The Degradation Effects on the Techno-Economic Performance of a PV-PEM Electrolyzer Hydrogen Production
摘要
Renewable hydrogen production systems are most of the time subject to local conditions that leads to its system components degradations. This is particularly true in a photovoltaic field where photovoltaic modules are exposed to scorching heat and recurrent soiling. These situations lead to the degradations not only of the module electrical and mechanical properties but also of their optical properties. The techno-economic performances of these systems are then highly affected. In the present work, the performance of a hydrogen production system that includes a PEM electrolysis stack powered by a solar photovoltaic field is investigated. The results show that the hydrogen production over the whole lifetime of the system could be reduced by as much as 2.92% by one per percent increase in PEM electrolysis stack degradation and that the levelized cost of hydrogen production could increase by as much as about 29% for a PEM stack and a PV field degradation of 1.5% each.