Performance Analysis of a Grid-Connected PV Panels- Electrolyzer - Fuel Cell System for Cogeneration in Energy Efficient Buildings

New sources of fuel have been extensively searched in order to replace fossil products. Among these sources, hydrogen has attracted much interest due to its cleanliness, availability, and efficiency. It can be produced from numerous resources, such as water electrolysis, natural gas reforming. For instance, it is widely used by fuel cells in vehicles and buildings in order to produce both valuable electricity and thermal energy. The electrolysis of water for producing hydrogen using renewable energy sources, especially solar photovoltaic systems, is one of the appropriate solutions to produce hydrogen. This paper focuses on the performance analysis of a system consisting of a grid connected photovoltaic panels, an electrolyzer for producing hydrogen, and a proton exchange membrane fuel cell operating as a cogeneration system for supplying the building with both electricity and thermal energy. The particularity of this system is that the production of the electricity using photovoltaic panels and the production of hydrogen using electrolyzer can be performed in different sites and are connected through the traditional electricity grid. As a result, the overall efficiency of the studied system reaches 60%, which shows its effectiveness when supplying the building with both electricity and thermal energy.