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A German research team has compared the economic performance of an offgrid PV-electrolyser-fuel cell system with that of a standalone solar-plus-storage counterpart in a building in Niger. Its analysis showed that decentralized PV-driven hydrogen could achieve considerable lower levelized cost of energy and levelized cost of storage than the PV-battery system, with these values reaching €0.12 ($13.1)/kWh and €0.35/kWh, respectively.
A group of researchers at the University of Applied Sciences in Germany has investigated how PV-electrolyzer-fuel cell systems could replace solar-plus-storage systems as standalone power supply solutions for decentralized off-grid electrification and has found that the fuel cell variation could provide significantly cheaper power and lower stored energy costs than the solar-plus-storage conbination.
The scientists considered deploying both system configurations in a two-storey academic building comprising 14 rooms in Niamey, Niger. The annual average radiation at the site is around 2000 kWh/m2.
The building utilizes 19 air conditioners, 75 lamps, 23 fans, 26 computers, 2 laptops, 4 video projectors, 1 television, 5 printers, 2 refrigerators, 2 copiers, 3 scanners, and 1 exterior lamp. “The operational hours of all the appliances are between 06:00 and 21:00, except the refrigerators, the exterior lamp, and the standby load,” the scientists specified, noting that nominal load during is constant at around 66.8 kW. “Because the building is closed on Sundays, only the refrigerator’s load and standby load are considered during the day.”
The PV-driven hydrogen system consists of a 150 kW solar array, a 50 kW polymer exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer, a hydrogen tank with a total storage capacity of 50 kg, a 20 kW fuel cell, and a 5 kWh battery covering small load during the night for practical purposes. “Every day, the battery would be fully charged before producing hydrogen, ensuring that sufficient electricity will be available during the night,” the group highlighted. “The quantity of hydrogen remaining at the end of the day after the operation of the fuel cell will be accumulated in tanks every day.”
The performance of this hydrogen system was compared, through a series of simulations, to that of a standalone solar-plus-storage counterpart consisting of a 150 kW PV array, a 513 kWh battery storage system, and an energy management system. The analysis considered the overall cost structure of the systems, the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and levelized cost of storage (LCOS) of both systems, as well as the levelized cost of hydrogen of the PV-electrolyzer-fuel cell system alone.
The economic analysis showed that the PV-powered hydrogen system is an “optimal choice” over the classical PV battery system, despite its slightly higher upfront costs. “While the battery storage system supplies a slightly higher amount of electricity compared to the hydrogen storage system, the difference is marginal compared to the superior cost-effectiveness of the hydrogen option,” the scientists said.
They found the hydrogen system achieved an LCOE of €0.12 ($13.1)/kWh and an LCOS of €0.35/kWh, while the solar-plus-storage system achieved values of €0.17/kWh and €0.71/kWh. The LCOH of the hydrogen installation was also found to range between €8.21/kg to €4.78/kg.
The reason of the better performance of the PV-driven hydrogen system was attributed to the relatively high cost of the battery in the system during the project life time. “Considering the future manufacturing challenges associated with battery storage system, investing today in the hydrogen storage system could be a favourable choice,” the researchers stated. “From the results of this study, it can be concluded that the proposed project can be feasibly installed on the chosen site.”
Their findings can be found in the study “Standalone electricity supply system with solar hydrogen and fuel cell: Possible to get rid of storage batteries?” which was recently published in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. “The consistent message emerging from those findings is the economic viability of hydrogen production and its utilization for electricity storage applications,” the academics concluded.
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