Hydrogen production system from photovoltaic panels: experimental characterization and size optimization

Hydrogen production system from photovoltaic panels: experimental characterization and size optimization

Type	Journal Article
Author	M. L. Ferrari
Author	M. Rivarolo
URL	http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196890416301194
Volume	116
Pages	194-202
Publication	Energy Conversion and Management
Date	May 15, 2016
Abstract	Presents an approach for the determination of the optimal size and management of a plant for hydrogen production from photovoltaic panels. Hydrogen is produced by a pressurized alkaline electrolyser installed at the University Campus of Savona, Italy. It is fed by electrical energy produced by photovoltaic panels. Researchers conducted experimental tests to analyze the performance curve of the electrolyser under various operative conditions, investigating the influence of the different parameters on the efficiency. Results were implemented in a software tool in order to describe the behavior of the systems in off-design conditions. Because the electrical energy produced by photovoltaic panels and used to feed the electrolyser is strongly variable due to the random nature of solar irradiance, a time-dependent hierarchical thermo-economic analysis was conducted to evaluate both the optimal size and the management approach related to the system, considering a fixed size of 1 MW for the photovoltaic panels. The thermo-economic analysis was performed with the software tool W-ECoMP, developed by the authors’ research group.