A multinational oil and gas company expands its understanding of green energy with a physical scale model of hydrogen systems.

SITUATION

Our client needed to grow their practical knowledge of hydrogen microgrids in their pursuit of green energy goals in partnership with a city in the United Kingdom. They needed a tool that could simulate those microgrids and help plan for various scenarios. Additionally, the tool was to have a physical model of the system that could operate remotely, which meant that it also had to operate safely and utilize cross-disciplinary technology and skills from control systems engineering, digital twin development, full stack software development, and IoT cloud technology. The use of a digital twin and hydrogen optimization model would allow our client to model hydrogen production and optimization in a connected system context without expensive upfront investment.

SOLUTION

Apex’s team built a fully functioning physical scale model of the city’s hydrogen hub. This involved the development of a detailed system design, digital model, cloud connectivity, a front-end web-based GUI, and a physical system build. To build the model, everything had to be specified including from tools and electronic devices to consumables like wires and hoses. We implemented a wide variety of skills including soldering components, wiring safety interlocks, and testing components in isolation and integration. Apex combined the team’s skills to deliver an end-to-end solution that can operate continuously and remotely involving strong and constant collaboration within the team. Knowledge exchange between all team members was required to achieve the integrated solution – upskilling everyone.

Fully Implemented Functioning Green Energy Model Within 12 Weeks

The most difficult challenge was to test and debug the system while learning the behavior of the physical components such as the performance of the electrolyzer and hydrogen fuel cell – technology no one had previously worked with. Our team overcame the challenge by working together to comprehensively research and explore the dynamics of the technology; implementing group learning as the system was developed and tested.

RESULT

The client used the delivered project to build on their knowledge of green hydrogen microgrids and further invest in hydrogen technologies as part of their most recent corporate re-structure. The team completed the project with a rapid turnaround, working cohesively from concept to delivery to provide something that was understood to be one of a kind in the UK.