Control system for carbon intensity management in a hydrogen supply network

An industrial processing facility operable to provide hydrogen having a defined carbon intensity (CI) value to an end user location, the industrial processing facility having one or more industrial plants powered at least in part by renewable power sources, and a computer system comprising at least one hardware processer, the industrial processing facility being configured to carry out the steps of:

• selecting, using a computer system, a total end-to-end maximum CI value for the hydrogen from production to delivery of the hydrogen to an end user location in order to meet predetermined CI requirements for the hydrogen;
• receiving, by an industrial processing facility, one or more feedstocks, the one or more feedstocks being processed by the one or more industrial plants to provide hydrogen;
• receiving, using a computer system, one or more CI values associated with each feedstock and/or the produced hydrogen;
• receiving, using a computer system, demand data defining the end user demand for the hydrogen, the end user demand for the hydrogen being defined as a quantity of hydrogen required as a function of time;
• receiving, using a computer system, renewable power data related to the available renewable power from the renewable power sources as a function of time;
• defining, in an optimization model, a plurality of constraints, the constraints being selected from the group of:
• the maximum CI value;
• the one or more CI values;
• the demand data;
• and the renewable power data;
• generating, using the optimization model, a control strategy for control of the one or more industrial plants operable to satisfy the one or more constraints, the control strategy comprising values of one or more control variables for control of operational parameters of the one or more industrial plants;
• and
• controlling the industrial plants in accordance with the values of the control variables to process the one or more feedstocks in order to provide a required quantity of hydrogen meeting the selected total end-to-end maximum CI value for use by an end user.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform a method of providing hydrogen having a defined carbon intensity (CI) value to an end user location, the process being executed by at least one hardware processor and comprising:

• selecting, using a computer system, a total end-to-end maximum CI value for the hydrogen from production to delivery of the hydrogen to an end user location in order to meet predetermined CI requirements for the hydrogen;
• receiving, by an industrial processing facility having one or more industrial plants powered at least in part by renewable power sources, one or more feedstocks, the one or more feedstocks being processed by the one or more industrial plants to provide hydrogen;
• receiving, using a computer system, one or more CI values associated with each feedstock and/or the produced hydrogen;
• receiving, using a computer system, demand data defining the end user demand for the hydrogen, the end user demand for the hydrogen being defined as a quantity of hydrogen required as a function of time;
• receiving, using a computer system, renewable power data related to the available renewable power from the renewable power sources as a function of time;
• defining, in an optimization model, a plurality of constraints, the constraints being selected from the group of:
• the maximum CI value;
• the one or more CI values;
• the demand data;
• and the renewable power data;
• generating, using the optimization model, a control strategy for control of the one or more industrial plants operable to satisfy the one or more constraints, the control strategy comprising values of one or more control variables for control of operational parameters of the one or more industrial plants;
• and
• controlling the industrial plants in accordance with the values of the control variables to process the one or more feedstocks in order to provide a required quantity of hydrogen meeting the selected total end-to-end maximum CI value for use by an end user.