The Project in Brief

Haeolus is a EU project that proposes a new-generation electrolyser integrated within a state-of-the-art wind farm in a remote area with access to a weak power grid.
Haeolus will demonstrate multiple control systems, to answer the specific challenges of the three main modes of operation identified by the International Energy Agency:

• Electricity storage
• Mini-grid
• Fuel production

For each of these modes, new operating strategies will be developed, optimizing operation concerning uncertain weather and power-price forecastsbut also constraints of the specific operating mode.
In addition, Haeolus’ demonstration shall be completely remotely controlled and monitored, due to the remoteness of the selected location and its difficult accessibility in winter; this is a characteristic of many wind farms.

The Objectives

More Wind Power

Haeolus shall demonstrate several control strategies allowing wind-hydrogen integration, reducing the unpredictability of power produced by a wind farm, and thereby enabling much higher rates of renewable energy penetration in the European grid.

Use Cases

Haeolus will develop and test control strategies for each mode of operation for wind-hydrogen systems: energy storage, mini-grid and fuel production. The results will be relevant to many wind farms across Europe and worldwide.

2,5 MW Electrolyser

Haeolus will demonstrate for the first time a 2,5 MW PEM electrolyser with a single-cell stack: a unique PEM cell stack, developed by Hydrogenics, will contain up to 420 cells. We will analyse the data from this electrolyser and benchmark against the results from other EU projects.

Remote Operation

Very often, wind parks are in inaccessible regions—as is the case for our site of Raggovidda, Norway. Haeolus will demonstrate the ability to run a wind-hydrogen system in a remotely controlled setup, with only occasional on-site maintenance.

Dissemination

Haeolus will deliver public reports with analyses of business-case, techno-economical factors, environmental impact, impact on the European energy system, and a technology roadmap towards the MAWP 2013 targets.

The best way to predict the future is to create it

Alan Kay

Latest News

• 
  Diagnostics & Prognostics for Electrolysers8 January 2024
  The Haeolus project publishes today one of its final reports, UBFC’s report on diagnostic and prognostic techniques applied to electrolysers.
• 
  Final meeting13 December 2023
  As a throwback to the pandemic years, the final project meeting had to be hastily be organised online, as the selected venue, Augsburg, became unreachable due to unprecedented snowfall. The consortium could still manage to join and pull off a successful meeting, even with the regret of not meeting our colleagues one last time. The… Read more: Final meeting
• 
  [Cancelled] Haeolus present at Off-Grid Expo24 November 2023
  The Haeolus project will conclude in 2023, and will be represented at the upcoming Off-Grid Expo + Conference in Augsburg, Germany, on 7-8 December. UPDATE: due to exceptional weather conditions in Munich, the consortium will unfortunately not be able to participate to the Off-Grid Expo.
• 
  Environmental Performance Analysis7 March 2023
  The Haeolus project is proud to publish our latest report by Tecnalia, an LCA analysis of hydrogen plants integrated in wind parks.
• Techno-economic analysis of wind-H₂ integration1 March 2023
  The Haeolus project releases a major report authored by Tecnalia, with SINTEF’s support, about multiple case studies of integration between hydrogen plants and wind parks.

When the winds of change blow, some people build walls, others build windmills

Old Chinese proverb