Standalone electricity supply system with solar hydrogen and fuel cell: Possible to get rid of storage batteries?

Higher education and research

Higher education and research

A technology that combines hydrogen and oxygen in a clean, electrochemical process to generate power, releasing only water vapor as a byproduct.

Energy storage component of the microgrid system working alongside hydrogen fuel cells and solar to provide reliable power.

Solar energy technologies that convert sunlight directly into electricity.

Germany

Niamey

A comparative research project deploying an offgrid PV-driven hydrogen fuel cell system in a two-storey academic building in Niamey, Niger to evaluate its economic performance against a standalone solar-plus-storage system.

An offgrid energy system composed of a 150 kW solar array, 50 kW PEM electrolyzer, 20 kW fuel cell, 50 kg hydrogen tank storage, and 5 kWh battery. Demonstrated superior economic performance with LCOE of €0.12/kWh and LCOS of €0.35/kWh compared to battery-only systems.

A 150 kW PV array with 513 kWh battery storage and energy management systems used as the comparison baseline. Achieved LCOE of €0.17/kWh and LCOS of €0.71/kWh.