The past, present and potential of hydrogen as a multifunctional storage application for wind power

Contemporary electrical networks are moving towards distributed electricity production via the implementation of renewable energy sources. One of the most developed renewable technologies comprises the transformation of the wind's kinetic energy to electrical energy by using wind power converters. However, wind power production is highly dependent on the weather conditions and specifically the available wind resource of an area. Intermittent electricity production of wind turbines hinders their further integration in electricity networks suggesting among other solutions, the implementation of energy storage configurations in order to cope with their stochastic operation. Based on an extensive literature review, this study reveals the potential future role of hydrogen as a multifunctional storage application for wind power. The analyses are carried out to identify the focus of recent studies on coupled wind and hydrogen systems in order to define the potential of such systems and predict the future collaboration between the two technologies. Based on the results, it can be derived that research on wind-hydrogen systems is shifting focus from solely applying hydrogen as a storage application to exporting hydrogen as a bi-product to improve wind power investments. Furthermore, the outcome shows that there is an increasing interest in using wind power generation to produce hydrogen as an end product designed specifically for transportation purposes, while contributing simultaneously to a more sustainable energy mix. This paper provides an ultimate overview of wind-hydrogen systems, which reveals the development as well as the state-of-art of such system's applicability in connection to its changing efficiency.