Autonomous hydrogen-based solar-powered energy system for rural electrification in Balochistan, Pakistan: An energy-economic feasibility analysis

Abstract

This study proposed an off-grid PV-hydrogen energy system to electrify rural households in Balochistan, Pakistan. The system is designed, simulated, and optimized from a techno-economic perspective based on electric load profile, geographical locations, and meteorological data. The optimal configurations and cost of the system components, i.e., solar panel, fuel cell, electrolyzer, hydrogen tank, and converter, are obtained. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to analyze the effect of system components’ cost, nominal discount rate and inflation rate, and load variation on COE and NPC. Robustness analysis is also carried out to confirm the technical reliability of the system. In addition, breakeven analysis is investigated to compare the cost of the grid extension scenario with the proposed energy system. The results revealed that the proposed energy system is economically feasible and technically reliable. Furthermore, the performance of the proposed system is compared with reported studies. Finally, based on the obtained results, suggestions have been provided for effective policy implications to successfully deploy the proposed energy system across the country.