Off-grid solar photovoltaic-alkaline electrolysis-metal hydrogen storage-fuel cell system: An investigation for application in eco-neighborhood in Ningbo, China

Abstract

This study proposes a combined hydrogen, heating and power system based on solar energy for the off-grid application of distributed renewable energy. With hydrogen as the energy carrier, the stable consumption of renewable energy can be achieved by integrating alkaline water electrolysis (AWE), metal hydride (MH) hydrogen storage, and proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). An energy management strategy is proposed based on the coordinated control of mass, energy, and information flow. Fluctuations in multi-source heat flow during solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation, hydrogen production, hydrogen-storage, and PEMFC power generation were studied based on electric and heating loads of typical winter and summer days in an eco-neighborhood in Ningbo, China. Owing to differences in solar radiation between summer and winter, the total electric energy generated by PV panels was 6179 kWh and 3667 kWh for summer and winter, respectively. The start-up times for AWE and MHs were 0.92 h and 0.32 h in summer and 1.70 h and 0.55 h in winter, respectively. After one day of operation, the hydrogen and heat surpluses were 57.17 kg and 5735.83 MJ in summer, while in winter the hydrogen surplus and heat deficit were 30.87 kg and 226.41 MJ, respectively.