Hybrid solar energy systems with hydrogen and electrical energy storage for a single house and a midrise apartment in North America

Allowing deeper penetration of renewable energy technologies through the adaptation of hybrid systems is unanimously considered critical for decarbonizing the building sector. The objective of this research is to analyze and contrast different renewable energy systems utilizing PV panels, an electrolyzer, and a fuel cell (FC) in a single-house and a midrise apartment located in North America. The study uses HOMER software to simulate and optimize three types of systems: PV/battery bank, PV/hydrogen, and PV/battery bank/hydrogen. The findings indicate that larger batteries can be utilized in place of the electrolyzer and fuel cell, but they incur a higher net present cost (NPC) due to their expensive initial investment. Therefore, a combination of PV arrays, hydrogen, and smaller battery banks can significantly reduce the net present cost of the system while also achieving efficient performance. After conducting an economic analysis of various setups for a single house, the research indicates that a configuration of 522 kW photovoltaic (PV) panels, 150 kW electrolyzer, 20 kW fuel cell, 200 kg hydrogen tank, 18.6 kW converter, and 159 batteries offers the most favorable results in Toronto, Canada. This configuration achieves lower NPC and levelized cost of energy (COE) than the PV/hydrogen system. In addition, according to the optimum design of the hydrogen system for the midrise apartment, the PV/battery bank/hydrogen configuration has a lower NPC and COE than the PV/hydrogen system, which shows that adding the battery to the system lowers the cost and offer short and long-term energy storage. The optimum design was then verified by implementing a sensitivity analysis to evaluate different solar radiation, electric load, derating factor and tilt angle of the PV array.