Hydrogen Production FC model

Hi Al,

When you choose the Fuel limited on site option (at the bottom of the Fuel Cell input page), SAM runs the fuel cell as needed until it runs out of fuel. This assumes that there is a hydrogen storage tank as shown in the diagram in Figure 1 of Steward et al. (2013) "Fuel Cell Power Model Version 2: Startup Guide, System Designs, and Case Studies" available from www.nrel.gov/hydrogen/fuel-cell-power-model.html.

You can see the fuel consumption in the results by displaying the "Fuel consumption of fuel cell" output on the Time Series tab of the results page.

SAM does not have a Hydrogen production model. It assumes Hydrogen, Natural Gas, or some other fuel is available to power the fuel cell.

The buy and sell rates on the Thermal Rates page are for the cost of heat to meet the thermal load, and the value of heat generated by the system in excess of the thermal load. These are analogous to the rates for energy charges on the Electricity Rates page.

Best regards,
Paul.

Hi Al,

The thermal and electric loads are separate. The efficiency curve on the Fuel Cell page determines the amount of heat available to meet the thermal load. The recovered heat cannot be used to meet the electric load.

The model does not include an electrolyzer.

Best regards,
Paul.

Hi Scot,

We do not have funding at the moment for any new fuel cell features.

If you would like to make a feature request, please consider making on on the SAM GitHub repository here:

github.com/NREL/SAM/issues/new?template=feature_request.md

Best regards,
Paul.