Hydrogen Production FC model

Hi,

I want to create a PV-Hydrogen FC-Battery Model. When selecting the fuel for FC, there is an option to select fuel cell limited on site. Where is the hydrogen coming from? Can I simulate the production of hydrogen elsewhere? 

Also, for thermal rates, it this related to the fuel for the FC? In this case, is the hydrogen being purchased elsewhere?

Thank you in advance!

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 Paul,

Are the thermal loads and electric loads separate? Given a certain demand, am I able to offset a part of it using the excess heat generated by the system? ie split part of the electric load to be covered by the thermal generation.

Also, for the fuel cell module, is there any way to account for an electrolyzer?

Thanks,
Al

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.

Are there plans to include reversable fuel cells within SAM?

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.