A system for collecting, generating, and transmitting gigawatt-scale energy from multiple distributed sources across an area.

Abstract

A system for collecting, generating, and transmitting gigawatt-scale energy is provided. The system comprises a geographically distributed network comprising a plurality of nodes, each node comprising a water source, a renewable energy source comprising a wind turbine string of a plurality of wind turbines and a solar power string, and a nodal substation in electrical communication with the renewable energy source. The nodal substation comprises at least one electrolyzer in electrical communication with the renewable energy source, the at least one electrolyzer configured to convert water from the water source to hydrogen or hydrogen compounds with electricity from the renewable energy source, and a compressor to compress the hydrogen or hydrogen compounds from the at least one electrolyzer to a pipeline fluidly connecting each node. The nodal substation is positioned at a distance from the renewable energy source such that the efficiency of energy transfer to the load exceeds that of conventional high voltage transmission.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] Cross-referencing of related applications and priority claims This application claims priority in its entirety to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 287,841, filed on 9 December 2021, which is incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] This disclosure relates, in general, to power generation and transmission, and more specifically, to scalable, geographically distributed power transmission systems. [Background technology]

[0003] Prior to power transmission, various systems were used to transmit electricity over long distances, such as 20 to 50 km. The main ones among these were pneumatic (pressurized air) and hydraulic (pressurized fluid) transmission.

[0004] Pneumatic transmission was used in urban power transmission systems in Paris and several other European cities in the early 20th century. In 19th-century cities, hydraulic transmission using high-pressure water pipes was used to deliver power to factory motors. For example, London's system delivered 5.2 MW at 55 bar over a 290 km network of pipes carrying water. These systems were eventually replaced by cheaper and more versatile electric systems, and by the end of the 19th century, urban planners and financiers had realized the additional advantages, economics, and processes of establishing power transmission systems capable of connecting cities more than 300 km apart.

[0005] Early electricity use and widespread power transmission faced two obstacles. First, devices requiring different voltages needed specialized generators with their own separate power lines. Streetlights, factory electric motors, tram power supplies, and household lighting are some examples of the diverse devices that require different voltages. Second, generators needed to be relatively close to the load (up to 1 kilometer for low-voltage device connections) due to high electrical losses at low voltages. Since it was known that higher voltages allowed for longer transmission distances, both problems could be efficiently solved if the voltage could be converted to a single universal power line voltage.

[0006] High-voltage power transmission was of interest to early researchers tackling the problem of long-distance, high-power power transmission. From basic electrical principles, the same amount of power can be transmitted through a cable or conductor by doubling the voltage and consequently halving the current. Joule's law also showed that power loss due to heat from the resistance of a conductor is proportional to the square of the current flowing, regardless of the voltage. Therefore, by doubling the voltage, the same amount of power can be transmitted over four times the distance through the same cable.

[0007] The idea of ​​investing in a network to deliver centrally generated energy to distributed power consumers who pay regular fees to a central power plant and services was a familiar business model for investors. It was the same as the profitable gaslight business, or the hydraulic and pneumatic power transmission systems of the past. The only difference was that the commodity being delivered was not gas (molecules) through "pipelines," but electricity (electrons) through "conductors / cables / overhead lines," which at the time was a more flexible solution for delivering energy. Over time, the method of delivering bulk energy to end users shifted from gas (molecules) supplied through a network of distributed pipelines to a combination of both gas (molecules) supplied through a network of distributed pipelines and electricity (electrons) supplied through a network of distributed cables and overhead lines. However, the energy source remained the initial energy storage of gas, coal, and / or oil (molecules) extracted from the Earth's crust.

[0008] Modern centralized power plants can potentially be fueled by vast energy reserves derived from the Earth's crust, formed over millions of years. Fossil fuels (storage energy) are extracted, burned, and converted from a chemical energy state into thermal energy as superheated steam, then into mechanical energy, which in turn drives alternators (generators) that convert the mechanical energy into electrical energy.

[0009] Advances in renewable energy generation and significant cost reductions in power generation from wind turbines and solar modules can reduce reliance on fossil fuel hydrocarbons. However, since electricity (electrons), i.e., the flow of electrons, cannot be stored, relying solely on electrons may not be able to meet global energy demands; rather, electrons need to be used instantaneously or converted into some other form of stored energy. Furthermore, the power generated by wind and solar power is variable, and the load supplied also tends to be variable (the energy generated often does not correlate with the energy required by consumers). For this reason, large amounts of stored energy are needed to meet the needs of energy consumers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For small amounts of energy storage, electrical energy can be converted into chemical energy stored in batteries, but this may not be practical for large-scale (gigawatt) power transmission and storage requirements.

[0010] Electricity generated from renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines and / or solar cells / skids, may need to be converted to high-voltage / extra-high-voltage electricity for long-distance transmission. However, significant energy losses can occur in transformers when converting from DC to AC, or from DC or low voltage to high-voltage / extra-high-voltage, and returning it to a usable voltage suitable for the load.

[0011] Electricity from renewable energy sources can also be converted to hydrogen for transport; for example, electrolytic cells in offshore wind turbines are used to convert electricity generated by the wind turbines into hydrogen, although this arrangement may not be efficient for large-scale (gigawatt-scale) power transfers. [Overview of the project]

[0012] This disclosure provides a geographically distributed node-type network of renewable energy sources for capturing renewable energy and converting it into hydrogen energy storage. Distributed energy sources such as wind, solar, and hydropower can be converted to hydrogen on a scale typical of conventional large-scale oil and gas energy sources (gigawatt energy scale) in centralized processing plants. However, the problem with generating large amounts of renewable energy on a scale similar to conventional large-scale oil and gas energy generation and transmitting / distributing this power as electricity over a vast network of electrical assets (e.g., overhead lines, cables, transformers, and switchgear) is that the electricity needs to be converted to extra-high voltage so that it can be transmitted to a centralized plant that can convert the electrical energy into hydrogen or hydrogen compounds.

[0013] In one embodiment, the disclosure describes a system for collecting, generating, and transmitting gigawatt-scale energy from multiple distributed sources located in an area. The system comprises a geographically distributed network having multiple nodes, each node comprising a renewable energy source comprising a water source, a renewable energy source comprising a wind turbine string of a plurality of wind turbines, a solar power string of a plurality of solar skids, and a node-type substation electrically connected to the renewable energy source. The node-type substation comprises at least one electrolytic cell electrically connected to the renewable energy source, configured to convert water from the water source into hydrogen (H2) or hydrogen compounds using electricity from the renewable energy source, and a compressor for compressing the H2 or hydrogen compounds into a pipeline that fluidly connects each node from the at least one electrolytic cell. The node-type substations are located at a distance from the renewable energy source, and the distance is, Energy efficiency H2伝送 > Energy efficiency 高電圧送電 Selected as shown, where energy efficiency H2伝送is the energy efficiency of transmitting energy from a renewable energy source to a load via a node-type substation as H2 or a hydrogen compound, where the energy efficiency 高電圧送電 is the energy efficiency of transmitting energy from a renewable energy source to a load via high-voltage power transmission. The load is in fluid communication with a pipeline for receiving H2 or a hydrogen compound from a plurality of nodes.

[0014] In one embodiment, the renewable energy source of each node defines the surroundings, and the node-type substation is defined by the surroundings.

[0015] In one embodiment, the renewable energy source of each node comprises a plurality of wind turbine strings and a plurality of solar power generation strings that are in electrical communication.

[0016] In one embodiment, the area is at least 500 km 2 in size.

[0017] In one embodiment, each node collects renewable sources at a distribution voltage level from wind turbines and solar power generation strings, and the node is positioned within 50 km from the wind turbines and solar power generation strings.

[0018] In one embodiment, the renewable energy source is in electrical communication with the load, and the node comprises at least one step-up power transformer that is in electrical communication with the renewable energy source and the load, and at least one transformer is configured to increase the voltage of the electricity transmitted from the renewable energy source to the load.

[0019] In one embodiment, the node is positioned at least 50 km away from the load.

[0020] In one embodiment, the system is islanded.

[0021] In one embodiment, each string is rated to carry the maximum current carrying capacity at the rated medium voltage (MV), high voltage (HV), and alternating current (AC) within the string. Preferably, each string has a current carrying capacity of at least 1,250 A at 66 kV.

[0022] In one embodiment, the ratio of each renewable energy source is configured to provide the lowest levelized cost of energy (LCOE), where LCOE is {(Construction cost without interest * Capital recovery factor + Fixed O&M cost) / (8760 * Capital equipment utilization rate)} + (Fuel cost * Heat rate) + Variable O&M cost is.

[0023] In one embodiment, each node is configured to generate maximum energy based on the current carrying capacity limits of the switchgear and transformers at each node. Preferably, the generated energy can be collected at medium voltage and / or high voltage, and more preferably, the generated energy is 1.2 GW to 1.3 GW.

[0024] In one embodiment, the renewable energy sources are positioned to maximize the energy generation in the geographical area of each node.

[0025] In one embodiment, a solar power generation string is a solar power plant that includes the maximum number of solar power generation skids limited by the current carrying capacity of the switchgear of the solar power generation string at medium voltage and / or high voltage.

[0026] In one embodiment, each solar power generation string is defined within the perimeter of a wind turbine string.

[0027] In one embodiment, a wind turbine string includes the maximum number of wind turbines limited by the current carrying capacity of the switchgear of the wind turbine string at medium voltage and / or high voltage.

[0028] In one embodiment, each wind turbine is positioned to minimize blade tip vortex interference between adjacent wind turbines, preferably positioned at least 800 m apart.

[0029] In one embodiment, each wind turbine is positioned away from adjacent wind turbines to minimize wake interference.

[0030] In one embodiment, the pipeline is a high-pressure hydrogen pipeline.

[0031] In one embodiment, the load is configured to use hydrogen, and preferably the load is at least one of ammonia, methanol, or methane processing plants.

[0032] In one embodiment, the system includes a controller configured to selectively electrically connect each electrolytic cell to a renewable energy source within a current-carrying capacity threshold of a switchgear at a medium or high voltage. At least one electrolytic cell comprises a first electrolytic cell and a second electrolytic cell electrically coupled together by a switchgear having a threshold representing the rating of the switchgear, and the controller is configured to electrically disconnect the first electrolytic cell from the second electrolytic cell when the threshold is exceeded.

[0033] In one embodiment, the system includes a controller configured to increase the pressure in the pipeline when the energy generated by a renewable energy source is greater than the energy consumed by the load.

[0034] In one embodiment, the controller is configured to cause the compressor to compress H2 or hydrogen compounds into the pipeline at a rate lower than the rate at which H2 or hydrogen compounds are consumed by the load.

[0035] In one embodiment, the controller is configured to reduce the load-induced demand for H2 or hydrogen compounds when the pressure in the pipeline reaches a minimum threshold. The minimum threshold may be less than approximately 50 bar.

[0036] In one embodiment, the controller is configured to cause the compressor to compress H2 or hydrogen compounds into the pipeline at a rate lower than the rate at which H2 or hydrogen compounds are consumed by the load.

[0037] In one embodiment, the controller is configured to convert more than 50% of the energy generated by a renewable energy source into H2 or hydrogen compounds using at least one electrolytic cell for transmission to the load.

[0038] In one embodiment, the system comprises a concentrated solar power plant (CSP) string including multiple centralized solar power generators.

[0039] In one embodiment, the system comprises a wave and / or tidal generator string including a plurality of wave and / or tidal generators.

[0040] In one embodiment, the system comprises a geothermal power string including multiple geothermal generators.

[0041] In one embodiment, the string size is limited by the current carrying capacity of the switchgear at medium or high voltage.

[0042] In one embodiment, each node is electrically connected to an extremely high voltage (EHV) or high voltage transmission line, power cable, power transformer, and switchgear, and transmits electricity to the load by rating their maximum current carrying capacity.

[0043] In one embodiment, gigawatt-scale energy is at least 6 GW.

[0044] Embodiments may include combinations of the above features.

[0045] In another aspect, the present disclosure describes a system for collecting, generating, and transmitting gigawatt-scale energy from a plurality of distributed sources dispersed in an area. The system comprises a geographically distributed network comprising a plurality of nodes, each node comprising a water source, a renewable energy source, and a node-type substation in electrical communication with the renewable energy source. The node-type substation comprises at least one electrolyzer in electrical communication with the renewable energy source, configured to convert water from the water source into hydrogen (H2) or a hydrogen compound using electricity from the renewable energy source, and a compressor configured to compress H2 or a hydrogen compound into a pipeline fluidly connecting each node from at least one electrolyzer. The node-type substation is positioned at a distance from the renewable energy source, the distance being Energy efficiency H2伝送 > Energy efficiency 高電圧送電 selected to be such that, where energy efficiency H2伝送 is the energy efficiency of transmitting energy from the renewable energy source to the load via the node-type substation as H2 or a hydrogen compound, and where energy efficiency 高電圧送電 is the energy efficiency of transmitting energy from the renewable energy source to the load via high-voltage power transmission. The load is in fluid communication with a pipeline for receiving H2 or a hydrogen compound from a plurality of nodes.

[0046] Embodiments may include combinations of the above features.

[0047] Further details of these and other aspects of the subject matter of this application will be apparent from the detailed description and drawings included below.

[0048] Reference is now made to the accompanying drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0049] [Figure 1] Two schematic diagrams illustrate two exemplary systems for collecting, generating, and transmitting gigawatt-scale energy from multiple renewable, distributed sources. [Figure 2] A schematic diagram of an exemplary system for collecting, generating, and transmitting gigawatt-scale energy from a coal source is shown. [Figure 3] This diagram provides a schematic overview of an exemplary system for decentralized hydrogen production, including nodes that are electrically and fluidly connected to a renewable fuel processing plant. The nodes comprise wind turbine strings, solar power strings, and node-type substations. [Figure 4] This diagram provides an exemplary system for centralized hydrogen production, including a variable renewable power source that is only electrically connected to a renewable fuel processing plant. [Figure 5] A schematic overview of an exemplary system is shown. It includes three exemplary nodes of a decentralized hydrogen production system that are electrically and fluidly connected to a renewable fuel processing plant, where electrical energy is converted into hydrogen and / or hydrogen compounds at each node. [Figure 6] A schematic overview of an exemplary system is provided, including three exemplary distributed variable renewable energy generation nodes electrically connected to a centralized electrolytic hydrogen production plant. The electrical energy is converted into hydrogen and / or hydrogen compounds at a renewable fuel processing plant. [Figure 7A] An illustrative schematic diagram of a wind turbine string and its associated switchgear is shown. [Figure 7B] An illustrative schematic diagram of a wind turbine string and its associated switchgear is shown. [Figure 7C] An illustrative schematic diagram of a solar power string and its associated switchgear is shown. [Figure 8]Figure 8A shows a schematic diagram of the electrical connections of an exemplary node, including exemplary connections for wind turbine strings, solar power strings, electrolytic cells, and open loads with bus section breakers and bus coupler breakers. Figure 8B shows an overhead view of the center of exemplary nodes distributed across a geographical area. [Figure 9] Figure 8A shows a schematic diagram of the node where the bus section breaker(s) are closed and the bus coupler breaker(s) are open. [Figure 10] Figure 8A shows a schematic diagram of the node with the bus section breaker open and the bus coupler breaker closed. [Figure 11] Figure 11a shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary node as shown in Figure 3 or Figure 5. Figure 11b shows an overhead view of the exemplary geographical distribution of wind turbine strings and solar power strings for the exemplary node as shown in Figure 11a. [Figure 12] Figure 11b shows an exemplary overhead view of the nodes, including geographically dispersed wind turbine strings and solar power skid strings connected to each hydrogen node, which are then connected by pipelines and overhead transmission lines to loads indicated as ammonia and seawater desalination plants. [Figure 13] An exemplary overhead plan view of a node is shown, including its solar power string, which comprises four solar power plants positioned in a roughly rectangular shape, accompanied by a node-type substation located centrally within the solar array. [Figure 14] This shows an overview plan of exemplary nodes distributed across a geographical area. [Figure 15] Figure 14 shows a schematic diagram of the equipment that makes up the exemplary node. [Figure 16] An exemplary overhead plan view of a node is shown, including a solar power string with four solar power plants positioned in a roughly rectangular shape, accompanied by a node-type substation centrally located within the solar array of the solar power plant. Each string may contain 1 to n solar array clusters. [Figure 17]An exemplary overhead view of a node, including a solar power string, is shown, which comprises four solar power plants positioned in a roughly rectangular shape, accompanied by node-type substations located on the opposing side edges of the solar array. [Figure 18] An exemplary overhead view of a node, including a solar power string, is shown, which comprises four solar power plants positioned in a roughly rectangular shape, accompanied by node-type substations located on the opposing side edges of the solar array. [Figure 19] An exemplary overhead view of a node is shown, including a solar power string with four solar power plants positioned in a roughly rectangular shape, accompanied by node-type substations positioned around each corner of the solar array. [Figure 20] An exemplary overhead view of a node is shown, including a solar power string with four solar power plants positioned in a line, accompanied by node-type substations located at each opposing corner of each solar array. [Figure 21] A schematic diagram of a controller system for collecting, generating, and transmitting gigawatt-scale energy from multiple distributed sources is shown. [Figure 22] A simplified schematic diagram of the exemplary system shown in Figure 21 is provided. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0050] This disclosure presents a system for generating and transmitting gigawatt-scale energy from multiple distributed sources. The system includes a network of geographically distributed nodes that function to capture energy from wind and solar sources and convert that energy into hydrogen, compared to conventional means of transmitting energy as power using high-voltage or extra-high-voltage lines, and uses this for energy storage and efficient energy transmission.

[0051] The system can provide scalable, renewablely generated energy over large, geographically dispersed areas, where the generated variable renewable energy is converted within nodes and then transmitted and distributed to serve specific end-use needs as electricity (electrons) and / or molecules (hydrogen or hydrogen compounds).

[0052] In one embodiment, the disclosure presents a system for generating and transmitting gigawatt-scale energy from multiple distributed sources. The system comprises a geographically distributed network having multiple nodes, each node potentially comprising a renewable energy source comprising a water source, a renewable energy source comprising a wind turbine string of a plurality of wind turbines, and a solar power string of a plurality of solar skids, and a node-type substation electrically connected to the renewable energy source. The node-type substation may comprise at least one electrolytic cell electrically connected to the renewable energy source, configured to convert water from the water source into hydrogen (H2) or hydrogen compounds using electricity from the renewable energy source, and a compressor for compressing the H2 into a pipeline that fluidly connects each node from at least one electrolytic cell. The node-type substations are located at a distance from the renewable energy source, and the distance is, Energy efficiency H2伝送 > Energy efficiency 高電圧送電 Selected to be such, where energy efficiency H2伝送 H2 is the energy efficiency of transmitting energy from a renewable energy source to the load via a node-type substation, where energy efficiency 高電圧送電 This refers to the energy efficiency of transmitting energy from renewable energy sources to a load via high-voltage transmission, where the load is fluidly connected to a pipeline for receiving H2 from multiple nodes.

[0053] Terms such as “maximize,” “minimize,” and “optimize” may be used in this disclosure, but it should be understood that such terms may be used to refer to improvements, adjustments, and refinements that are not strictly limited to maximum, minimum, or optimal.

[0054] The terms "connected" or "joined" can include both direct joining (two elements joined together are in contact with each other) and indirect joining (at least one additional element is located between the two elements).

[0055] The term “substantially” as used herein may be applied to modify any quantitative expression that can be acceptablely changed without resulting in a change in the fundamental function in which it relates. For example, a drive shaft disclosed herein having a circular cross-section may have a non-circular cross-section to some extent within the scope of the invention, provided that its rotational driving capability is not substantially altered.

[0056] As used herein, the term “string” may refer to a group of interconnected medium-voltage or high-voltage renewable energy sources and associated node-type substations.

[0057] As used herein, the term “gigawatt-scale energy” may be used to refer to gigawatt-scale systems with peak generating capacities exceeding 2.5 GW to 250 GW.

[0058] In this specification, “islanded” is used to mean a system that is not connected to an electrical system having its own energy source, or that is capable of operating normally while being disconnected from another system or part of a system having its own energy source.

[0059] The term "load" is used herein to refer to a processing plant or power plant that converts H2 or hydrogen compounds into larger compounds or electricity. Examples of loads include: green steel, ammonia, methanol, methane processing plants, or gas turbines / gas engines / fuel cells.

[0060] The term “electrical load” is used herein to refer to a processing plant or load that uses electricity. Examples of loads include: green steel processing plants, ammonia processing plants, methanol processing plants, methane processing plants, seawater desalination plants, electrolytic cell plants, towns and / or cities.

[0061] The term "hydrogen compound" is used herein to refer to a hydrogen atom and one or more other atoms, for example, water (H2O) is a hydrogen compound, ammonia (NH3) is a hydrogen compound, and there are more than 30 hydrogen compounds.

[0062] The term “electrolyzer” is used herein to refer to any electrolyzer(s) that produces hydrogen or hydrogen compounds. Illustrative electrolyzers include alkaline electrolyzers, proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers, solid oxide electrolyzers (SOECs), anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolyzers, and any other form of water electrolysis.

[0063] The term "geographically dispersed network" in this specification means a geographical area, for example, 600 km. 2 ~50,000km 2 It is used to refer to multiple nodes that spread across a wide area.

[0064] The term "node" or "node(plural)" is used to refer to an array of geographically distributed renewable energy sources that are electrically connected to electrolytic cells (plural) or hydrogen compounds from electrolytic reagents for the production of hydrogen and oxygen from water, and electricity transmitted to loads via compressors (plural) and pipelines (plural) at high pressure. Optionally, nodes may transmit electricity to loads via switchgear, power transformers, overhead lines, and / or power cables at higher voltages to electrically connect with other nodes. Each node is fluidly connected to pipelines and forms a "geographically distributed network."

[0065] In this specification, “node substation” is used to mean a medium-voltage or high-voltage substation equipped with medium-voltage and / or high-voltage switchgear that is electrically connected to strings, electrolytic cells, transformers, power cables, overhead lines, and other auxiliary loads that require electricity.

[0066] "Renewable energy sources" or "renewable energy sources" means energy sources produced using natural resources, such as solar, wind, centralized, wave, tidal, and geothermal power, that are constantly replaced by natural regeneration or other repeating processes within a limited timeframe on a human scale.

[0067] The term "switchgear" is used to refer to a primary circuit consisting of electrical disconnection switches, fuses, or circuit breakers used to control, protect, and insulate electrical equipment at low, medium, high, and extra-high voltages.

[0068] The term "medium voltage" (MV) is used herein to refer to AC (alternating current) telecommunications voltages in which electricity is transmitted and / or distributed between 1 kV and 36 kV.

[0069] The term "high voltage" (HV) is used herein to refer to AC (alternating current) telecommunications voltages in which electricity is transmitted and / or distributed between 36 kV and 230 kV.

[0070] The term "extra-high voltage" (EHV) is used herein to refer to AC (alternating current) telecommunications voltages in which electricity is transmitted and / or distributed above 245 kV, for example, between 245 kV and 1,200 kV.

[0071] Various embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0072] Figure 1 shows an exemplary system 100 for generating and transmitting gigawatt-scale energy from multiple distributed sources. System 100 can provide a variable renewable energy generation, storage, and supply system to large-scale energy consumers. System 100 may differ from the conventional energy generation and transmission system 200 shown in the example shown in Figure 2, which has a centralized power generation system 201 (shown as a coal-fired power plant) powered by a hydrocarbon fuel source 202 (shown as a coal mine and coal storage / port / terminal) and supplying power to an adjacent transmission substation 203, extra-high voltage power transformer 204, and overhead lines 205, and supplying multiple distributed electrical loads 206, and is essentially as follows: Distributed fuel (coal, oil, gas, or wood) -> Centralized power generation -> User

[0073] The transmission / distribution challenges of conventional energy generation and transmission systems, as shown in Figure 2, are that when electricity is transmitted over long distances, there are inherent energy losses along the path. High-voltage transmission minimizes the amount of energy lost when power flows from one point to the next. Higher voltages result in lower currents and therefore lower conductor resistance losses. Lower currents require fewer copper and / or aluminum conductors than high-voltage electricity, which can also provide economic benefits associated with high-voltage transmission. This means that thinner, lighter conductors can be used for long-distance transmission, and transmission towers do not need to be designed to support heavier conductors associated with lower voltage, higher current energy transmission. These considerations make long-distance high-voltage power transmission the most economical solution for high-power energy transmission, where the final energy consumption is as power, and the costs of the power transformers, switchgear, and overhead lines required to transmit the power are economically justified by the proportional distance over which the power is transmitted and distributed. However, high-power energy transmission of electricity generated from many distributed sources over short distances, where hydrogen is the final energy use, requires the same very expensive power transformers, switchgear, and overhead lines, and the proportion of electrical energy transmission and conversion costs required for the short distances transmitted is extremely high.

[0074] Previous centralized energy power plants, such as coal and nuclear power plants, had an average generating capacity of about 6 GW to 8 GW, and could transmit this power over hundreds to thousands of kilometers to load centers in a distributed electricity network connected to national and / or inter-national distributed load centers. The energy journey from energy storage to energy use, which relies on these centralized energy power plants, can begin with the extraction of energy stored beneath the Earth's crust (coal is an example above). Here, the majority of this resource is transported in its raw molecular form to centralized coal-fired power plants, where it is converted into electrical energy and transmitted at extra-high voltages via transmission lines to the distributed electricity network, ultimately connecting to our load centers / cities. This centralized and basic load generation from coal, gas, hydro, and nuclear power has iteratively grown from very small networks to today's super-GW energy networks.

[0075] Recently, variable renewable energy sources such as wind turbines and solar power have been implemented to provide alternatives to non-renewable energy sources. While these renewable energy sources may be integrated into existing power transmission networks and infrastructure, this could result in power line losses and energy waste. The transition to variable renewable energy offers an opportunity to change how energy is generated, stored, and delivered to load centers / cities. Unfortunately, while the energy potential of wind and solar power is enormous, it is a weather-dependent variable resource and needs to be secured in stored energy to meet the energy demands that our load centers and cities have 24 / 7. Large quantities of hydrogen are available as a resource in water (e.g., seawater) and are an important alternative to fossil fuels. However, abundant and inexpensive energy is required to decompose hydrogen molecules from oxygen molecules. Wind and solar power may be the most efficient at present, and the installation costs of wind and solar power are expected to decrease further in the coming decades. Thus, in some aspects of this disclosure, energy from variable renewable energy sources can be generated and stored on a large scale for later use by loads.

[0076] Certain regions around the world, particularly vast, remote desert areas bordering the ocean, may possess excellent wind and solar resources. These areas have peak power generation capacities exceeding 1.2 GW to 150 GW and span 600 km². 2 ~50,000km 2 Covering an area exceeding [a certain range], variable renewable energy can be collected through numerous distributed energy "nodes" throughout the site and used to electrolyze water (e.g., desalined seawater) to separate hydrogen from oxygen on a large scale. When generating large amounts of electricity from variable renewable energy sources in remote and vast areas, the challenge arises that transporting and storing this energy may be inefficient, potentially burdening central / urban areas that require a constant, steady energy supply to meet year-round demand.

[0077] Electrical connection and hydrogen production at the node This disclosure details embodiments of a method by which distributed wind and solar power used to produce hydrogen and / or hydrogen compounds can be efficiently and economically collected and transmitted via bulk molecular transfer 101 on an oil and gas gigawatt scale using distributed renewable energy “nodes”. Each system described herein, comprising nodes, can be islandized. The following are some specific exemplary embodiments, but the broad concept can be customized for any site, thereby providing a template for low-cost green hydrogen production.

[0078] Figure 3 shows a simplified schematic diagram of an exemplary geographically distributed network of renewable energy sources, including wind and solar power sources, within an upstream plant 300, which captures variable solar and wind energy and then converts it into very large-scale high-voltage electrical energy. The upstream plant comprises several geographically distributed nodes 301, as described below with respect to Figure 11B. Electrical energy from the renewable energy sources is then supplied from the wind and solar assets to midstream node-type substations (may be more than one), where a portion of the variable high-voltage electrical energy (e.g., less than 20% or more preferably less than 10%) is converted to extra-high voltage (EHV) for electrical transmission and distribution to loads 302, e.g., centralized downstream facilities using hydrogen molecules and / or hydrogen compounds, such as ammonia plants. Electrical transmission may occur via overhead transmission lines (OHL), which may have line losses of approximately 6-8%. Each node 301 is associated with a set of renewable energy sources. The majority of the generated variable high-voltage electrical energy (e.g., more than 20%, or more preferably more than 80%) can be converted to hydrogen molecules or hydrogen compounds using water and electrolytic cells for more efficient transmission and distribution of bulk energy as hydrogen gas or hydrogen compounds via a network of high-pressure pipelines to load 302, where the main input to load 302 is hydrogen, i.e., ammonia, methanol, or methane production. In the example, 22 GW of energy transfer via overhead lines and H2 gas pipelines is provided to a centralized downstream renewable fuel processing plant. In this example, since the transmission of gas in pipelines may be more cost-effective and energy-efficient than the transmission of energy in the form of electricity over high-pressure lines, the energy transmitted through pipelines serves as gas catering for energy storage and energy stabilization by line filling of hydrogen / hydrogen compounds in high-pressure pipelines. Line filling can potentially decouple upstream variable renewable power generation from downstream demand. In one example, the pipeline may be 100–300 km long, store / transport hydrogen at 75–100 bar, and have a total energy loss of less than 1%.Load 302 may include H2 buffer storage to complement the pipeline.

[0079] The distributed node concept, in which most of the generated electrical energy is converted into hydrogen gas at high pressure and then transmitted via pipeline to downstream renewable fuel processing facilities (also referred to herein as loads), is an energy-efficient and cost-effective way to transmit bulk variable renewable energy from a number of geographically dispersed renewable energy nodes where the primary demand of downstream facilities is hydrogen or hydrogen compounds.

[0080] Each node can be interconnected via, for example, a composite pipeline of 100 bar or more, enabling the storage of significant amounts of hydrogen. The pipeline effectively separates 90% of the variable renewable energy required by downstream renewable fuel processing facilities for its own hydrogen storage capacity, referred to as "line filling," while simultaneously facilitating the more efficient transfer of energy as hydrogen molecules through hundreds of kilometers of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) pipelines. Otherwise, unstable electrical energy alone would not be cost-effective for the same energy transfer. As renewable energy generation and production at nodes across geographical areas change, downstream renewable fuel processing plants can reduce the hydrogen stored in the pipeline to a minimum permissible pressure, and downstream renewable fuel processing plants, such as ammonia plants, can continue operating at reduced capacity for periods of up to 8 hours or more when renewable energy generation at nodes is reduced.

[0081] Continuing with the example in Figure 3, bulk variable renewable energy can be transferred as electrons via overhead transmission lines and as hydrogen (or hydrogen compounds) via FRP gas pipelines to loads 302 from node substations and electrolytic cells (or more) located midstream to each of the distributed, geographically dispersed nodes 301. Each node substation and / or electrolytic cell may be geographically defined within or adjacent to the wind / solar variable renewable energy source. Bulk energy transfer exceeding 2.5 GW is most efficiently transferred as pressurized gas in gas pipelines, where the majority of the energy required by loads 302 is hydrogen molecules and / or hydrogen compounds (or more). The permeation of this chemical energy as hydrogen gas and / or hydrogen compounds (or more) would be substantially more efficient with a loss of less than approximately 1%.

[0082] In one example, the distance between the wind turbine strings and the solar power skid from the node-type substation and / or electrolytic cell train at node 301 could be 3 to 50 km. Electricity can be efficiently transmitted over these distances at 66 kV with a loss of approximately 1.5% to 2.5%. However, instead of converting this energy at node 301 using step-up power transformers from high voltage (HV) 66 kV to 500 kV and extra-high voltage (EHV) of 765 kV or higher, the electrical energy can be converted to hydrogen or hydrogen compounds using the electrolytic cell(s) at each node 301.

[0083] Hydrogen can be produced from electricity by electrolysis, where hydrogen molecules are separated from oxygen molecules in water (H2O) pumped to each of the multiple nodes 301 through a network of water pipes networked to each node 301. The energy required to pump water to all nodes 301 can be negligible, being less than approximately 0.025% of peak renewable energy generation. Each electrolytic cell may act like a transformer, and within node 301, electricity and water are converted into hydrogen gas for bulk energy transmission to load 302 via high-voltage pipelines, converting the electricity from high voltage to extra-high voltage, and this bulk energy is not transmitted to the load as electricity via overhead lines, as in the example in Figure 4 described below.

[0084] Both hydrogen and water can be pressurized and pumped through special non-metallic pipelines. In one example, pipelines may be made of composite reinforced polymer materials, including combinations of plastic resins, fiberglass, carbon fibers, basalt fibers, and aramid fibers (Kevlar 129). For example, multiple 24-inch pipelines rated at 100 bar can transport approximately 200 tons of hydrogen per hour (i.e., approximately 6.6 GWh of energy per hour) at pressures of 75 to 100 bar with an energy loss of less than approximately 1%. Pipelines can be buried underground so that they are not exposed to elements, they do not rust, they are not plagued by hydrogen metal embrittlement, and any overhead lines using the same mitigation do not induce stray currents and / or voltages in the pipelines because they are not made of metal. Variations of the above example(s) are possible and within the scope of this disclosure. For example, pipeline diameters may be larger or smaller than 24 inches, and / or more parallel pipeline operations than those mentioned above may exist at pressures exceeding 100 bar.

[0085] Load 302, for example, renewable fuel processing plants such as ammonia plants, like most processing plants, require a stable and reliable energy supply to operate optimally 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, due to the variable nature of the electrical energy generated upstream by wind and solar PV, a large amount of energy must be stored to maintain the necessary constant operation of the ammonia plant, as is the case with any downstream processing plant load.

[0086] Figure 3 illustrates that hydrogen pipelines serve a dual purpose: they are efficient transmitters of large amounts of energy with minimal energy loss, and they function as hydrogen storage media, commonly referred to as "line-filled" hydrogen. For example, the amount of hydrogen stored at 100 bar within approximately 3,500 km of 10-inch FRP pipelines, and the amount of hydrogen stored within approximately 1,100 km of 24-inch fiberglass, basalt fiber, aramid fiber, and carbon fiber reinforced pipelines, is less than approximately 1.5 million kg, which represents less than approximately 50 GWh of stored energy.

[0087] Filling hydrogen gas lines within pipelines can effectively isolate variable renewable energy from the load, as a load, such as an ammonia processing plant, may have a requirement where approximately 93% of its total energy is hydrogen molecules. Only about 7% of the energy required to produce hydrogen for ammonia production based on the Haber-Bosch process is needed as electricity, which is a very small percentage of the total energy demand and can be easily transmitted using standard commercially available transformers, switchgear, and overhead transmission lines available on the market today. While this example specifically refers to the hydrogen demand of an ammonia processing plant, the same principle applies to any load whose final product uses hydrogen or hydrogen compounds as input demand, such as hydrogen gas-fired power plants, green steel processing plants, national hydrogen gas transmission / distribution systems, or national / regional power energy systems.

[0088] Figure 4 illustrates an exemplary alternative approach for generating and transmitting large-scale energy, where a geographically distributed network of renewable energy generation assets, including wind and solar, within an upstream plant 400 captures variable solar and wind energy, which is then converted by transformers into extra-high voltage (EHV) electrical energy, all of which is transmitted as electrical energy to a centralized downstream facility 402, where more than 90% of this extra-high voltage (EHV) electrical energy is converted to low voltage through several steps before being supplied to electrolytic cells at the downstream facility 402 to produce hydrogen or hydrogen compounds using water. In this example, 22 GW of energy is transmitted via overhead lines to the centralized downstream electrolytic cell / renewable fuel processing plant. An overview of the approach shown in Figure 4 is shown in System 150 in Figure 1. Electricity from renewable energy sources is converted by transformers into EHV electrical energy for bulk electron transfer 151 to the downstream plant. In the illustrative example in Figure 4, overhead lines (OHL) can transmit electricity over 100–300 km at 500–765 kV AC, with transmission line losses of approximately 8–12%. Bulk variable renewable energy is transferred as electrons via a centralized downstream facility 402, where the electrolyzer is located centrally adjacent to the load. This may be a viable method for supplying power loads from stable sources such as pump-type hydropower when demand is less than 6 GW, with high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) electrical transmission having losses of approximately 8–12% depending on AC voltage and distance, while high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electrical transmission is expected to have losses of approximately 3%. However, the exemplary method of energy transfer shown in Figure 4 may be inefficient and expensive compared to the approach shown in Figure 3 for generating and transmitting large amounts of energy to processing plants utilizing hydrogen or hydrogen compounds. In particular, the alternative approach presents many challenges, including: Transmitting more than 6 GW of AC electrical energy over distances between 5 km and 300 km is highly inefficient, and electrical losses from the power source to downstream plants can exceed 10%. Transmitting more than 6 GW of DC electrical energy over distances of less than 800 km is extremely expensive, due to the requirement of very expensive AC-DC converter stations. Electrical energy from variable renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power needs to be secured before it can be supplied to loads (such as ammonia, methanol, and methane plants), which can be inefficient and expensive. To secure variable electrical energy, it is necessary to convert the energy into another state, namely heat, mechanical, gravitational, or chemical energy; electricity (electrons) cannot be stored in their inherent states.

[0089] Figure 4 illustrates that transmitting large amounts of energy from variable renewable energy sources spread across a wide geographical area may require a considerable amount of electrical transmission equipment, including multiple extra-high voltage (EHV) substations, step-up and step-down power transformers, overhead transmission lines, and power cables. The large quantities of copper, aluminum, and steel needed to transmit this energy are expensive and can be inefficient due to line losses. Converting power on a GW scale would require some of the largest and heaviest power transformers ever manufactured, creating logistical problems for projects developed in remote areas with few available ports, rail, or road infrastructure to transport these extremely large, heavy, expensive, and sensitive assets.

[0090] Continuing with the example in Figure 4, multiple extra-high voltage and high-voltage (HV) overhead lines can also be exposed to factors such as cyclone weather, lightning strikes, and forest fires, thus requiring a high level of redundancy in the transmission and distribution infrastructure and further increasing the upfront investment costs of the project's electrical infrastructure. Converting the GW of electricity generated at low voltage upstream wind turbines and solar power skids to extra-high voltage of 500kV to 765kV or higher, and then back to low voltage (e.g., around 690V) at a downstream electrolytic cell / renewable energy plant hundreds of kilometers away results in a substantial energy loss of between 8% and 12% of all transmitted electrical energy. In contrast, the system shown in Figure 3 can have a loss of less than 1% because the energy is transmitted as hydrogen gas molecules or as hydrogen compounds in the pipeline. Electrical energy loss can occur as electricity is transmitted from the source to the load through all electrical primary circuits, as a result of transformer losses, heat losses, corona losses, and / or interconnection losses.

[0091] Figure 5 shows an exemplary system 510 comprising three 1.2 GW–1.3 GW distributed electrolytic nodes 500 in the midstream, which collect high-voltage electrical energy from upstream variable renewable wind and solar resources 501 and convert the bulk (over 90%) of this high-voltage (HV) electrical energy into hydrogen using water and electricity as input to electrolytic cells at each node 500 before transmitting hydrogen gas 503 (i.e., chemical energy) from the nodes 500 to downstream loads 504 such as centralized ammonia, methanol, and methane processing plants. The variable renewable wind and solar resources 501 comprise wind turbine strings and solar cell strings, which are described in detail below. Each node 500 may be the same as node 300 described above, and each may have the same characteristics and advantages described above.

[0092] In one example, less than 10% of the energy generated by the variable renewable energy source of system 510 is transmitted as extra-high voltage electricity 502 to a downstream load 504, such as a centralized ammonia, methanol, or methane processing plant. Continuing the example, 90% of the energy generated by the variable renewable energy source of system 510 is converted to hydrogen by an electrolytic cell(s), and the energy loss associated with the transmission of compressed hydrogen in pipeline 503 is less than approximately 1%. The energy loss associated with the transmission of extra-high voltage electricity via the electrical network 502 (representing less than 10% of energy demand) may exceed 10%. The total energy loss of all energy transmitted according to Figure 5 may be less than approximately 5%. Figure 6 shows an example of three 1.2 GW–1.3 GW distributed high-voltage (HV) power generation systems 600 in the midstream, which collect high-voltage electrical energy from upstream variable renewable wind and solar resources 601 and convert all high-voltage (HV) electrical energy to extra-high-voltage (VV) electrical energy 602 before transmitting electricity to a centralized electrolytic cell plant for producing hydrogen as an input adjacent to a midstream-to-downstream load 604, such as an ammonia, methanol, and methane processing plant. The example shown in Figure 4 may incorporate the system 400 shown in Figure 4. At the downstream load 604, including the processing plant, the energy loss associated with the transmission of all VV electricity through the electrical network to produce all hydrogen, and consequently all ammonia, methanol, and methane, can exceed 10%. The cost of the electrical infrastructure for transmitting energy and the cost of the required hydrogen / energy storage needed to ensure supply to the plant are exorbitant compared to the system shown in Figure 5.

[0093] The extensive extraction of renewable wind and / or solar energy (or other renewable energy resources) on an oil and gas scale may be limited by the rating of the switchgear electrically connecting the renewable energy source to the available OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) wind turbine and solar inverter skid at the highest possible rated voltage / current. This limitation may be 66kV with a busbar rating of 3,150A to 4,000A. Offshore wind turbines may be designed to have a maximum rated AC voltage of 66kV, while solar skids may have a maximum rated voltage of 33kV so as not to impede any technical or commercial obstacles to the solar skid having the same rating as a wind turbine of 66kV or higher. The switchgear ratings and voltages described herein may exceed 66kV and are not limited to the examples above.

[0094] Exemplary systems according to this disclosure, such as the system illustrated in Figure 3 or the exemplary system 510 in Figure 5, can provide gigawatt-scale energy of 2.5 GW or more. In one embodiment, an exemplary node-type system according to this disclosure can provide gigawatt-scale energy of 6 GW or more, which can provide energy efficiency exceeding that of a centralized generation system, such as the exemplary system shown in Figure 4. Energy efficiency may depend on factors such as the geographical area and whether the downstream energy demand is primarily hydrogen or electricity. When renewable energy sources are distributed over a large geographical area, the systems according to this disclosure may have improved energy efficiency compared to centralized systems. In one embodiment, the renewable energy sources of the system according to this disclosure are distributed over at least 500 km 2 It can be distributed over a wide area. In another embodiment, the area is at least 1000 km 2 , or at least 2000km 2 , or at least 6000km 2Distributing node-type systems in accordance with this disclosure over a larger geographical area provides more available area for distributing renewable energy sources to increase energy production and makes the node-type systems described herein more efficient compared to conventional centralized systems. Conventional centralized systems may be preferred in situations where only electricity is required at the downstream load, as HVDC or HVAC transmission lines may be used. However, when hydrogen or hydrogen compounds are required by the load, a distributed node-type system, for example, the system described below with respect to Figure 3, may be more efficient. In one example, if more than 80% of the load demand is hydrogen or hydrogen compounds, the transmission of hydrogen or hydrogen compounds via pipelines, as electricity via HVDC or HVAC, may provide 80% and 20% of the load energy requirements.

[0095] Figure 7A shows an exemplary 100MW wind power string 700a, each comprising ten 10MW wind turbines 701, each connected to a power cable 703 via a Ring Main Unit (RMU) 702a, for example, a 66kV power cable that then couples each RMU to a first power cable, and a midstream node substation 708 to each wind turbine. The node substation 708 may be an exemplary node substation discussed below with respect to Figure 8a. Each wind turbine and / or solar cell may supply electricity to the node substation 704 at a distributed voltage level. The string 700a may include a short-term energy storage 704 for backup power to the wind turbines 701. The string 700a may also be in electrical communication with a node substation of the node according to this disclosure, such as the exemplary node shown in Figure 8a, via a connection 710. A node may include a node-type substation having at least one electrolytic cell for producing hydrogen and / or hydrogen compounds.

[0096] Figure 7B is an example of a 100 MW wind turbine string 700b comprising 10 10 MW wind turbines 700, each of which is connected to an overhead line (OHL) 705, e.g., a 66 kV overhead line, and a node according to the present disclosure, e.g., a node substation 708 of an exemplary node shown in Figure 8a, via a connector 710 which may be an OHL or other means for transmitting electrical energy. The node may include a node substation having at least one electrolytic cell for producing hydrogen and / or hydrogen compounds. The OHL connectors between the wind turbines 700 may also be connected to an RMU 702a in Figure 7A via a connector 710. Similar to string 700a in Figure 7A, string 700b may include a short-term energy storage 704 for backup power to the wind turbine string 700b.

[0097] Figure 7C shows an exemplary 100MW solar power string 700c, each comprising 10MW solar power skids 706, each connected to a power cable, e.g., a 66kV power cable, via a ring main unit (RMU), and each RMU 702c is then connected. The connection section 710 may connect each RMU 702c to a node-type substation 708 of the node according to this disclosure, e.g., an exemplary node shown in Figure 8a, and the RMU 702a of string 700a shown in Figures 7a and 7b, and / or the OHL 705 of string 700b. The node may include a node-type substation having at least one electrolytic cell for producing hydrogen and / or hydrogen compounds.

[0098] Each group of wind turbine and solar power skids is referred to as a string in Figures 7A and 7C. In the example, a 100MW wind turbine string and a 100MW solar power string may each have a maximum current capacity of 1,250A at 66kV, connected by a commercially available 66kV ring main unit (RMU), which can be electrically coupled together within a node of a node-type substation. In other examples, the ratings of each string can accommodate higher or lower voltages and currents.

[0099] Within each node, the ratio of wind power to solar power can be site-specific, and in the example where the strings in Figures 7A-7C are connected by a node-type substation, the ratio is 2:1, meaning that the amount of wind power is twice that of solar power. However, the ratio can vary and is optimized to achieve the lowest leveled cost of energy / hydrogen for the systems described herein. In one example, the lowest leveled cost of energy (LCOE) may be determined based on the following: {(Construction cost excluding interest * Capital recovery factor + Fixed O&M costs) / (8760 * Capital utilization rate)} + (Fuel cost * Heating rate) + Variable O&M costs

[0100] Figure 8A shows a schematic diagram of the electrical connections of an exemplary node 800, which includes (66kV) wind turbine strings WT and (66kV) solar power strings PV. Figure 8B shows an overhead plan view of the exemplary node 800. More specifically, node 800 as shown in Figure 8A is connected to eight 100MW wind turbine strings WT and four 100MW solar power strings PV. Node 800 includes four 150MW electrolytic cell trains 801 and HV or EHV connections to loads 802, for example, an EHV connection at 220kV to loads 802. The (66kV) switchgear can be connected to the 220kV switchgear in an "H" configuration via two 220 / 66kV / 66kV step-up power transformers 803, and via busbars B-1, B-2, B-3, and B-4 to all wind, solar strings, electrolytic cell trains, and auxiliary loads within the node. Both the 220kV and 66kV distribution boards depict the normal operating mode during maximum power generation and demand with all bus sections and bus coupler breakers open.

[0101] In the example shown in Figure 8A, the wind and solar energy from the string WTs and PVs comes from eight wind turbine strings and four solar power strings rated to a peak output of 100 MW. Each string WT and PV may be connected at node 805 to a 66kV switchboard divided into four zones: busbars B-1, B-2, B-3, and B-4, each switchboard having a maximum busbar rating of 3,150 A at 66kV. Each zone defined by busbars B-1, B-2, B-3, and B-4 is connected to other busbar zones through, for example, bus sections and / or bus coupler circuit breakers rated at 3,150 A. These breakers are interconnected so that the current flowing through the busbar zones when connected together at once does not exceed the busbar rating (e.g., 3,150 A). If two connected busbars begin to exceed, for example, the maximum coupled busbar current rating of 3,150A (i.e., exceeding 1,575A for each of the two connected busbars), they will automatically disconnect from each other by opening the bus coupler or bus section circuit breaker for each busbar, or if four busbars connected together exceed the exemplary maximum coupled busbar current rating of 3,150A (i.e., exceeding 787A for each of the four connected busbars), each busbar will automatically disconnect from each other with all bus section and bus coupler breakers open, as shown in Figure 8a. This principle applies to the ratings of any OEM switchgear in accordance with this disclosure. If the current on adjacent (66kV) switchgear busbar zones drops to a level that allows two or more of the (66kV) switchgear busbar zones to be connected without exceeding the nominal busbar current rating, two or more of the bus coupler breakers and / or bus section breakers will automatically close. In the example shown in Figure 8a, because the busbar rating is limited to 3150A, the 66kV bus section and bus coupler breaker are open, and if both busbars are connected, there is a risk that one of the busbars will be overloaded if one of the transformer feeder breakers opens or trips.The voltages, wattages, currents, and the number of wind turbine strings, solar PV strings, electrolytic cells, switchgear, and other auxiliary equipment used in the examples herein are illustrative and may vary to optimize the node design according to this disclosure.

[0102] Figure 9 shows node 800 as shown in Figure 8a, but the bus section breaker 806 between busbars B-1 and B-2 is closed, while all other bus section and bus coupler breakers are open. In the example in Figure 9, the energy generated by the solar power string PV on busbars B-1 and B-2 is constrained by cloud cover, and the energy generated by the wind turbine string WT on busbars B-1 and B-2 is reduced. Closing the bus section breaker between busbars B-1 and B-2 may be autonomous to streamline / optimize the energy delivered to the electrolytic cell train (e.g., 150MW electrolytic cell) on busbars B-1 and B-2 without exceeding the rated current of the 66kV busbars B-1 and B-2. There may be cases where there is no available power to transmit downstream from B-1 and B-2 to the 220kV network to load 802.

[0103] In the example in Figure 9, the power of the 66kV busbar B-2 delivered by the string WT drops to less than half the power of the PV connected to it, and the 66kV bus section breaker 806 automatically closes to optimize the continuous operation of the electrolytic cell train 801 connected to busbars B-1 and B-2. The autonomous switching connecting the busbars can balance the energy supply to all electrolytic cell trains 801, maximizing their utilization for any renewable generation available at any given time.

[0104] The HV connection 802 to the load, for example, a downstream ammonia plant, may have an electricity demand of approximately 50 MW from each node 800, and any additional capacity beyond this can be transmitted from the HV connection 802 to other separate downstream domestic users to the load. Each node 800 may be able to transmit approximately 300 MW of power via a 220 kV HV transmission network. In one example, additional energy from busbars B-3 and B-4, for example 318 MW, can be used for local node auxiliary loads such as compressors and energy storage, and / or for additional supply to busbars B-1 and B-2 via a bus coupler between busbars B-2 and B-4.

[0105] Figure 10 shows the same switchboard as in Figures 8 and 9, but in this example, both bus coupler breakers 807 between busbars B-1 and B-3 are closed, while all other bus sections and bus coupler breakers are open. This is because the energy generated by solar power on busbars B-1 and B-3 is constrained by cloud cover, and the energy generated by wind on busbars B-1 and B-3 is reduced. The closing of the bus coupler breaker between busbars B-1 and B-3 is autonomous and rationalizes the energy delivered to the electrolytic cell train 801 of busbars B-1 and B-3 without exceeding the current rating of the 66kV busbars B-1 and B-3.

[0106] As shown in Figure 10, node 800 shows a switchboard configuration in which both bus coupler circuit breakers separating busbars B-1 and B-3 are in the closed position, optimizing the available energy generated to supply to each of the exemplary electrolytic cells 801 (e.g., 150 MW electrolytic cells) connected to each of busbars B-1 and B-3. Continuing the example shown in Figure 10, the generated energy connected to the 66 kV busbar B-3 drops to less than half of its nominal generating capacity. To optimize and maximize the continuous operation of the electrolytic cell trains 801 connected to both busbar zones B-1 and B-3, both (66 kV) bus coupler circuit breakers between busbar zones B-1 and B-3 can be automatically closed. Autonomous switching connecting the two busbars can balance the energy supply to all electrolytic cell trains 801, maximizing their utilization for renewable generation available at any given time. In one example, for node 800, when the current falls below a threshold, for example, one-quarter of the nominal generating capacity, all four zones B-1, B-2, B-3, and B-4 may be connected by then closing all bus sections and bus couplers. This autonomous interlocking operation can be managed by protective relays / bay controllers for each switchgear bay and an overall energy management system. The above example may apply to a 66kV rated switchgear with a maximum current capacity of 3,150 amperes, but the switchgear of this disclosure may apply to any suitable switchgear rating, such as a lower voltage and current range or a higher voltage and current range (e.g., 33kV / 2500A to 132kV / 5,000A).

[0107] As shown in Figure 10, a 66kV bus couple breaker is closed between busbars B-1 and B-3, sharing a local supply across both busbars to the connected electrolytic cell load, and there is no available power from these busbars to transmit downstream to load 802 via the 220kV network. Load 802, for example, a downstream ammonia plant, has an electricity demand of approximately 50MW from each node 800, and any additional capacity beyond this can be transmitted to other downstream domestic users who are not part of load 802. Each node 800 can transmit approximately 300MW of electrical energy via the (220kV) high-voltage transmission network. Busbars B-2 and B-4 can provide an additional 318MW of energy, which can be used for local node auxiliary loads such as compressors and energy storage and / or for additional supply to busbars B-1 and B-3 via the bus section between busbars B-1 and B-2, or B-3 and B-4.

[0108] Figure 11a shows an exemplary system 1000 comprising the nodes of this disclosure, which may be the same system described above with respect to Figure 5.

[0109] Figure 11B shows an exemplary overview of a node in the system 1000 shown in Figure 11a. A node-type substation 1500 may provide 1.2 GW to 1.3 GW and be configured to connect to eight 100 MW wind turbine strings 1100 and four 100 MW solar skid strings 1200 via a power cable network 1300, for example, 66 kV high-voltage lines. In this example, the wind turbine strings 1100 may be spaced approximately 4.6 km apart, and each wind turbine within a string 1100 may be spaced approximately 800 m apart from adjacent wind turbines. The positioning of each wind turbine may be optimized based on the location where the wind turbines are installed, and is not limited to this example. The wind turbine strings 1100 may include 10 MW wind turbines connected to node 1000 via a power cable network 1300, which may include overhead lines and power cables. The solar skid string 1200 may comprise a solar inverter skid string main unit and 10 MW of solar modules connected to nodes via a power cable network (e.g., 66 KV). In this example, the solar skid string 1200 may be approximately 4 km long and approximately 2 km wide. The edges of the solar skid string 1200 may be parallel to the adjacent wind turbine string 1100 and may be positioned approximately 1.3 km apart to prevent shading from the wind turbines on the solar skid string 1200 and its solar modules.

[0110] In the example shown in Figures 11a and 11b, the node substation 1500 is connected to 80 10MW wind turbines via power cables of a power cable network 1300, with eight 66kV high-voltage overhead lines and / or power cables of a power cable network 1300, each terminating at a 66kV switchgear in a 220 / 66kV substation located at the center of node 1500. As shown, the node substation 1500 may be surrounded by, for example, four 100MW solar power strings, each having ten solar power skids rated at 10MW, connected via 66kV high-voltage power cables terminating at a 66kV switchgear in a 220 / 66kV substation located at the center of node 1500. The amount of wind turbines and solar power skids in the strings may vary depending on the high-voltage and current-carrying capacity of the switchgear from one exemplary system 1000 to another exemplary system 1000.

[0111] In one embodiment, the renewable energy sources at each node, such as a solar power skid string 1200 and a wind turbine string 1100, may define a perimeter 1001, generally shown as dotted lines in Figure 11b. A node-type substation 1500 may be defined within the perimeter 1001, as shown in Figure 11b. Other exemplary locations of node-type substations within or on the perimeter, defined by the renewable energy sources at each node, are shown in Figures 13, 16-20.

[0112] Figure 12 shows approximately 6,000 km 2 An overview plan view of an exemplary system 2000 comprising 18 nodes 2500 distributed across the area is shown. Each node 2500 may have a nominal peak generating capacity of 1.2 GW to 1.3 GW, totaling approximately 22 GW for the fully geographically dispersed wind turbine string 2100 and solar skid string 2200.

[0113] Multiple nodes 2500 can cover a geographical area that can be expanded or contracted to achieve any desired energy generation. In the example shown in Figure 12, this covers approximately 6,000 km². 2There are 18 Node 2500s covering the area. Each Node 2500 can be rated at 1.2 GW to 1.3 GW with a total power of approximately 22 GW at a power factor of approximately 0.85. The number of Node 2500s may depend on the size and shape of the available geographical land area. Each Node 2500 may have the node features shown in Figure 11b. In the example shown in Figure 12, each row of wind turbines may be spaced about 4.6 km apart to minimize wake effects between rows of wind turbines, and within each row, each wind turbine is spaced about 800 m apart to prevent blade tip vortices between adjacent wind turbines in the row from interfering with each other.

[0114] The center of each node 2500, where the majority of the generated energy can be converted to hydrogen, may be surrounded by a 400 MW solar skid string 2200 and may be less than 2 km from the center of wind turbine rows, which may be more than approximately 4.6 km apart, so that the wind turbines do not cast shadows across the solar power plant at the start and end of each day. The illustrated arrangement of the wind turbine strings 2100 and solar skid strings 2200 is specific to this example, and the distance between wind turbine rows and adjacent wind turbines may vary between site locations based on wind, solar resources, and geographical constraints.

[0115] Each solar skid string 2200 may be approximately 4 km long and have an electrical interface to the wind turbine string 2100 and the solar skid string 2200 connected to node 2500 via a combination of 66 kV overhead lines and / or 66 kV power cables, for example, in such a way that shading of the solar modules is minimized. This arrangement may be unique to this example, where the distance between the wind turbine rows changes the width and length of the solar power plant due to shading, i.e., the solar skid string may be wider than it would be if the wind turbine rows were 4 km apart.

[0116] In the example shown in Figure 12, load 2802, for example, a downstream ammonia plant, can use less than 10% of the energy required to synthesize ammonia as electricity, e.g., 8-10%, which can be transmitted from node 2500 via a power cable network 2300, such as extra-high voltage overhead lines. 90% of the energy required to produce ammonia comes from hydrogen production, all of which is generated at the exemplary 1.2 GW node 2500. The hydrogen is transmitted from node 2500 to the downstream load 2802 via a high-pressure hydrogen gas pipeline(s) 2900.

[0117] The above design principles may vary from system to system and can be adapted to site-specific geography and constraints, but are based on the node concept described herein.

[0118] Figure 13 shows an overhead plan view of an example of a 400MW-500MW solar power plant with a node substation 1350 located in the center of the solar power plant. The location of the node substation 1350 is not limited to the center of the solar power plant. Figures 16-20 show other exemplary locations of node substations for solar power plants geographically configured as rectangles. Figure 16 shows solar power plants or centralized solar plants A, B, C, and D with centralized node substations. Each solar power plant may contain multiple solar arrays / clusters 1-n. Figure 17 shows solar power plants or centralized solar plants A-D with node substations 1350 located on the opposing peripheral edges of the solar power plants A-D. Figure 18 shows solar power plants or centralized solar plants A, B, C, and D with node substations 1350 located on the opposing peripheral edges of the short sides of the solar plants. Figure 19 shows solar power plants or centralized solar plants A, B, C, and D, each having node-type substations 1350 positioned at the opposing peripheral edges of solar power plants A to D. Figure 20 shows solar power plants or centralized solar plants A, B, C, and D positioned laterally adjacent to each other. Each solar power plant has a node-type substation positioned at the peripheral edge of the solar power plant or solar plant. The node-type substation 1350 may have a 220 / 66kV substation and a 150MW electrolytic cell train at the center of the node-type substation 1350, as described above with respect to Figures 8a to 10. In the example embodiments shown in Figures 13 and 16 to 20, the solar power plants provide 400MW to 500MW, and each solar power plant A, B, C, and D has a 100MW solar array that constitutes the solar power plant. Each solar power plant can be electrically connected to a node-type substation 1350 via a power cable 1335, which transmits the electricity generated by the solar arrays to the node-type substation 1350 over long distances. The longer the geographical distance over which the power travels from the point of generation to the node-type substation 1350 via the power cable 1335, the more the line losses associated with transmitting power from each solar array may increase proportionally.The node-type substation 1350 can be positioned to minimize line losses from the solar power string comprising solar power plants A, B, C, and D. The node-type substation 1350 can be electrically connected to other nodes, such as in the node arrangement shown in Figure 12. Similarly, the node-type substation 1350 can be fluidly connected to loads and other nodes via pipeline 1390. For example, the node-type substation 1350 may be the node-type substation of node 2500 in system 2000 shown in Figure 12. Figure 14 shows an overhead plan view of an exemplary node-type substation 1400. The node-type substation 1400 may provide 1.2 GW to 1.3 GW with four 160 MW electrolytic cell trains. Figure 14 shows additional details of an exemplary node-type substation 1400, including four electrolytic cell trains 1480, a 220 / 66kV substation, battery storage, fuel cells, a compressor station, and other electrical balances of the plant (EBoP) and mechanical balances of the plant (MBoP). The exemplary node-type substation 1400 may be an example of the node 800 substation shown in Figure 8b or other nodes described herein. The layout and size of the nodes are not limited to the exemplary embodiment in Figure 14. Each node-type substation may include the following elements, which are also shown in Figure 14, which shows a schematic diagram of the exemplary node-type substation 1400. • 66kV gas-insulated distribution panel • 132kV or 275kV gas-insulated switchgear 6.6kV gas-insulated distribution panel • 150MVA 66kV / 132kV or 66kV / 275kV wound step-up power transformer 20MVA 66kV / 6.6kV wound power transformer 20MVA 66kV / 6.6kV wound power transformer (compressor station) 50MVA 66kV / 6.6kV wound power transformer - (synchronous capacitor) • 1.5MVA 66kV / 0.415kV wound auxiliary transformer (substation auxiliary load) • 70MVAr synchronous capacitor + flywheel • 10MW 66kV / 0.69kV wound power transformer (with electrolytic cell load) • 20MW electrolytic cell modules across each electrolytic cell train 690V air-insulated low-voltage switchgear • Group of 20MW AC / DC converters • 0.5 MVA 66 kV / 0.415 kV wound auxiliary transformer (electrolytic cell train) • 5.5MW 3-stage hydrogen compressor station • Hydrogen gas terminal skid • 3MW / 1MWh Battery Storage Solution • 1MW hydrogen fuel cell plant • Electrolytic cell cooling water plant - (cooling fan / absorption cooler) • Water purification plant - (desalination / ultraviolet light / filtration) • 75KW water pump station • 3-ton, 200-bar hydrogen buffer storage tank. • Deoxygenated hydrogen drying plant • Hydrogen drying bed tank 100-ton desalination water storage tank • Reject water evaporation tank • Electrolytic cell train building 66kV / 132kV or 275kV substation • Main 1 and Main 2 backup 110V DC battery storage • Main 1 and Main 2 backup 48V DC battery storage Main 1 and Main 2 backup 110V DC / 240VAC inverter • 66kV / 132kV or 275kV substation protection control automation system • 6.6kV Synchronous Capacitor Protection Control Automation System • Electrolytic cell process control system • Helicopter / drone landing pad

[0119] In the example shown in Figure 14, the node-type substation 1400 is electrically connected to at least 1.2 GW of variable renewable power generation via 66 kV overhead lines and / or power cables, and can then be connected to 132 kV, 220 kV, or 275 kV overhead lines supplying the load, which can be connected to downstream renewable fuel processing plants such as green ammonia, green methanol, green methane plants, and / or other types of household loads. Loads such as downstream renewable fuel processing plants may require 7% to 10% of the total energy required by electrolysis to produce hydrogen as electricity within the node. The majority of the energy generated by wind turbines and / or solar power strings is used to convert water into hydrogen within each geographically distributed node, with the hydrogen being compressed and transmitted to the load via pipelines. The voltages used in the examples of this disclosure are described for node ratings between 33kV and 275kV, and between 0.6GW and 2.6GW, although the voltages may vary depending on the switchgear rating of each node.

[0120] Approximately 90% of the 1.2 GW to 1.3 GW of renewable generation, connected to node-type substation 1400 via 66 kV overhead lines and power cable strings, may be directly supplied to four 140 MW to 160 MW electrolytic cell trains 1480 within node-type substation 1400, where the electricity may be converted to renewable hydrogen through electrolysis, optimizing the utilization rate of the electrolytic cell assets to as high as possible, above 80%. The same principle described above applies to nodes of different sizes, which may have electrolytic cell trains ranging from 50 MW to 320 MW.

[0121] Each node may be connected to a load, such as a downstream renewable fuel processing plant, including green ammonia, green methanol, or green methane plants, via multiple high-pressure fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) pipelines. These pipelines may be rated to deliver several tons of hydrogen per hour from each node to the load at pressures ranging from 30 bar to over 200 bar.

[0122] In the electrolytic cell train, hydrogen can be separated from water (H2O) through the electrolysis process. The water can be delivered to each node of a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipeline, which delivers this water directly from the sea as desalination / deionized water, drinking water, or seawater, or to a downstream desalination / deionization plant near the coast. Each node, operating at full capacity, can use millions of liters of desalination / deionized water per day, which may depend on the rating of the electrolytic cell train and the available renewable power that can be generated at any given time. The water supplied to each node is shown in Figure 5.

[0123] Figure 15 shows exemplary assets that may constitute a node according to this disclosure.

[0124] Multiple nodes can be electrically connected via EHV or HV overhead lines (OHL) through switchgear such as gas-insulated switchgear (GIS), highly-integrated switchgear (HIS), or air-insulated switchgear (AIS), with OHL capacities ranging from 200MW to over 2000MW. In one example, two or more nodes may be connected in a node string. Each node string may be connected to a 132kV or 275kV step-up power transformer and then to a 500kV or 765kV GIS terminal substation. This example is specific, and variations therein will depend on the project and will change based on site-specific geography and constraints.

[0125] All nodes may be electrically connected to a substation, for example, a gas-insulated switchgear ("GIS") substation at load, via EHV or HV overhead lines. As a result, if any node or combination of nodes in a node string is constrained in its renewable generation due to a reduction in cloud cover and / or wind across any area of ​​the site, renewable energy from other nodes in another area of ​​the site can be partially or fully compensated for by backfeeding to the node experiencing the constraint via the GIS terminal substation.

[0126] If the load, for example, a fuel processing plant (green ammonia, green methanol, green methane), is more than 200 km away from the node, a GIS terminal substation, for example, a 500kV or 765kV GIS substation, may be positioned around the node to connect to a downstream terminal substation via OHLs, for example, multiple 500kV or 765kV OHLs, and any other domestic loads. For example, transmitting 4 GW of electrical energy over a distance of 300 km may require four 500kV feeders on two separate 500kV OHL tower mitigations, each circuit having the capacity to transmit approximately 1200 MVA of electrical energy. This example is specific, and the substation positioning and line voltage variations will depend on the project and will vary based on site-specific geography and constraints. The OHL voltage can be different from 500kV or 765kV, the downstream demand can be less than or greater than 4GW, and each OHL circuit can carry more than or less than 1300MVA depending on the voltage and distance.

[0127] According to this disclosure, variable renewable wind and solar resources can be converted into hydrogen molecules (i.e., chemical energy as a gas) within the electrolytic cell train at each node and transmitted to the load under high pressure via a combined hydrogen pipeline. In the example shown in Figures 12 and 18, if the load plant is more than 200 km from the variable renewable wind and solar resources, each node may be connected to a gas terminal station adjacent to the renewable energy source via two to three 10-inch FRP pipelines. The hydrogen collected from all nodes at the gas terminal station can then be further compressed to 75 to 100 bar by a booster compressor into a 24-inch high-pressure glass fiber, basalt, aramid, and carbon fiber reinforced pipeline with a capacity to transport approximately 200 tons of hydrogen per hour. The size and pressure described in this example are not limiting and may vary depending on site-specific geography and constraints. For example, pipeline diameters may be greater than or less than 10 inches and / or 24 inches, and / or there may be additional parallel pipelines beyond those mentioned, at pressures exceeding 100 bar.

[0128] Figure 21 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary System 1000 for controlling a system for collecting, generating, and transmitting gigawatt-scale energy from multiple distributed sources in an area. Large-scale renewable hydrogen production plants may be distributed over very wide geographical areas and at great distances. Due to the remoteness of renewable energy generation and hydrogen or hydrogen compound production nodes, System 1000 can enable complete autonomy and remote control of upstream renewable energy generation and midstream nodes. All equipment in System 1000 may have intelligent electronic edge devices that collect data that can be used for control, measurement, and protection of renewable energy generation and hydrogen production nodes. The data collected from System 1000 may be input into a digital twin software model of the physical plant and can be used to test alternative operating regimes, other emerging technologies, and evaluate whether the entire system is operating in its optimal state.

[0129] Figure 21 shows four levels of control, where process level 3000 is physical process equipment and sensors on it, and the physical equipment includes energy and / or hydrogen / hydrogen compound production equipment or load equipment. The sensors may include smart edge devices such as inverters, merge units, transducers, non-conventional instrument transformers (NCITs), current transformers (CTs), and current transformers (VTs) that can interface directly with load power generation equipment or process equipment to collect digital and analog data for controlling equipment including wind turbines, solar power inverters, hydrogen compressors, electrolytic cells, motors, and metal masts.

[0130] The next level of control is field level 3100, which may include intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) / microprocessors, such as protective relays, weighing and measuring devices, managed Ethernet switches, remote terminal units, and programmable logic controllers. These IEDs may have communication interfaces that support high-speed redundant Ethernet communication using standardized communication protocols with advanced programmable logic / algorithm capabilities. In field level 3100, all data packets may be time-stamped and recorded in real time, i.e., in less than 1 millisecond. Time-critical autonomous operations for protecting and measuring the system may be performed in field level 3100.

[0131] The station-level 3200 collects data from the field and process levels to make system-wide decisions regarding operational coordination, load removal, control, local human interface (HMI), software engineering / parameterization, power quality, user access authentication, and certificate security management. At the station level, local control can also be performed via the local HMI in wind turbines, substations, or electrolytic cell trains.

[0132] The control center / SCADA level (3300) may be a remote off-site control center for overall supervision, control, and data acquisition of system 1000. The control center(s) 3300 can be geographically located anywhere in the world. System 1000 may be designed to operate autonomously, but all measurement data may be available for visual inspection and manual control of system 1000. All measurement data and instrument, alarm, event, and trend status at all sensor points within system 1000 may be received by and stored in data system 1003. Operators may also be able to control some or all of system 1000, and SCADA 3300 may be able to isolate and interrogate devices or systems before deploying maintenance staff to the site. The components of system 1000 may include closed-circuit television (CCTV) for both visual and thermal imaging, gas detection, and pressure measurement, in order to provide additional data on the operation of system 1000 from the control center 3300, regardless of whether the site is unmanned or staff are deployed to the site for maintenance purposes.

[0133] Sensor data acquired from process level 3000, field level 3100, station level 3200, and control center / SCADA 3300 may be received by an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) cloud platform 1014 (i.e., a data lake), and the data may be used by applications to optimize reporting on operational trends, efficiency trends, status-based monitoring, energy level-average cost (LCOE) trends over time, hydrogen level-average cost (LCOH) trends over time, etc. The applications may be housed on mobile devices 1017 that provide easy access to asset owners, investors, operators, certification bodies, etc.

[0134] Figure 22 provides a schematic overview of an exemplary system 1000 for controlling a system for collecting, generating, and transmitting gigawatt-scale energy from multiple distributed sources in an area. System 1000 may include a controller 21 as described herein. The controller 21 includes a processor 1002 configured to implement processor-readable instructions, which, when executed, configures the processor 1002 to perform the operations described herein. The processor 1002 may be a microprocessor or microcontroller, a digital signal processing (DSP) processor, an integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a reconfigurable processor, a programmable read-only memory (PROM), or a combination thereof. The controller 21 may include a communication interface 1004 for running other computing applications by communicating with other computing devices or sensor devices, accessing or connecting to network resources, or connecting to a network (or multiple networks) that can carry data. In some examples, the communication interface 1004 may include one or more buses, interconnects, wires, circuits, and / or any other connections and / or control circuits, or a combination thereof. The communication interface 1004 may provide an interface for communicating data between the system 1000 and the display 1015 or alarm 1016.

[0135] The controller 21 may also include a connection for communicating with any pump coupled to the water source 1 in accordance with this disclosure to transmit or receive set values / values ​​relating to flow rate, valve position, and pressure data / values.

[0136] The controller 21 may include sensor connections for energy produced by the wind turbine(s) 2 and the solar power cells / skids 8.

[0137] The controller 21 may include a connection(s) to pressure sensors, for example, pressure sensors on the compressor 3 and / or pipeline 4. The controller may also communicate with the compressor 3 and / or pipeline 4 to transmit set(s) or receive data relating to flow rate, valve position, turbine speed, and pressure data / values.

[0138] The controller 21 may be coupled to a data system 1003 for storing system data and / or configured to communicate with cloud services such as iCloud, Dropbox, Google Cloud, or any other digital data server. The data system 1003 may also include a universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter (UART) to enable communication with other devices, e.g., smartphones or computers, for transmitting data for analysis and / or storage. The UART may include or be coupled to a wireless transceiver for wireless communication with such other devices, e.g., via infrared, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc. The controller 21 may also be coupled to a water source, data system 1003, wind turbine 2, compressor 3, pipeline 4, switchgear(s) 5, electrolytic cell 6, load 7, and / or solar power cell / skid 8 via a network 1500. The network 1500 may include any wired or wireless communication paths, such as electrical circuits. In some embodiments, the network 1500 may include one or more buses, interconnects, wires, circuits, and / or any other connections and / or control circuits, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, the network 1500 may include wired or wireless wide area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, the network 1500 may include Bluetooth® networks, Bluetooth® low energy networks, short-range communication networks, and the like.

[0139] The controller 21 may include memory 1006. Memory 1006 may include one or a combination of computer memories such as static random-access memory (SRAM), random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electro-optical memory, magneto-optical memory, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), and electrically-erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), and ferroelectric RAM (FRAM).

[0140] Memory 1006 may store an application 1012 containing processor-readable instructions for performing the operations described herein. In some examples, application 1012 may include operations for controlling a system for collecting, generating, and transmitting gigawatt-scale energy from multiple distributed sources located in an area.

[0141] In one embodiment, application 1012 may include operations for selectively electrically connecting each electrolytic cell 6 to a first plurality of renewable energy sources, such as a turbine 2 and / or solar cells / skids 8, within a current carrier capacity threshold of the switchgear 5 at medium or high voltage. In another embodiment, application 1012 may include operations for communicating each electrolytic cell 6 to a second plurality of renewable energy sources when the current carrier capacity threshold falls below a desired threshold for each electrolytic cell 6, in order to optimize electrolytic cell efficiency.

[0142] In one embodiment, the electrolytic cell 6 comprises a first electrolytic cell and a second electrolytic cell coupled together by a switchgear having a threshold of approximately 3,150 A, which represents the maximum rating of the switchgear or component, such as a bus coupler or bus section circuit breaker of each busbar. Application 1012 may include an operation to automatically open the switchgear and disconnect the first electrolytic cell from the second electrolytic cell.

[0143] In one embodiment, application 1012 may include an operation to increase the pressure in pipeline 4 when the energy generated by a renewable energy source, such as a wind turbine 2 and / or solar power cells / skid 8, is greater than the energy consumed by the load 7. The renewable energy source may include a centralized solar power plant (CSP) string containing multiple centralized solar power generators, a wave and / or tidal power string containing multiple wave and / or tidal power generators, and a geothermal power string containing multiple geothermal power generators.

[0144] In one embodiment, application 1012 may include actions to reduce the demand for hydrogen (H2) or hydrogen compounds by load 7 when the pressure in pipeline 4 reaches a minimum threshold. In one example, the minimum threshold is less than about 50 bar.

[0145] In one embodiment, application 1012 may include causing the compressor 3 to compress H2 or hydrogen compounds into pipeline 4 at a rate lower than the rate at which H2 or hydrogen compounds are consumed by load 7.

[0146] In one embodiment, application 1012 may include operations for converting more than 50% of the energy generated by a renewable energy source, such as a wind turbine 2 and electrolytic cells 6, into H2 or hydrogen compounds, using at least one electrolytic cell for transmission to a load.

[0147] The above description is illustrative only, and those skilled in the art will recognize that modifications can be made to the described embodiments without departing from the scope of the disclosed invention. This disclosure can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the subject matter of the claims. This disclosure is intended to encompass all preferred modifications of the art. Modifications that fall within the scope of the invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art in light of a review of this disclosure, and such modifications are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, the scope of the claims should not be limited by the preferred embodiments described in the examples, but should be given the broadest possible interpretation consistent with the description as a whole.

Claims

1. A system for collecting, generating, and transmitting gigawatt-scale energy from multiple distributed sources in an area, A geographically distributed network comprising multiple nodes, where each node is Water source, A renewable energy source, Multiple wind turbine strings, Multiple solar power skids and solar power strings, Renewable energy sources equipped with, A node-type substation that is electrically connected to the aforementioned renewable energy source, At least one electrolytic cell that is electrically connected to the renewable energy source, wherein water from the water source is converted into hydrogen (H) using electricity from the renewable energy source. ２ ) or at least one electrolytic cell configured to convert to a hydrogen compound, H ２ or a compressor for compressing the hydrogen compound from the at least one electrolytic cell into a pipeline that fluidly connects each node, The node-type substation is located at a distance from the renewable energy source, and the distance is Energy efficiency Ｈ２伝送 > Energy efficiency 高電圧送電 Selected to be so, Here, energy efficiency Ｈ２伝送 However, H ２ Alternatively, the energy efficiency is that of transmitting energy from the renewable energy source to the load via the node-type substation as a hydrogen compound, and also, Energy efficiency 高電圧送電 However, the energy efficiency of transmitting energy from the renewable energy source to the load via high-voltage transmission is Node-type substations and A geographically dispersed network equipped with, From the aforementioned multiple nodes H ２ or a load that is in fluid communication with the pipeline for receiving hydrogen compounds, A controller configured to increase the pressure in the pipeline when the energy generated by the renewable energy source is greater than the energy consumed by the load, A system equipped with these features.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the renewable energy source at each node defines the surrounding area, and the node-type substation is defined by the surrounding area.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the renewable energy source at each node comprises a plurality of electrically connected wind turbine strings and a plurality of solar power strings.

4. The area is at least 500 km ２ The system according to claim 1, wherein the area is at least 500 km

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein each node collects electricity from the renewable energy sources at a distributed voltage level from the wind turbine and solar power strings, and the node-type substation is located within 50 km of the wind turbine strings and solar power strings.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the renewable energy source is electrically connected to the load, and the node comprises at least one step-up power transformer electrically connected to the renewable energy source and the load, the at least one transformer configured to increase the voltage of the electricity transmitted from the renewable energy source to the load.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the node is positioned at least 50 km from the load.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the system is islanded.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein each string is rated to carry the maximum current carrying capacity at the rated medium voltage (MV), high voltage (HV), and alternating current (AC) of the switchgear within the string.

10. The proportion of each renewable energy source is configured to provide the Lowest Cost of Energy (LCOE), and the LCOE is {(Construction cost excluding interest * Capital recovery factor + Fixed O&M costs) / (8760 * Capital equipment utilization rate)} + (Fuel cost * Heating rate) + Variable O&M costs The system according to claim 1.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein each node is configured to generate maximum energy based on the current carrying capacity limits of the switchgear and transformers of each node, and the generated energy can be collected at medium and / or high voltage.

12. The system according to claim 1, wherein the renewable energy sources are positioned to maximize energy generation in the geographical area of ​​each node.

13. The system according to claim 1, wherein the solar power string is a solar power plant having a maximum number of solar skids limited by the current carrying capacity of the switchgear of the solar power string at medium and / or high voltage.

14. The system according to claim 1, wherein the solar power strings of the plurality of solar power skids are defined within the vicinity of the plurality of wind turbines.

15. The system according to claim 1, wherein the wind turbine string comprises a maximum number of wind turbines limited by the current carrying capacity of the switchgear of the wind turbine string at medium and / or high voltage.

16. The system according to claim 1, wherein each wind turbine is positioned to minimize blade tip vortex interference between adjacent wind turbines.

17. The system according to claim 1, wherein each wind turbine is positioned away from adjacent wind turbines to minimize wake interference.

18. The system according to claim 1, wherein the pipeline is a high-pressure hydrogen pipeline.

19. The system according to claim 1, wherein the load is configured to use hydrogen, and preferably the load is at least one of ammonia, methanol, or methane treatment plants.

20. The system according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to selectively electrically connect each electrolytic cell to the renewable energy source within a current transport capacity threshold of the switchgear at medium or high voltage.

21. The system according to claim 20, wherein the at least one electrolytic cell comprises a first electrolytic cell and a second electrolytic cell electrically coupled together by a switchgear having a threshold value representing the rating of the switchgear, and the controller is configured to electrically disconnect the first electrolytic cell from the second electrolytic cell when the threshold value is exceeded.

22. The controller, when the pressure in the pipeline reaches a minimum threshold, controls the load H ２ The system according to claim 1, or configured to reduce the demand for the hydrogen compound.

23. The system according to claim 22, wherein the minimum threshold is less than approximately 50 bar.

24. The controller then sends the compressor the H consumed by the load. ２ Or at a rate lower than the rate of the hydrogen compound, H ２ Alternatively, the system according to claim 20, configured to compress the hydrogen compound into the pipeline.

25. The system according to claim 1, comprising a centralized solar power plant (CSP) string including multiple centralized solar power plant generators.

26. The system according to claim 1, comprising a wave and / or tidal generator string including a plurality of wave and / or tidal generators.

27. The system according to claim 1, comprising a geothermal power string including multiple geothermal generators.

28. The system according to claim 1, wherein the string size is limited by the current carrying capacity of the switchgear at medium or high voltage.

29. The system according to claim 1, wherein each node is electrically connected to extra-high voltage (EHV) or high-voltage transmission lines, power cables, power transformers, and switchgear, and transmits electricity to the load with their maximum current carrying capacity rated.

30. The controller transmits more than 50% of the energy generated by the renewable energy source to the load by the at least one electrolytic cell, H ２ The system according to claim 20, which is configured to convert to the hydrogen compound.

31. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 30, wherein the gigawatt-scale energy is at least 6 GW.

32. A system for collecting, generating, and transmitting gigawatt-scale energy from multiple distributed sources in an area, A geographically distributed network comprising multiple nodes, where each node is Water source, Renewable energy sources, A node-type substation that is electrically connected to the aforementioned renewable energy source, At least one electrolytic cell that is electrically connected to the renewable energy source, wherein water from the water source is converted into hydrogen (H) using electricity from the renewable energy source. ２ ) or at least one electrolytic cell configured to convert to a hydrogen compound, H ２ or comprising a compressor for compressing the hydrogen compound from the at least one electrolytic cell into a pipeline that fluidly connects each node, The node-type substation is positioned at a distance from the renewable energy source, and the distance is Energy efficiency Ｈ２伝送 > Energy efficiency 高電圧送電 Selected to be so, Here, energy efficiency Ｈ２伝送 H ２ Alternatively, the energy efficiency is that which transmits energy from the renewable energy source to the load via the node-type substation as a hydrogen compound. Here, energy efficiency 高電圧送電 This refers to the energy efficiency of transmitting energy from the renewable energy source to the load via high-voltage transmission, and includes a node-type substation. A geographically dispersed network equipped with, From the aforementioned multiple nodes H ２ or a load that is in fluid communication with the pipeline for receiving hydrogen compounds, A controller configured to increase the pressure in the pipeline when the energy generated by the renewable energy source is greater than the energy consumed by the load, A system equipped with these features.

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