Simulation of a PV-Micro-Hydro-Hydrogen System Feeding the Energy Requests of a Residential Building in a Remote Area of the Alps: Part II — Integrated System

Abstract

The paper presents a simulation model of a hypothetical stand-alone energy system based just on renewable sources (solar irradiance and micro-hydro power) integrated with a system for the production of hydrogen (electrolyzer, storage and PEMFC). Such a system has been designed to supply the electricity needs of a residential user (a small residential building in a isolated village of a valley of the Alps in Italy) during a complete year of operation, without integration of traditional energy devices based on fossil fuels. A simulation in the Matlab environment has been developed to determine the energy performance of this system during a complete year of operation. The simulation of the operation of the system has been made on an hourly basis as a succession of steady states. The technical feasibility of the system will be evaluated, through the analysis of some variables (e.g. the production and consumption of electricity along the year by the different components, the production, storage and utilisation of hydrogen, etc.). The analysis will show that in a complete year nearly the 50% of the electrical load required from the final user will be given by the PEMFC, even if the micro-hydro turbine and the PV array produce a very high amount of energy. Moreover, the electricity produced by the PEMFC is the 38.5% of the input electric energy sent to the electrolyzer; this value indicates the mean annual efficiency of the conversion chain of the production and utilization of hydrogen inside this plant.