will be exclusively seawater and air. Both are inexhaustible, clean, and free (Figs. 4.7 and 4.8). With these two materials, the problems associated with the territory described in Chap. 1 could be tackled to a great extent.

62

Fig. 4.6 Heptageneration production plant. Source Own elaboration

Fig. 4.7 Atmospheric air. Source Own elaboration

4 Hexageneration Project

4.4 Flowchart of the Set of Processes

63

Fig. 4.8 Seawater. Source Own elaboration

4.4 Flowchart of the Set of Processes A representation of the set of processes contained herein greatly facilitates understanding. That is why it has been created. It starts from the left of renewable primary energy, which has been considered wind in this case. And as the raw material of seawater and air. The electricity generated will be invested in: • Mainly in the electrolyzer, where oxygen (O2 ) and hydrogen (H2 ) are obtained from the process feed water. • Another fraction of electricity is applied in the desalination process, from which desalinated water (H2 O) is obtained. • Another part feeds the air separation unit from where nitrogen (N2 ) is obtained. • The last part of electricity is spent in the two synthesis processes at the end, on the right, which is the Haber Bosch process, from which Ammonia (NH3 ) is obtained from its components, and the Fischer Tropsch process, from which e-fuels are obtained from Hydrogen and captured CO2 . The products that would go to market have been surrounded by a circle, having differentiated the six included in this design, from the seventh surrounded by a discontinuous red circle, it is the e-fuel, considered for the second phase of this proposal (Fig. 4.9).

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Fig. 4.9 Process flow diagram. Source Own elaboration

4.5 Ability to Build Long-Term Resilience to Future Crises The EU, the ministry of Spain, no one denies that the way out of this crisis must be green, the project in question directly addresses energy and water production through clean energy, as described in previous sections will drag to an energetic and labor diversification. Therefore, in the face of future crises, Canary Islands will be stronger, by increasing their self-sufficiency in many areas. Increasing energy, water, and food self-supply (without the almost exclusive use of oil, as it is today). Therefore, the result of this project will be a Canary Islands that is stronger and less dependent on the outside world in absolutely everything. International trends have unanimously selected hydrogen and ammonia as suitable fuels to store energy and extrapolate to various uses [18]. These trends have many compelling reasons, highlighting the production of both fuels at low cost from renewable energies. On the other hand, both synthetic fuels are complementary in many ways, ammonia is obtained with hydrogen, ammonia is easier to transport, it is more appropriate for longer storage, etc. Thus, both could be used to drive internal

4.6 Ability to Respond Directly to the Impacts Suffered

65

combustion engines, or through fuel cells. The proposal would also test the combustion of ammonia in a generator, which would make it possible to start an adaptation of the nine thermal power plants installed in Canary Islands. The capacity of the proposal to develop long-term resilience in the face of future crises is supported by the fact that energy storage is a great need to enable the massive use of renewable energies, which have intermittent, non-manageable productions. Not fully exploited, because sometimes they are disconnected by the electricity system operator, to limit effects on the stability of the grid. Each type of storage is useful on different timescales. Thus, storage in electric batteries is efficient in the short term, in the case of hydrogen in the short and medium term, and in the case of ammonia in the medium and long term, in any case, there will be pumping in all electrical systems over time, providing storage in the medium term. Allowing to maintain stability in the generation of electricity.

4.6 Ability to Respond Directly to the Impacts Suffered The proposal and its involvements do not harm any productive sector. But if it is true that it improves many, which is going to be listed. • Agriculture and the primary sector: It will be strengthened, as green water will be produced at a lower cost, allowing its use to increase, and its price to decrease, which will save many local public administrations from subsidizing water [19–21], in addition, many crops lost to drought will be saved [22, 23]. • Allowing an increase in labor in this productive sector, which will relieve unemployment, increase the quality of products by proximity, and increase autonomy, saving emissions in transport from the country of origin to the Canary Islands, and state subsidies for freight transport [24]. • The on-site manufacture of fertilizers, so highly demanded in Canary, would be viable, although the project does not contemplate it, it would be a second step. • It is true that Canary is one of the areas in the European Union with the greatest contamination of their groundwater due to the use of nitrates [25]. Therefore, it should be considered to look for other ways that are more respectful of the environment, such as irrigation with bacteria [26]. • Likewise, it would be convenient to breed insects, fed with agricultural waste, to use them as feed for use in fish farms [27, 28]. • The tourism sector will continue to be the center of this economy, but it is true that it will now be more ecological, since it will allow the incorporation of greener electricity, a greater amount of green water, and greener transport, for its entrances, exits, and internal movements. All the expenses that the tourist entails, including food, electricity, transport, and water, will have a cleaner and more local

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•

•

•

•

•

4 Hexageneration Project

origin. Reducing costs in the sector, which will make it easier to compete with other destinations and its carbon footprint. The transport sector: whether by road, sea or air, it is called to be greener. This project incorporates the production of green electricity, as well as synthetic fuels for land and sea, allowing the use of electric vehicles, hydrogen for cars, heavy vehicles, commuter ships, and ammonia for transoceanic ships. The project does not contemplate the manufacture of green fuel for aviation, but it would simply be a second step, once the first is consolidated. The door to achieving this would already be open. Hydrogen can be used for local flights. Ordinary electricity generation sector: this sector will be affected by laying the foundations for operation with different storage systems, and introducing NH3 , as an element of long-term energy storage, allowing a conventional generation to progressively decarbonize. Renewable generation sector: This project where non-manageable generation is accompanied by other production systems, which would allow them to add value to that non-injectable energy, due to being in off-peak hours and having to disconnect from the network, or offer more value to the start-up of some of the associated production processes. Industrial sector: Today in Canary, in the middle of the Atlantic without energy or raw materials, is not a place to implement any industrial economic activity, once the winds and sun can be stored in a synthetic fuel, it may be considered the establishment of activities that entail a high energy expenditure. Energy storage sector: it is true that the installation of energy storage systems in grid-connected facilities is soaring in the world today, we include them here, as one more process within the facility. All self-consumption facilities will be able to make their numbers to make this inclusion. In any case, faced with the need to store seasonally due to having to adjust the demand to the resource, the alternative of trading with energy arises. Buying and selling ammonia with other places. As a curiosity, the wind is higher in Spain and northern Europe in winter, unlike in the Canary Islands, which shows the possibility of exporting ammonia in summer and buying it in winter in these places. Labor sector: All these products that will be introduced in the market, will be associated with workshops, carriers, distributors, marketers of the product, machinery, installers, trainers, and other personnel. Both on land and at sea. We are talking about hydrogen and ammonia. Avoid having to hire labor from abroad trained in these techniques, while being able to export local labor that is advanced in these matters. In addition to the workforce in tourism, agriculture, and industry that will be enhanced by the above.

4.7 Ability to Catalyze Progress Towards a Sustainable and Equitable Blue …

67

4.7 Ability to Catalyze Progress Towards a Sustainable and Equitable Blue Economy It is important to analyze what this proposal contributes to the blue economy, the potential of Canary, and Gran Canaria in particular in relation to offshore wind power is fabulous. The only place where there are two offshore wind turbines in Spain is on this island. In certain enclaves, there is a resource of more than 5 thousand hours equivalent per year. Currently, the island has been the object of numerous projects, which, given the non-existence of energy storage systems and the limited nature of its electrical system, have paralyzed any initiative [29–32]. We know the great potential that the entire Canary Islands has for offshore wind power, on some islands more than on others. But the reality is that wind and solar are unmanageable energies that is, they are limited to a certain percentage of the demand at any given moment since their instability can affect the electrical grid to which they are connected. Therefore, in times of low demand with a strong wind, wind farms would have to be disconnected, given the risk that they would bring down the operation of the electrical grid. In this proposal, production processes associated with this stochastic generation are proposed, so that the energy produced is consumed in them, allowing the wind turbine to continue operating, despite the circumstances. Extrapolating from this situation, it is an installation that teaches two things. • First, it is possible to avoid disconnection at certain times, with flexible installations associated with the consumption system. • Second, the price of electricity fluctuates throughout the day, there are peak and expensive hours, and other off-peak hours, where it is very cheap. If electricity is sold during peak hours and consumed during off-peak hours, it benefits from that fluctuation, and the grid also benefits, since the energy is injected during peak hours, and is consumed during off-peak hours, flattening the consumption curve, which favors the system, and the entry of the most polluting and wasteful thermoelectric groups is avoided. This proposal favors the implementation of any fluctuating renewable energy system and given the circumstances of the Canary Islands being endowed with a windy sea. It directly favors the Blue Economy. In addition, it provides the production of ammonia, mainly as fuel for longdistance ships, and hydrogen, for commuter ships and port activities. The proposal includes the development of a cold-ironing simulator. All this produces a direct contribution to the blue economy. It is true that this proposal does not at any time contemplate anything direct towards fishing or aquaculture. But two contributions to this activity are provided. • First: contribution of ecological fuel to the boats used in this area. • Second, by strongly increasing the use of cultivated land, it could encourage the use of part of it, or its waste as a contribution to feeding the farms for fish. Or use

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plant residues of these crops for the breeding of insects with which to enrich the feed for these farms [27, 28]. Avoiding the exclusive use of feed produced with flour or fat from non-commercial fish, as has been the case up to now. Fish farming is increasing in Spain, the big problem is that the fish that are raised are carnivorous, so they feed on flour and fat from other non-commercial fish, and this is not sustainable. Therefore, incorporating high-protein crops such as soybeans or flour from cultivated insects could partially alleviate this problem. But as we have said, they are aspects not developed in this book.

4.8 Ability to Meet International Commitments Such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement Europe has recently increased the reduction of greenhouse gases by 2030 from 40 to 55% compared to the 1990 level and promises a close linking of reconstruction funds with green objectives. This points out that the economic incentive measures due to COVID-19 offer a key opportunity to take urgent measures that could boost the economy while supporting climate and energy objectives. The Spanish government has announced that it will join this initiative. The International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) in its new report to be published on September 21 entitled “Reaching Zero with Renewables” states that renewable energy solutions must play a more important role than previously believed in the energy sectors. Industry and transport, in order to achieve the emission reduction targets, energy storage is key, highlighting the regulatory measures and the promotion of innovation “to test new technologies in real operating conditions”. If we add the emission reduction targets of the IMO “International Maritime Organization” has adopted a 40% reduction in the carbon intensity of maritime transport by 2030, and the IATA “International Air Transport Association” has adopted reducing emissions carbon dioxide emissions by up to 50% by 2050, taking into account that the Canary Islands have highly visited airports and ports, in the middle of three continents in the Atlantic Ocean. And that a big business in the islands is bunkering, it is mandatory to be able to serve green fuels, or they will be turning their backs on this activity. The European objective of decarbonizing the economy in 2050, and ratified by Spain, has included the purpose of reaching it in the non-peninsular area, the Canary and Balearic Islands, ten years earlier, in 2040 [33]. However, the Government of the Canary Islands has announced the possibility of reaching this objective 5 years earlier, in 2035 [34]. The only possibility for the Canary Islands to achieve, at least partially, these commitments is the incorporation of ammonia, as proposed in this book. Allowing it to store energy, even avoiding the great seasonality that its natural energy resources

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present, starting to export ammonia in summer, due to more wind and more sun, and importing it in winter for have fewer resources.

4.9 Reduction of CO2 Emissions from the Proposal Contemplated in this Book • Production: Based on the simulation carried out, the quantities of product are taken, for the proposal that has been taken as a reference, in order to be able to present some initial numbers, and as previously specified, even though it is the same installation and has the same resource, it will be the software that is designed by us, the one that decides the production of more or less quantity of each product. Two practical cases are carried out in this work, one wind P.1 and another photovoltaic P.2. The calculation of the avoided CO2 emissions of the second case will be carried out in detail, and only the total number of the first case is presented, since the procedure is the same. Avoided emissions in Projects 2 and 1: In Gran Canaria in [35], it is possible to obtain the CO2 emissions for electricity production in the year 2019: 0.64 tCO2 /MWh. It has been considered that a desalination plant consumes 3 kWh/m3 of desalinated water. Gasoline and diesel oil have a lower heating value of 42.5 and 42 MJ/kg. While H2 and NH3 have 120 and 18.8 MJ/kg. Gasoline, diesel oil, and marine fuel have a density of 700, 850 and 991 kg/m3 [36]. Emissions of these gasoline, gas–oil, and fuel–oil fuels are 2.38, 2.61 and 3.05 kg CO2 /l. The production of O2 obtaining it from the air is 0.2 kWh/kg O2 [37]. The production of N2 in an air separator will be 0.8 kWh/kg N2 [38] Based on all these numbers we will have in the Project nº1 (with Photovoltaic Energy) (Table 4.1): Table 4.1 CO2 emissions avoided with the project 2

Product

Amount

t of CO2 would avoid

Electric energy

306.80 MWh

196.35

H2

10.6 t

174.30

O2

115.64 t

N2

0.56 t

0.28

NH3

22.02 t

38.72

Desalinated water

21,536 m3

41.35

Source Own elaboration

14.80

70

4 Hexageneration Project

In total, the photovoltaic project P.2 will have the capacity to avoid 465.82 t of CO2 per year. In the case of wind project P.1 will have the capacity to avoid 17,703.66 t of CO2 per year. It is known that the savings that this proposal would provide would be much higher, for the following reasons that are difficult to quantify: • By enabling greater food production in-situ, without having to import from remote corners of the planet, the reduction of emissions from transport would be great. • Making it possible for part of the production of nitrogenous fertilizers, more than 4 thousand tons per year, to be carried out in-situ, and with a procedure without emissions, emissions from transportation and the production process would be avoided. • Avoiding combustion of generation groups avoids their emissions, but too those of their transportation of fuel by sea and by land. Every day dozens of trucks loaded with fuel circulate along the island’s highways to the thermal power plants. • By having renewable generation and electricity-consuming processes with flexible operation, we will allow it to be operational in off-peak hours, by starting up various processes. Well, these processes can be stopped at peak hours, allowing the renewable generation obtained during these hours to be fed into the network. Avoiding the entry into operation of the dirtiest and most wasteful groups of the system. Flattening the demand curve, allowing greater integration of renewables in the electrical system. • H2 and ammonia have been considered to replace conventional fuels in equivalence to their lower calorific value, but in the case of using fuel cells for both H2 and NH3 , much higher yields are obtained as they are not limited by the performance of thermodynamic cycles.

4.10 Optimization of the Energy Management of the Hexa-generation Plant In a multi-generation plant, the optimal management of energy flows and mass or volumetric flows of the different products is vital to maximize their full performance and economic benefit. In order to optimize one or several objectives simultaneously, some of them in competition or conflict with others, it is very important to use heuristic methods to search for optimal and robust solutions, without limitations on the number and class of restrictions that the solutions must perform. The evolutionary methods are suitable candidates for their robustness and operational flexibility to easily handle uncertainties in the parameters of the problem, as is the case that concerns us with the production of electricity with renewable energies and satisfaction of demand. Evolutionary Algorithms, including Genetic Algorithms, Differential Evolution, Evolution Strategies, etc., are artificial intelligence algorithms, since they can be

4.10 Optimization of the Energy Management of the Hexa-generation Plant

71

designed so that it learns to be more efficient, in the same process of executing their search software of optimal solutions [39]. Once the location of the plant is determined, a meteorological service company will be able to provide the forecast of the natural resources of wind and sun in the area for the next 96 h, providing subsequent adjustments as time shortens. Thus, it is possible to have hourly forecasts of electricity production (kWh) considering the data of the wind and photovoltaic generation facilities. From the OMIE (Operator of the Iberian Electricity Market) and REE (Red Eléctrica de España) websites it is possible to download the electricity purchase and sale prices 24 h in advance. The plant will have a chemical product ordering department that manages the historical data of requests, with software, to be able to estimate the daily demand for each of the products in the catalogue. All of this makes it easier to make operating decisions.

4.10.1 Definition of Variables These may be referred to as hour (h), day (n), or real-time (t). The price of electricity from fuel cells has been considered, different from those of the sale of renewable production, today there is no distinctive, but it is true that energy storage systems should prevail over other systems generation in the near future (Table 4.2). All these variables will be given in kWh, as they are energy in the form of electricity, and are referred to as hour (h). It is important to note that in Spain, there is a net balance within each hour. In other words, if within an hour, between 13:00 and 14:00, 10 kWh is consumed and 8 kWh is injected into the grid. It is equivalent to having consumed only 2 kWh. Paying the corresponding price. Being impossible within the same hour to purchase and sale of energy. All these variables have been put on a scale of hours, as they correspond to the price period. Although the battery could take on the role of trying to dampen oscillations in Table 4.2 Electric energy prices Erenov (h)

Renewable energy produced, sum of photovoltaic and wind energy

Ev (h)

Energy sold to the grid from renewables

Ei (h)

Total energy injected into the grid

Ec (h)

Energy purchased from the grid

EFC−H2 (h)

Electrical energy produced by H2 fuel cell

EFC−NH3 (h)

Electrical energy produced by the NH3 fuel cell

Ecbat (h)

Battery charged energy

Edbat (h)

Battery discharged energy

Ce (h)

Sum of electrical energy consumption, in the plant (electrolyzer, compressors, H-B synthesis, PSA, …)

72

4 Hexageneration Project

Table 4.3 Amount of product

Ebat (t)

Energy stored in the battery (kWh)

MSH2 (t)

Amount of H2 in storage tanks (kgH2 )

MSNH3 (t)

Amount of NH3 in storage tanks (kgNH3 )

MSO2 (t)

Amount of O2 in storage tanks (kgO2 )

MSN2 (t)

Amount of N2 in storage tanks (kgN2 )

VSH2 O (t)

Amount of H2 O in storage tanks (m3 de H2 O)

renewable production, changing its state in real-time, just like the power consumption of the plant. Carrying out an energy balance, the following equation is obtained. Er enov (h) + E C (h) = Ecbat (h) + Ce (h) + E v (h) It would also be necessary that the energy injected into the grid will be. E i (h) = E v (h) + m 2H2 (h) · E FC−H2 + m 2NH3 (h) · E FC−NH3 + Edbat (h) • Warehouse capacity for each product, these ceiling values will never be exceeded and are constant. Any process that, while in operation, may cause the storage capacity of any product to be exceeded will be stopped. • Emax−bat (kWh) Emin−bat (kWh) MH2 −max (kgH2 ) • ENH3 −max (kgNH 3) M  O2 −max (kgO2 ) MN2 −max (kgN2 ) • VH2 O−max m3 de H2 O • Warehouse status of each of the products in real-time, at the time (t). • Electricity prices in Spain vary from hour to hour (e/kWh). It should not be forgotten that in Spain, there is a net balance within 1 h; that is, if between 13:00 and 14:00, 10 MWh are consumed and 8 MWh are injected into the grid, it is equivalent to having consumed only 2 MWh (Table 4.3). Currently, the energy sold is paid the same regardless of the source that supplies it. But soon it is planned to supply a different price to storage systems, since they are necessary to increase the integration of discontinuous renewable energies. Therefore, the price of the fuel cells and the battery is considered independently (the units will be e/kWh) (Table 4.4). • To observe the price of green products that go to the market, they will be reviewed daily, their units will be e/kg, except for the case of desalinated water, which will be referred to as m3 . It has been considered that prices may vary from one day to the next, commanded by the markets. • Values of the demand for daily products (n), fully or partially known, and the rest estimated based on experience, calendar or other indicators. The possibility of compromising certain electrical energy supplied to the grid is left open, only in the latter case would it be hour by hour (Table 4.5).

4.10 Optimization of the Energy Management of the Hexa-generation Plant Table 4.4 Electricity price value

Table 4.5 Product prices

pv (h)

73

Sale price of electricity to the grid

pc (h)

Purchase price of electricity from the grid

peH2 (h)

Sale price of electricity produced in a fuel cell of H2

peNH3 (h)

Sale price of electricity produced in a fuel cell of NH3

pebat (h)

Sale price of electricity removed from battery

pH2 (n)

Selling price of H2

pN2 (n)

Selling price of N2

pH2 O (n)

Selling price of fresh water

pNH3 (n)

Selling price of NH3

pO2 (n)

Selling price of O2

DH2 (n) DO2 (n) DN2 (n) DH2 O (n) DNH3 (n) De (h) • Product amounts: They can be taken within different time windows, but they are designed to be applied every hour. The mass of hydrogen generated by electrolysis within each hour: is the sum of the masses required for the sale of hydrogen m 1H2 , to produce electricity with fuel cell m 2H2 , for the production of ammonia m 3H2 with H-B synthesis and that which is stored for non-immediate use to help provide future demands m 4H2 : MH2 = m 1H2 + m 2H2 + m 3H2 + m 4H2 The mass of ammonia generated by Haber–Bosch synthesis will be divided, to sell m 1NH3 , to generate electriciy with fuel cell m 2NH3 , or m 3NH3 corresponding to the volume to store. MNH3 = m 1NH3 + m 2NH3 + m 3NH3 The mass of nitrogen obtained from the PSA air separator will be, m 1N2 mass of nitrogen to be sold in the short term, m 2N2 nitrogen required for H–B synthesis H–B, m 3N2 nitrogen at store. MN2 = m 1N2 + m 2N2 + m 3N2 The mass of oxygen obtained from the air separator and in the electrolyzer will be, m 1O2 mass of oxygen to be sold in the short term and m 2O2 oxygen required to store.

74

4 Hexageneration Project

MO2 = m 1O2 + m 2O2 The amount of desalinated water, in cubic meters, obtained by reverse osmosis will be, v1H2 O volume of water to be sold in the short term, v2H2 O volume of water required to feed the electrolyzer, this water will require a subsequent purification treatment, with which it will be higher purity water, and it will be stored in a separate tank, finally, the desalinated water will be stored v3H2 O . VH2 O = v1H2 O + v2H2 O + v3H2 O • Yields to consider in fuel cells. To carry out these calculations, a performance of 60% has been considered in fuel cells, both in H2 and NH3 .   kWh E FC−H2 = L V HH2 · E f H2 · 0.277 MJ kWh kWh = 20 = 120 MJ/kg · 0.6 · 0.277 MJ kgH2 E FC−NH3 = L V HNH3 · E f NH3 · 0.277 kWh/MJ kWh kWh = 18.6 MJ/kg · 0.6 · 0.277 = 3.125 MJ kgNH3 With these two constants, it is possible to obtain the production of electricity in the fuel cells within each hour, simply by applying the following operation. E FC−H2 (h) = E FC−H2 · m 2H2 (h) E FC−NH3 (h) = E FC−NH3 · m 2NH3 (h) These efficiencies of both fuel cells, hydrogen and ammonia, have used current values, although it is true that once the plant will build, they must be reviewed.

4.10.2 Optimization Objectives In this section, a series of objectives will be presented, which will later be weighted, to obtain the Pareto curve of possible optimal solutions. Which will be better guidelines for the optimized operation of the set of processes included in the Hexa-generation plant.

4.10 Optimization of the Energy Management of the Hexa-generation Plant

75

• Maximizing the economic benefits of buying and selling electricity and products, satisfying all the restrictions that must be considered, both technical and maximum storage capacities, would be as follows: MAX



pH2 (n) · m 1H2 (h) + pNH3 (n) · m 1NH3 (h) + pN2 (n) · m 1N2 (h)

h=1,2...24

+ pO2(n) · m O2 (h) + pH2 O (n) · V1H2 O (h) + m 2H2 (h) · pv2 (h)E FC−H2 + m 2NH3 (h) · pv3 (h) · E FC−NH3 + pebat (h) · Edbat (h) + (E v (h) · pv (h) − E c (h) · pc (h)) • Another objective would be to maximize the reduction of CO2 emissions with the operation, for which the most recent document published, in 2019, has been used, where it appears that the electricity generation system on the island of Gran Canaria produces 0.64 tCO2 /MWh [35]. Based on the electrical energy required for each process, the reduction in emissions due to each product produced has been calculated. Reduction due to the use of green fuels H2 and NH3 . Using the Lower Calorific Value (LCV) (Table 4.6). The consumption of fossil fuels on the island of Gran Canaria, we have the data for the year 2018, it will be considered that in the following years the same proportion can be maintained and with the green fuels to be produced in this zero emission plant, these fuels will be proportionally replaced. For this, we will look at equivalences based on the LCV between fuels. Fossil fuels were consumed in Gran Canaria in 2018 in metric tons [40] (Table 4.7). In one day, the tons of CO2 avoided by NH3 and H2 when replacing other fuels will be: Table 4.6 LCV and emissions of fossil fuels

Table 4.7 Fossil fuel consumed in Gran Canaria 2018

LCV NH3

6.25 kWh/kgNH3

LCV H2

33.60 kWh/kgH2

LCV fuel–oil

11.09 kWh/kg fuel

LCV gasoline

12.20 kWh/kg gasoline

LCV diesel

8.30 kWh/kg diesel

Emissions of fuel–oil

3.13 kgCO2 /kg fuel–oil

Emissions of gasoline

3.26 kgCO2 /kg gasoline

Emissions of diesel

3.17 kgCO2 /kg diesel

Gasoline

Diesel

Fuel–oil

Total

187,448 t

568,941 t

389,232 t

1,145,621 t

Source [40]

76

4 Hexageneration Project 

tCO2 2NH3 (n) =



389, 232 1, 145, 621

 · m1 NH3 (n) · 6.25 · 

· m1 NH3 (n) · 6.25 ·

3.26 12.2



 +

3.13 11.09



568, 941 1, 145, 621

 +



187, 448 114, 5621

 

· m1 NH3 (n) · 6.25 ·

   3.13 389, 232 · m1 H2 (n) · 33.6 · 1, 145, 621 11.09     187, 448 3.26 · m1 H2 (n) · 33.6 · + 1, 145, 621 12.2     568, 941 3.17 + · m1 H2 (n) · 1, 145, 621 8.3 

3.17 8.3



tCO2 H2 (n) =

To determine the emissions avoided, due to the production of electricity injected daily into the grid, it will be carried out as follows. tCO2 electricity(n) = [Ei (n) − Ec (n)]0.64 tCO2 /MWh To determine the reduction in daily emissions from the sale of desalinated water, a consumption of 3 kWh/m3 , has been considered, the expression will be: tCO2 water (n) = V 1H2 O(n) · 0.0030 · 64 tCO2 /MWh To determine the reduction of emissions from the sale of N2 and O2 , electrical consumption for the production of nitrogen and oxygen has been considered. 1.12 kWh/kg O2

0.18 kWh/kg N2

Considering the local production of these products, we thus avoid adding the emissions due to their transportation. tCO2 gas(n) = m1 N2 (h) · 0.18 · 0.64 + m1 O2 (h) · 1.12 · 0.64 Each day the emissions avoided will be calculated by adding the above equations, and maximizing its value may be another objective. MAX



tCO2NH3 (n) + tCO2H2 (n) + tCO2electricit y (n) + tCO2water (n)

n=1,2,...30

+ tCO2gas (n) Being aware that, day by day, the CO2 emissions associated with the generation of electricity on the island will be reduced, and the efficiency of the different processes will increase. Therefore, these parameters must be corrected at least once a year. Another objective to be considered by the software would be to cover the demand for the various products that are offered, because the repeated occurrence out of stock could damage sales. Guarantee to cover the demand for the various products, trying to keep the following inequalities.

References

77



DH2 (n) < M SH2 (t) +

m 1 H2 (h)

h=1,2,...24



DO2 (n) < M SO2 (t) +

m 1 O2 (h)

h=1,2,...24



DN2 (n) < M SN2 (t) +

m 1 N2 (h)

h=1,2,...24

DH2 O(n) < V SH2 O(t) +



v1 H2 O(h)

h=1,2,...24

DNH3 (n) < M SNH3 (t) +



m 1 NH3 (h)

h=1,2,...24

Within the restrictions will be the techniques, the up or down ramps appear to be considered in the operation of the various processes, the efficiency losses associated with the interruption in process service, all of them will be stated in the form of equations and will be introduced in software. It cannot be forgotten that in order to maintain the green label on the products produced here, at the end of the year it must be fulfilled that the energy sold to the grid must be greater than, or equal to, that purchased. Complying with this inequality must be included in the management software.  n=1,2,...365

E c (n) ≤



E i (n)

n=1,2,...365

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Appendix

Data of Interest for the Proposal Presented in this Book

Data about water, hydrogen, and ammonia generation project will be presented in order to analyze its viability.

A.1 Compound Characteristics We can see that although hydrogen has a much higher calorific value per weight, its density is much lower (Table A.1). This makes it difficult to handle, both for transport and storage. Its main application being consumption close to its point of production. We can see variation of volumetric density of hydrogen and ammonia at different temperatures and pressures, using the data obtained from reference [1], from which the data has been extracted to be able to elaborate Figs. A.1, A.2, A.3 and A.4: Figure A.1 shows how the density of hydrogen varies with temperature. Observing the two liquid and gaseous states . It can be seen in Fig. A.2, how the density of hydrogen varies with pressure. Remaining as a gas at almost all values. For ammonia: . It can be seen in Fig. A.3, how the density of ammonia varies with temperature. Observing the two states, gaseous and liquid. Table A.1 Compound characteristics Compound

Molecular weight Boiling point Lower heating value (LHV) Density liquid MWh/t T °C kg/m3 2.01

−252.9

Ammonia NH3 17.03

−33.35

Hydrogen H2

33.3 5.18

70.8 681.8

Source Own elaboration © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 G. Winter-Althaus et al., EU Islands and the Clean Energy Transition, SpringerBriefs in Energy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23066-0

81

82 Table A.2 Product prices

Appendix: Data of Interest for the Proposal Presented in this Book Product

Price

Units

Green ammonia (2022)

1002

e/tNH3

Grey ammonia (2022)

480

e/tNH3

H2 grey (2018)

2340

e/tH2

H2 blue (2018)

3436

e/tH2

H2 green (2018)

5279

e/tH2

Electricity Spain buy (2021)

281.60

e/MWh

Electricity Spain Gen. (2021)

111.97

e/MWh

Water in Gran Canaria (2020)

0.42

e/m3

Source Adapted from [2–6]

. It can be seen in Fig. A.4, how the density of ammonia varies with pressure. Looking again at the two states, gaseous and liquid. Getting the liquid state at 8.5704 bar, 610.39 kg/m3 .

A.2 Product Prices Although the prices shown are wholesale, it is also true that in a hydrogen generator, if we were to refuel an H2 vehicle, we could be paying 15e/kg in 2020. Well, the price of the table would be the price at which the H2 would be obtained from renewables, not the sale price, and less at retail (Table A.2). The trend of a large increase in the price of natural gas, grey ammonia and grey H2 considerably, in August 2022 the price of hydrogen was approximately $20, which has seen a recent increase due to operating costs. However, it should have little effect on the prices of green ammonia and green H2 . The last 5 years there has been a great decrease in the cost of producing wind and solar energy. In 2022, mainly due to the increase in the cost of raw materials (the price of steel has multiplied by three, etc.) and difficulties in the supply chain, chips, etc., this trend has been slowed down.

A.3 Energy Consumption for Production The energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the production of ammonia are presented (Table A.3). We can observe the consumption of various processes. To obtain green ammonia: electrolyzer + air separator + ammonia synthesizer H&B 10–12 MWh/t NH3 (Table A.4). Energy consumed by each of the processes to obtain hydrogen or ammonia (Table A.5).

Appendix: Data of Interest for the Proposal Presented in this Book

83

Table A.3 Energy consumption and emissions by production Origin

Consumption MWh/tNH3

Steam methane reforming coupled with Haber–Bosch Water electrolysis with Haber–Bosch powered by solar/wind

Emissions tCO2 /tNH3

9.50

0.97

12.00

0.00

Source [7]

Table A.4 Consumption obtain green ammonia Product

Consumption MWh/t

Device

H2

55.5–65.3

Electrolyzer PEM-Alkaline

H2

55.5–72.4

Electrolyzer PEM

H2

41.1–43.8

Electrolyzer SOE

H2

12.5

Cracker of ammonia

NH3

8.21

Elec + PSA + H&B

Adapted from [8–10]

Table A.5 Energy consumed by each of the processes to obtain hydrogen or ammonia Process

Consumption

Clarifications

Electrolysis

50 kWh/kgH2

Includes consumption to go from 30 to 200 bar

Air separator

0.8 kWh/kgN2

Includes consumption to go from 1 to 200 bar

Synthesizer

3.1 kWh/kgNH3

Source Adapted from [11]

Table A.6 Electricity production Process

Consumption

Clarifications

Fuel cell of H2

20 kWh/kgH2

It has been considered 60% of LHV

Combustion generator of NH3

1.6 kWh/kgNH3

It has been considered 30% of LHV

Adapted from [11]

Electrical energy produced in each process (Table A.6).

84 Table A.7 Cycle efficiencies (electricity to chemical to electricity)

Appendix: Data of Interest for the Proposal Presented in this Book Process

Consumption (%)

Electrolyzer PEM—to—H2 —to—Fuel cell PEM

44

Electrolyzer Alkaline—to—H2 —to—Fuel cell PEM

40

Electrolyzer PEM—to—NH3 —to—Combustion generator

24

Electrolyzer Alkaline—to—NH3 —to—Combustion generator

22

Electrolyzer PEM—to—NH3 —to—Fuel 32 cell SOFC Electrolyzer Alkaline—to—NH3 —to—Fuel cell SOFC

30

Source Adapted from [12]

A.4 Efficiency of Each of the Cycles Cycle efficiencies, from electricity to chemical, and then back to electricity (Table A.7), are listed here:

A.5 Simulation of a Production System We expose here two installations as an example of hexageneration plants of products exposed in the previous chapter. In Gran Canaria island there are places with a production of electricity per year of sun and wind, higher than 1800 h/year and 5000 h/year, thus, it is an island with a high potential for renewable solar and wind energy. The wind plant has been located in a place with a high wind resource, but the photovoltaic plant, thinking of its commercialization, has been located in the port of Las Palmas, with less solar resource than the south of the island. However, they wanted to play with the numbers, to have various options. Plant 1. Wind primary energy Let us consider a plant to be located in an area of maximum interest on the island of Gran Canaria, in the area with the greatest wind, with offshore wind renewable energy production connected to the electricity grid. The hexageneration plant will be located on land, it is made up of the following main elements: a reverse osmosis desalination plant, mature and flexible technology electrolysers (PEM type) with hydrogen and oxygen production, an oscillation adsorption unit (PSA) for the production of nitrogen, an ammonia synthesis plant (Haber Bosch cycle), and an electric battery.

Appendix: Data of Interest for the Proposal Presented in this Book Table A.8 Data from the simulation of a hexageneration plant

Annual production

Amount 417.15

Hydrogen Nitrogen Oxigen Ammonia

85 Unit

Sales revenue (e/year)

tH2

2,294,300

233.52

tN2

148,980

4544.00

tO2

817,920

tNH3

425,710

854.00

Electricity to grid

12,935.00

Desalinated water

178,221.00

MWh

617,000

m3

327,930

Source Own elaboration

The 12.5 MW offshore wind turbine, located in the marine area near the Tirajana Thermal Power Plant, in the south of Gran Canaria. Five 2.5 MW electrolysers and a hydrogen production of 500 Nm3 /h each, a 24 m3 /h reverse osmosis plant, a set of 600 kg/h nitrogen generators with a purity of 99.999% will be considered., a 1 t/h ammonia synthesizer, from H2 and N2 , and five 1 MW, 2 MWh Li-Ion batteries. Table A.8 shows the production and economic income that this plant could generate, after carrying out several simulations. For this amount of ammonia produced per year, it is easy to verify that 150.85 t of hydrogen and 703.98 t of nitrogen are required. The retail sale of hydrogen will be carried out from a hydrogen refuelling station, located next to the plant, next to the main highway of the Canary Islands. Being able to serve through trucks or industries that start to use this fuel. In practice, the need for water for electrolysis is approximately 9 l of water for each kg of H2 , so we verify that we have a surplus of 178,221 m3 of water for sale, which helps to make the plant profitable and offer a scarce good in the market. It will be the multi-objective optimization software that determines the optimal programming in the production time of each of the products according to the demands to be met, technical criteria and other factors. However, we present here a resolved case study of the productions shown in Table A.2, achieving a reduction of 17,002 tCO2 /year, given that all the products obtained here are green. Plant 2. Photovoltaic primary energy With an annual energy of 1300 MWh, as it is fed by a 1 MW photovoltaic farm, with 1300 h/year. (Resource in the port of Las Palmas), several simulations have been carried, but we show only one here (Table A.9). In plant 2, 55.6% of the photovoltaic energy produced is dedicated to producing 14,456 kg of H2 to cover the demand for hydrogen and for the production of 22,020 kg of ammonia. This distribution of energy corresponds to a very low ammonia demand scenario, part of the excess energy is stored in batteries (4%), and part is sold directly to the grid (20%). Hydrogen production only requires 130.1 m3 /year of fresh water, although approximately 21,666 m3 is produced, selling the surplus on the market,

86

Appendix: Data of Interest for the Proposal Presented in this Book

Table A.9 Simulation solution Process

Percentage

Energy MWh

Energy produced/year

100

1300.00

Production for sale

Units

Electricity, direct sale

20

H2 N2

260.00

260

MWh

12,400

55.6

722.80

10,600

kg H2

58,140

1.15

14.95

560

kg N2

360

NH3

5.25

68.25

22,020

kg NH3

10,960

O2

–

115.6

t O2

20,820

Wáter

5

65.00

21,536

m3

39,630

Batteries

4

52.00

46.8

MWh

Own consumption

9

117.00

Total

100.00

–

1300.00

Sale (e/year)

2230

144,540

Source Own elaboration

making the plant investment profitable. The Canary Islands receive high solar radiation, so the facility’s electrolyser will be on average daily with an hourly operating regime equivalent to full capacity of approximately 5 h a day in winter. It is interesting to determine the capacity of the electrolyser that corresponds to the maximum production of hydrogen. What would be the maximum hydrogen production in one day taking advantage of photovoltaic energy without the need to purchase energy, pouring surpluses into the network? Well, let’s consider two days of the month of January (real data from January 2020) in the South of Gran Canaria, with the software of the CEANI-SIANI research group of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria [13], we have no need for battery storage, it is enough not to have to buy electricity from the grid at any time, two 400 kW electrolyzers, being the hourly distribution of the operating regime of the electrolyser and of the energy sold to the grid for 2 days (Figs. A.5 and A.6).

A.6 Electric Tariff The price of electricity is indicated in Table A.2. Being 33.96 e/MWh is the average market price, that is, what would be paid for the electrical energy generated and injected into the grid. Although this energy changes from day to day and from hour to hour in price, the average value for the year 2020 has been set. Currently this price of electricity is much higher, since in many months of 2022 they have been higher than a multiplier factor of 10, however in both plants all the electricity consumed in the facilities has been generated with renewable energies, only for the price of electricity motivates us to obtain more profit if we sell more surplus energy to the

Appendix: Data of Interest for the Proposal Presented in this Book

87

gas/liquid

80 70

Density (kg/m3)

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 -253

-252

-250

-225

-200

-175

-150

-125

-100

-75

-50

-25

Temperature (ºC)

Fig. A.1 Hydrogen isobaric for 1 bar

30

Density (kg/m3)

25 20 15 10 5 0 0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

Pressure (bar)

Fig. A.2 Hydrogen isothermal T = 20 °C 800

GAS/LIQUID

700

DENSITY (KG/M3)

600 500 400 300 200 100 0 -33

-28

-23

-18

-13

-8

-3

2

7

TEMPERATURE (ºC)

Fig. A.3 Ammonia isobaric for 1 bar

12

17

22

27

32

37

88

Appendix: Data of Interest for the Proposal Presented in this Book

Gas/liquid

700

Density (kg/m3)

600 500 400 300 200 100 0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

8.57

Pressure (bar) Fig. A.4 Ammonia isothermal T = 20 °C

Fig. A.5 Flow energy two days. Source Own elaboration

grid, surpassing the economic profitability of selling energy by injecting it into the grid, compared to producing and selling more hydrogen. Consuming in cheap hours, and selling in expensive hours, we would be flattening the demand curve, which favors the electricity grid and enhances the penetration of renewable energies. In this section, we are going to talk about the purchase of electricity. For this, we are going to talk about the 6.1A rate, as it is the one that probably best fits this pre-sized installation. We can indicate that there are 6 tariff periods, and a different power can be contracted in each step. And having a different cost in each of them. The power contracted in period 2 must always be equal to or greater than that of period 1 and so on. In addition, one of the sections must be greater than 450 kW.

Appendix: Data of Interest for the Proposal Presented in this Book

89

Fig. A.6 Installation electrical energy flow. Source Own elaboration

Likewise, the energy cost of each of them is different as well. The time periods associated with each rate are different in the Mainland, Balearic Islands, and Canary Islands [14]. It can be seen how the price from the first period to the last is 6 times [14]. Therefore, it is essential to operate consumption in hours of cheap electricity in price. Since the wind and the sun are intermittent, not being able to always guarantee their full presence. And just as there are very flexible and easy to start and stop consumption. Ammonia-hydrogen crackers are fairly rigid equipment in their operation. Taking several hours from when they stop until the next start. Despite complicating and making the investment more expensive, it is considered, for what has been said above, to have batteries, to increase the self-consumption ratio, avoiding the consumption of the grid in hours of high price. Indicate that no simulations have been carried out, and the prices shown are merely indicative, as well as the pre-dimensioning of the elements of the installation. That will have to be optimized at the time.

References

1. National Institute of standards and technology, US Department of Commerce. https://webbook. nist.gov/chemistry/fluid/. Accessed on 22 March 2022 2. Caspersen M (2021) The hydrogen trajectory. [Internet] KPMG. https://home.kpmg/xx/en/ home/insights/2020/11/the-hydrogen-trajectory.html. Accessed on 22 March 2022 3. Plamena Tisheva (2022) Green ammonia costs double that of grey ammonia—Argus. [Internet], Renewables now. https://renewablesnow.com/news/green-ammonia-costs-doublethat-of-grey-ammonia-argus-745643/. Accessed on 22 March 2022 4. Expansión (2021) Crece el precio de la electricidad en España. [Internet], Expansión. https:// datosmacro.expansion.com/energia-y-medio-ambiente/electricidad-precio-hogares/espana. Accessed on 22 March 2022 5. OMIE (2021) Evolución del mercado de electricidad. Informe anual 2021. [Internet], OMIE. https://www.omie.es/es/publicaciones/informe-anual?year=2021. Accessed on 22 March 2022 6. Cabildo de Gran Canaria (2020) Servicios y Tarifas. Precios Públicos del agua [Internet], Consejo Insular de aguas. http://www.aguasgrancanaria.com/servicios/tarifas.php. Accessed on 22 March 2022 7. Ghavam S, Maria Vahdati IA, Wilson G, Styring P (2021) Sustainable ammonia production processes. Front Energy Res 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenrg.2021.580808 8. Jackson C et al (2019) Ammonia to green hydrogen project. Feasibility Study. [Internet] Ecuity. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attach ment_data/file/880826/HS420_-_Ecuity_-_Ammonia_to_Green_Hydrogen.pdf. Accessed on 22 Sept 2022 9. Lee B, Winter LR, Lee H, Lim D, Lim H, Elimelech M (2022) Pathways to a green ammonia future. Am Chem Soc Energy Lett 7(9):3032–3038. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.2c0 1615 10. Mukelabai MD, Gillard JM, Patchigolla K (2021) A novel integration of a green power-toammonia to power system: reversible solid oxide fuel cell for hydrogen and power production coupled with an ammonia synthesis unit. Int J Hydrogen Energy 46(35):18546–18556. ISSN 0360-3199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2021.02.218 11. Matthew JP, Anatoliy Kuznetsov JT, Michael Reese PD (2019) A novel system for ammoniabased sustainable energy and agriculture: concept and design optimization. Chem Eng Process Process Intensification 140:11–21. ISSN 0255-2701. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cep. 2019.04.005 12. Matthew JP, Prodromos D (2020) Using hydrogen and ammonia for renewable energy storage: a geographically comprehensive techno-economic study. Comput Chem Eng 136:106785. ISSN 0098-1354. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compchemeng.2020.106785

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 G. Winter-Althaus et al., EU Islands and the Clean Energy Transition, SpringerBriefs in Energy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23066-0

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13. https://otri.ulpgc.es/tecnologia/soluciones-con-simulacion-numerica-y-calculo-computaci onal-basadas-en-la-analitica-de-datos-para-proyectos-de-ingenieria-en-materia-de-energiasrenovables-y-medio-ambiente/. Accessed on 4 Oct 2022 14. Roams Energía (2022) La tarifa 6.1 TD, [Internet]. Roams. https://energia.roams.es/luz/tarifa/ 6-1/. Accessed on 22 March 2022