G4-P4-Poster.
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PHOTOVOLTAIC FUEL CELL HYBRID SYSTEM FOR
ELECTRICITY AND HEAT GENERATION FOR REMOTE SITES
The aim of the PVFC-SYS project is to study and develop a low power
energy generation system which will utilise the synergies between a pho-
tovoltaic generator and a Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell.
Such a system in the range of 5 to 10 kW is intended to be a future
competitor to hybrid PV/Diesel systems especially from an environmen-
tal point of view as emissions of both exhaust gases and noise will be
drastically reduced but also from operational costs point of view.
During the course of the project, two systems will be considered :
First, an already existing fully monitored 3 kWp PV system will be equip-
ped with a 5 kW fuel cell block and a 3 kW electrolyser. An emphasis will
be put on the use of the electrolyser as an alternative to a battery storage.
This test bench will be used to compare different configurations and to
assist the development of all the tools dealing with modelling, simulation
and energy management, necessary to allow the design of a pilot system.
Then the pilot system of nearly the same size will be installed in an indus-
trial company interested by exploring new environmentally friendly tech-
nical solutions whose profitability is not yet reached but which could
play a decisive role in a near future, to reduce the greenhouse effect.
The selection of this site must also be understood as a controlled step to
evaluate the degree of reliability of such a system and to validate the
PV field
Storage
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References : ERK5-CT1999-00017
configuration best adapted to remote sites.
In parallel of this technical work, important actions will be stressed upon
such as the system security assessment, the analysis of the system ope-
rational costs and the corresponding market analysis taking into account
quickly evolving investment costs of the components.
All the results, in term of system online performance and costs evalua-
tion and trends will be available through Internet by the way of a dedi-
cated Web page.
The overall target of the project is the development of a hybrid system of
which the conventional part is replaced by an innovative package
using hydrogen as a fuel and which can be considered as a zero emis-
sion system. Moreover, when considering hybrid systems, operational
and replacement costs are mostly coming from the conventional and the
battery parts and will not very much evolve in the coming years. The use
of the so-called innovative components will open new possibilities of
future costs decrease both in the investment (a decrease of a factor
10 to 100 is expected for PEM fuel cells within less than 10 years), ope-
rational and replacement point of view ( no moving parts, thus less main-
tenance and the lifetime of the components is expected to be higher).
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Programme : PVFC-SYS
Title : Photovoltaic fuel cell hybrid system for electri-
city and heat generation for remote sites
The development of a hybrid system, not already considered at every
national level for such a power and such applications, will all the more
move directly to the European scale as the complementarity of the
consortium expertise will be nearly impossible to find at a national level,
at least concerning the countries involved. In that respect, one delive-
rable of the project will be the creation of an european consortium in
this field helping largely to the implementation of European Union
policy in term of competitiveness.
Photovoltaics and fuel cells represent two very promising industries in
term of employment. The development of new concepts associated with
the identification of possible new applications will help the market deve-
lopment and consequently the corresponding employment.
In the environmental point of view, as already said, the replacement of
the conventional part of typical hybrid systems by a fuel cell / electro-
lyser will not only lead to a reduction of air and noise pollution but will
also result in the conservation of natural and a better use of renewable
resources, contributing as well as for the employment consideration to
the Community social objectives.
Control unit
Electrolyzer
Partners :