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CNR-ITAE is developing several hydrogen and fuel cell demonstration and research projects, each intended to be part of a larger strategy for hydrogen communities settling in small Sicilian islands. These projects involve vehicle design, hydrogen production from renewable energy sources and methane, as well as implementation strategies to develop a hydrogen and renewable energy economy. These zero emission lightweight vehicles feature regenerative braking and advanced power electronics to increase efficiency. Moreover, to achieve a very easy-to-use technology, a very simple interface between driver and the system is under development, including fault-recovery strategies and GPS positioning for car-rental fleets. Also marine applications have been included, with tests on PEFC applied on passenger ships and luxury yacht as power system for on-board loads. In marine application, it is under study also an electrolysis hydrogen generator system using seawater as hydrogen carrier. For stationary and automotive applications, the project includes a hydrogen refuelling station powered by renewable energy (wind or/and solar) and test on fuel processors fed with methane, in order to make the power generation self-sufficient, as well as to test the technology and increase public awareness toward clean energy sources. © 2008 International Association for Hydrogen Energy.

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La stazione di prova (FCTS5PEM) è stata progettata per testare stack e sistemi PEFC alimentati ad idrogeno diretto con potenze comprese nel range 1-7 kW. L’impianto è totalmente automatizzato ed è possibile monitorare e controllare tutti i principali parametri funzionali di uno stack polimerico (flussi gas, pressioni, temperature, voltaggi dispositivi e singole celle, eccetera) grazie ad un software proprietario sviluppato in ambiente Labview. La stazione è stata destinata alla caratterizzazione di sistemi e stack PEFC Nuvera sia nell’ambito di attività progettuali finanziate (vedi FISR “Celle a combustibile”) che autofinanziate (realizzazione di un quadriciclo alimentato a FC).

With the requirements for reducing emissions and improving fuel economy, new markets have become attractive for automotive companies that are developing electric, hybrid, and plug-in vehicles using new technologies candidates to be implemented in the next generations of vehicles. Hybrid vehicles (HVs) offer improved fuel economy and take the advantage of existing fuel infrastructure but still depend entirely on petroleum to charge the battery pack. On the other hand, vehicles totally based on fuel cell (FC) have been proposed, but still face significant improvement above all for high cost that limit market penetration. A small FC used as on board batteries charge in a range extender approach allows reducing costs, weight and recharging time of batteries and, at the same time, to increase the range with respect to the equivalent electric vehicle. The vehicle selected for the prototype realization is an electric bus having a capacity of 44 passengers driven by an AC Induction Motor of 85 kW and supplied from an IGBT Mono Inverter via a Zebra battery bank (Na-NiCl2 technology). In the proposed configuration, a FC system of 5 kW works as batteries recharge and provides, following an identified strategy, the necessary power to the driving cycle to increase the autonomy of the vehicle. An advanced network of infrastructures, based on the use of RES, hydrogen and electricity storage (Na-NiCl2 technology has been selected also in this case) needed to support the bus have been provided. In order to make the balance between the electricity produced from renewable energy and the energy needed to the electrolyzer, the compressor and electric charging stations, equal to zero and to achieve a zero environmental impact, an energy management system integrated in the ICT platform has been envisaged.

Nowadays, resilient grids meet growing interest for their capability of supplying critical load even in case of power fault coming from grid disturbance and natural disasters. To do this, such grids involve redundant apparatus and predictive control schemes. For high value services, unexpected system unavailability is source of economic losses to the providers. Hence, beside the internal energy storage devices, such plants had better to have redundancy of energy sources (e.g. electrical grid and natural gas network) and tailored power flows control strategies still valid even in the case of energy shortage. On the other hand, distributed storage resources is attracting growing interest to support the power networks in terms of both resiliency and flexibility facing the impact of generation from the Renewable Energy Sources. In this work, a power supply system controller based on Artificial Intelligence was developed and simulated to wisely operate the storage resources to serve the ICT equipment as Uninterruptible Power Supply (above all in case of emergency) as fundamental mission. Secondly, the investigation assessed the capability, to offer ancillary services to the power network increasing its resiliency measured system response in terms of survival time during grid faults and restoration transient time to recover initial service level.

According to recent literature and technical analyses, used batteries from electric vehicles can still be used, before the final treatment at the end-of-life, in stationary applications that are usually less stressing than the automotive ones. In this framework, a circular economy inspired pathway is emerging between the building and the transportation sector, generally called "second life" of batteries. Used batteries from electric vehicles can be re-used in residential buildings together with renewable electricity generation technologies to improve the matching between the highly variable electricity generation from renewables and the electricity demand in buildings. This study aims to contribute to the assessment of the environmental sustainability of using battery storage systems for stationary applications made of used batteries in substitution of new batteries in a life cycle perspective. The analysis is performed considering an expanded circular system that includes both the functions provided in buildings (provide the electricity required in a residential building for a specific time frame) and in the transportation sector (provide electricity needed for driving until the battery capacity reached about 80% of the rated capacity). The study shows that reusing used batteries as stationary storage systems in residential buildings can enhance the overall environmental sustainability of the two systems considered. In particular, the environmental impacts decrease of a percentage ranging from around -4% (in cumulative energy demand) to -17% (in abiotic depletion potential). The examined strategy can contribute to initiate the transition towards a circular and low-carbon economy.

Electrochemical storage systems are increasingly employed in stationary and automotive applications. The lithium-ion technology nowadays shows the best features and future development prospects. Nevertheless, lithium-ion chemistries are a lot and there is the need to know in deep their behaviour in relation to the final applications. Among the most used Lithium technologies, the CNR-ITAE has selected two different Lithium technologies: Lithium-Iron-Phosphate (LiFePO4) and Lithium-Polymers to be tested and compared. Indeed, several electrical vehicles developers and electrical network operators are choosing these specific chemistries for their safety, relatively low cost and flexibility in creating customized battery pack. This paper reports the results of several tests carried out in order to investigate the features of each battery technology for stationary and automotive applications. In particular, the capacity reduction (Peukert effect) and the cell efficiency were analysed. Furthermore, tests showed the different relax time effect and the dynamic behaviour of cells subjected to different load profiles compliant with IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) tests procedures. A final analysis was carried out comparing the main performance indicators (Capacity, Amperometric and Energetic Efficiency, working temperatures, etc.)