Bahman Shabani, John Andrews, and Sukhvinder Badwal
Solar-hydrogen, renewable energy, combined heat and power, photo exchange membrance (PEM) fuel cell, electrolysis, remote area power supply
Computer modelling of a solar-hydrogen system to supply heat and power to a remote household in southeast Australia has been conducted. The electrical load management and heat recovery from the fuel cell have been investigated to improve the system’s economy. The results reveal that the cost of the solar-hydrogen system can be reduced by over 10% by effectively managing the peak load demand and capacity of the fuel cell while keeping the average daily electrical energy supplied at the same level. Interestingly, increasing the size of the fuel cell up to a certain level above the minimum required actually lowers the average unit cost of energy supplied because the fuel cell operates at lower current densities and hence gives better efficiency. A smaller photovoltaic (PV) array, electrolyser and hydrogen tank are then required as well. Heat recovered from the fuel cell and its utilization to substitute for LPG in a domestic hot water unit could lead to a further reduction in the overall energy costs of the household. While the recoverable heat available was found to be lower if optimal load management is also applied, there remained a net economic benefit of supplying both heat and power from a solar-hydrogen system.
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