Funding has been awarded to trial real-time usage of artificial intelligence (AI) software to optimize hydrogen production and storage at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney.

The HyAI 2.0 project aims to trial the use of an AI platform called HyAI by integrating the system into EMEC’s hydrogen plant on the island of Eday, Orkney. The project has received £494,000 of funding from the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy’s Energy Entrepreneur Fund.

HyAI is an AI-powered hydrogen management platform developed by project lead H2GO Power, innovators of hydrogen-based solutions for renewable energy storage. The cloud-based software uses machine learning and optimization algorithms to make intelligent, data-driven decisions to ensure system safety and reliability and identify the most cost-effective times for hydrogen generation and storage.

The 12-month project will trial the software in two phases. The first phase involves running proof-of-value simulations with the AI software using data from commercial use cases provided by project partners EMEC and National Grid Gas Transmission.

The second phase will see the platform integrated into EMEC’s hydrogen production plant on Eday and tested as a fully integrated pilot.

The HyAI system aims to control hydrogen production in real time by combining historical and forecasted data on weather; renewable generation sources, including wind and tidal; and hydrogen storage capacity and electricity prices.

Multiple tests will be conducted to validate the efficacy of the HyAI software system, starting with system trials using advisory control, ramping up to trials with semiautonomous control.

Learn more here.