Nuclear-solar photovoltaic powered electrolytic hydrogen production at high temperature

Abstract

It has been argued that clean and sustainable hydrogen production for near term deployment is possible only if mature or near mature technologies are adopted to this end. Moreover, in order to overcome the renewable energy technical challenges, hybrid systems, composed of two or more complementary energy sources, are well suited for a flexible and reliable hydrogen production. To this effect, the present work is focused on the techno-economic investigation of electrolytic hydrogen production system powered by a hybrid nuclear-solar system. In the present study, the case of high temperature electrolysis is considered. A hybrid high temperature nuclear reactor-solar photovoltaic field is used to power a solid oxide electrolyzer for hydrogen production. The aim is to determine how well nuclear and solar technologies perform together and to quantify the effect of hybridization on the solar photovoltaic field size and the cost of hydrogen production at different values of the solar photovoltaic cell efficiency and solar irradiation. The effect of heat recovery on the hydrogen production cost has also been studied. Results indicate that photovoltaic field size and hydrogen production cost are reduced with hybridization. For a photovoltaic cell efficiency of 20%, a daily solar irradiation of 5 kWh/m2 and no heat recovery, there is a decrease in hydrogen production cost of about 0.12 $/kg by percent decrease in solar fraction for hybridization at the low solar fraction range. This decrease goes to about 0.14 $/kg by percent decrease in solar fraction for hybridization at the high solar fraction range. In the case of heat recovery, there is an increase in the reduction in hydrogen production cost with an increase in heat recovery rate. For a hybridization at 10% solar fraction, the rate of increase in the reduction in the hydrogen production cost is 0.86 cents/percent increase in heat recovery rate; this rate goes up to 2.47 cents/percent increase in heat recovery for hybridization at solar fraction of 80%.