Title: Life cycle costing of a self-sufficient solar-hydrogen system

Authors: P.C. Ghosh, N.K. Bansal, B. Emonts, D. Stolten

Addresses: Physical Chemistry Division, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune-411008, India. ' Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, New Delhi-110016, India. ' Institute for Materials and Processes in Energy Systems (IWV-3), Forschungszentrum Julich GmbH (FZJ), 52425 Julich, Germany. ' Institute for Materials and Processes in Energy Systems (IWV-3), Forschungszentrum Julich GmbH (FZJ), 52425 Julich, Germany

Abstract: In a renewable energy-based system, energy storage must match the energy demand with supply. Usually a lead-acid battery is utilised as a short-term energy buffer. A system, which has a combination of an electrolyser and a high-pressure hydrogen tank for long-term energy storage, is considered in this paper. The cost intensive components are sized considering the least cost and by performing a life cycle costing of the system. The optimum battery capacity obtained is 19 kWh, which is equivalent to 2.2 days of autonomy. At present, energy storage cost in the long-term storage is found 2.16 per kWh whereas the cost goes down to 0.92 per kWh when the target cost of the fuel cell and the electrolyser is considered. Around 15–20% of the demand is supplied by the long-term storage.

Keywords: photovoltaic system; hydrogen storage; life cycle cost analysis; cost-effective sizing; life cycle costing; energy storage; solar-hydrogen system solar energy; solar power.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGEI.2004.005825

International Journal of Global Energy Issues, 2004 Vol.21 No.4, pp.329 - 351

Published online: 09 Dec 2004 *

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