Supervisory Scheduling of Storage-Based Hydrogen Fueling Stations for Transportation Sector and Distributed Operating Reserve in Electricity Markets

The proliferation of hydrogen fueling stations as a critical infrastructure is necessary for the successful materialization of hydrogen-powered vehicles. Such fueling stations can, in part, utilize the renewable/inexpensive electricity, which would otherwise be curtailed, to generate and store hydrogen. The stored hydrogen can later be used to serve the transportation sector and straightforwardly yield profit for the operator of the stations. The available energy in the storage stations, however, would not be utilized effectively during offpeak hydrogen demand by the transportation sector. While hydrogen fueling stations are primarily contemplated as the suppliers to hydrogen vehicles, this paper shows how the storage capacity in each station can be exploited to provide operating reserve (OR) to an electricity market. To that end, this paper proposes a new supervisory-based model for the optimal scheduling of distributed hydrogen storage stations for 1) energy supply to hydrogen-powered vehicles; and 2) OR provision to an electricity market. As such, the economic feasibility of the investment in such stations would be further intensified due to extra financial settlements for the stations via joint applications. This paper, then, unveils a model that brings about more opportunities for the deployment of hydrogen fueling stations, thereby further inspiring the private investment in such an area by private sectors. The efficacy and feasibility of the proposed model are validated using numerical illustration conducted on a test system.