Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Materials Today: Proceedings

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matpr

Design and evaluation of stand-alone solar-hydrogen energy storage

system for academic institute: A case study
Alfred John a, Srijit Basu a, Akshay a, Anil Kumar a,b,⇑
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Delhi Technological University, Delhi 110042 India
b
Centre for Energy and Environment, Delhi Technological University, Delhi 110042 India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Energy demand is increasing with population and technical advancements. Hence the need for solar
Available online xxxx energy for electrification has increased tremendously due to the abundance of sunlight. Solar Energy is
intermittent and can be associated with a hydrogen energy to stabilize the grid. This paper focuses on
Keywords: the design of electrification by solar energy using hydrogen energy storage for the science block of
Solar energy Delhi Technological University, Delhi (India). It provides an economic analysis using HOMER software.
Electrification Levelized cost has been $0.6050 kW/hr with a total annual production of 436.020 MW/yr. Therefore, solar
Energy economics
energy with other renewable energy source for electrification in universities can be economical and
Simulation
HOMER
sustainable.
Ó 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Technology Innovation
in Mechanical Engineering-2021.

1. Introduction
The demand for energy in the world is increasing enormously
due to rapid urbanization. In one century alone, the population
has grown by 2 billion and that developed countries have made
significant contributions. Preventing an energy shortage is one of
the 21st century’s most trivial issues. Therefore, energy market is
expanding rapidly in line with the needs of the increasing world
population. The various countries in the world are formed up in
the world by their own tactics, schemes, legislation and close mon-
itoring. World’s available resources are diminishing with popula-
tion growth and development strategies [1]. Therefore,
understanding energy sources is necessary, as they play a major
role in addressing the world’s and people’s needs. For various fac-
tors, accessible energy is not available to citizens, such as the
nation’s development profile, people’s fiscal situation, and techno-
logical advancements. Ecosystem is highly contaminated by the
pollution of multiple fuel based combustion gases that are easily
accessible and used worldwide to fulfill energy demand. Develop-
ing nations are also being pressured to look for energy options, as
their population has increased significantly and economic prosper-
ity is being sought [2]. World Bank and the International Energy
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: anilkumar76@dtu.ac.in (A. Kumar).
Agency (IEA) predicted that in the next 40 years, the world would
need to double installed energy capacity to satisfy the expected
demands of developed countries [3]. IEA claimed that grid energy
was blocked by 1.3 billion people in developed countries who live
far from towns [4]. Though grid propagation or construction are
the first electrification solutions, the massive investments involved
in these areas make this approach unaffordable [5]. Eighty percent
of people living in rural areas of developed countries historically
use wood to fulfill their energy needs, which has since made defor-
estation one of the worst environmental problems in the world [6].
world’s leading sources of energy today include finite energy
sources such as natural gas, coal and unprocessed crude. Due to
an exponential increase in population and energy consumption,
the world cannot depend solely on small traditional supplies to
satisfy the demand [7]. Inexhaustible energy supplies, also known
as green energy, are available in large numbers at no cost [8]. Due
to the decline in the supply of fossil fuels and coal, volatile oil price,
the rising demand for power, and the risks of global warming,
alternate energies have received significant attention as the source
for electricity generation in recent decades. While development of
green energy seems to be a positive course ahead, there are also
significant drawbacks, including sources which are available over
time, are not sufficiently powerful in all areas and which entail a
high cost of capital. Renewable energy systems have a significantly
greater upfront cost than fossil fuel systems. This is why fossil fuels

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2021.04.461
2214-7853/Ó 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Technology Innovation in Mechanical Engineering-2021.

Please cite this article as: A. John, S. Basu, Akshay et al., Design and evaluation of stand-alone solar-hydrogen energy storage system for academic institute:
A case study, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2021.04.461
A. John, S. Basu, Akshay et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Table 1
Solar Radiation and Clearness Index

Month Clearness Index Daily Radiation (kWh/m2/day)

January 0.391 2.392
February 0.425 3.111
March 0.524 4.655
April 0.552 5.672
May 0.571 6.339
June 0.598 6.809
July 0.587 6.575
August 0.574 6.050
September 0.551 5.141
October 0.495 3.848
November 0.413 2.637
December 0.384 2.200

Fig. 1. System Layout
Fig. 2. Solar Radiation
now meet 80 percent of global energy demand, leading to a sub-
stantial environmental impact.
In comparison with other sources of green energy, there has
been significant development in solar energy towards practicabil-
ity since the oil crises of the 1970 s. Sun is a direct or indirect
source of limitless energies and is known for using solar radiation
from the Sun [9]. Solar energy has a leading role in reducing haz-
ardous environmental gases from power generation in response
to environmental emissions questions. IEA estimated that 100Gt
(Gigaton) of CO2 emissions from Solar PV technologies could be
avoided between 2008 and 2050 [10]. The generation of solar
energy has little impact on cultivated soil, decreases the costs of
the distribution of grid transmission lines and enhances life quality
in remote regions [11]. Many solar power sources worldwide have
been deployed as standalone or hybrid systems for electrifying
remote areas in the form of an annual monthly solar radiation
spectrum of 376 kWh/m2 [12].
Contrary to traditional energy sources, renewable sources can-
not provide consistent energy to satisfy energy requirements. Such
sources differ abundantly over the season (e.g., solar and wind)
(e.g., hydroelectric). However, using solar energy in a hybrid device
will remove green power sources from their downside [6]. Hybrid
technology is the best way to generate power in rural areas to
reduce the rising cost of fuel and the cost of grid propagation. It
is also the cheapest replacement for a generator [13]. Because of
its global availability, most hybrid systems locations have priori-
tized solar energy. In cases where solar radiation is insufficient,
hybridization would resolve the possible issue of solar-PV reliabil-
ity. Nature of hybrid solar power systems depends on environmen-
tal conditions and the available energy sources at the site and
consider the most cost-effective and stable source mixture to
reduce unsustainable investment and satisfy demand [5]. It is
desirable to use the more reliable hydrogen storage method, more
effective and more dependable in long-term energy storage [14]. In
the second half of the 21st century, water hydrogen output will
eventually overtake fossil fuels and become the main power carrier
[15]. Water is commonly regarded by the use of term green energy
as a natural and safe source for hydrogen production [16]. Energy
conservation is a good way to solve daylight and storage challenges
by balancing water demand with electricity supply. Electro-
chemical energy storage technologies have gained more attention
because of flexibility, reliability, grid efficiency and high quality
between electricity storage technology [17]. Hydrogen generation
is now one of the most common choices for storing chemical
energy for its high value, energy density, and negligible or close
to zero emissions based on water electrolysis [16].
The current study focuses on designing and evaluating the
hybrid solar- hydrogen energy system for the science block of
Delhi Technological University, Delhi (India). The block has an elec-

Fig. 3. PV Power Output

2
A. John, S. Basu, Akshay et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 4. Electrolyzer Input Power

system consists of a PV cell with a capacity of 240 kW to produce

electricity to meet the demand. Electrolyzer uses the excess elec-
tricity produced by PV to make hydrogen by splitting water into
hydrogen and oxygen. Fuel cell produces electricity using stored
hydrogen when the electric load demand of the science block is
not met by PV cell. This ensures the complete stability of the elec-
tricity requirements of the block.
Fig. 5. Hydrogen Tank level (Hourly)

2.1. Solar PV radiation

Solar radiation is reliability in the context of a highly dispersed

energy supply of energy [18]. Their regular cycle can vary widely
and be strongly affected by weather, storm, hazy weather, and
fog. Input data such as solar radiation, local weather conditions
and other techniques of the proposed PV systems are essential
for the modelling of an output simulation [19]. HOMER software
Fig. 6. Hydrogen Tank Level (Monthly)
obtains solar data from NASA Prediction of Worldwide Energy
Resources. Solar radiation for Delhi Technological University is
given in Fig. 2. The average daily radiation and clearness index
for every month is shown in Table 1.

3. Result and discussion

HOMER software has simulated the most optimal design with a

Fig. 7. Monthly Fuel Consumption
Fig. 8. Hourly Fuel Consumption
tric load demand of 108.129 MWh/yr. Simulation in HOMER soft-
ware optimized a PV system with a capacity of 240 kW and inte-
grated electrolyzer and fuel cell for hydrogen production and
grid stability.
2. System description
Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram of the system proposed for
the science block of Delhi Technological University. Hybrid energy
3
net present cost of $1,030,406. Solar photovoltaic produces energy
of 389.865 MWh/yr with a rated capacity of 240 kW and mean out-
put of 44.5 kW, which is also mean output of 1,068 kWh/day. The
maximum output of PV system is 253 kW with a PV penetration of
358% when operated for 4,344 hrs/yr shown in Fig. 3.
Excess energy produced by PV is used to obtain hydrogen
through electrolysis. An electrolyzer with a rated capacity of 80
kW, mean input of 14.7 kW and maximum input of 80 kW is used
to produce hydrogen. Electrolyzer has a capacity factor of 18.4%
with an operation time of 2328 hr/yr and thus having total input
energy of 128,687 kWh/yr as shown in Fig. 4. Thus, electrolyzer
produces hydrogen with a mean output of 0.317 kg/hr and a max-
imum output of 1.72 kg/hr. The total production is 2,773 kg/yr with
a specific consumption of 46.4 kWh/kg.
A hydrogen tank with the autonomy of 53.7 hr and a capacity of
20 kg is used as described in Fig. 5. Simulation has found the con-
tent at the beginning of year to be 2 kg and at the end of year to be
5.83 kg with a storage capacity of 667 kWh. A total of 2,769 kg of
hydrogen is consumed after production through electrolysis. The
average consumption of fuel per day is 7.59 kg and the average
consumption of fuel per hour is 0.316 kg as shown in Fig. 6.
Fuel cell is operated for 5,207 hrs/yr to produce electricity of
46.155 MWh/yr with a capacity factor of 26.3%. Mean electrical
output has been found as 8.86 kW and maximum electrical output
to be 19.4 kW. Specific fuel consumption of fuel cell is 0.06 kg/kWh
A. John, S. Basu, Akshay et al.
Fig. 9. Generator Power Output
Fig. 10. Cost Summary
with a fuel energy input of 92,310 kWh/yr. Hence, contributing to a
mean electrical efficiency of 50 percent. Fig. 7 shows the monthly
fuel consumption, while Fig. 8 shows hourly fuel consumption.
Thus, proposed system produces electricity of 436.020 MWh/yr
in which PV produces 389.865 MWh/yr that contributes to 89.4% of
total production and fuel cell produces electricity of 46.155 MWh/
yr, which contributes to 10.6% of total production, as shown in
Fig. 9. The produced energy is used to satisfy the DC primary load
of 108,129 kWh/yr for the science block of DTU, Delhi (India).
The total net present cost of the system is $ 1,030,406 and the
operating cost of the system is $ 26,688.37. The cost distribution
graph of various components of the system is given in Fig. 10.
4. Conclusion
Current study looks at the scientific and economic viability of
using solar photovoltaic energy sources to feed the Science Block
of Delhi Technological University, Delhi (India). Hybrid energy sys-
tem uses hydrogen energy storage to stabilize the intermittency of
solar energy to provide a stable electrical current. Total electricity
produced by PV system is 389.865 MWh/yr, with an excess elec-
tricity production of 199.204 MWh/yr. Electrolyzer uses the excess
electricity to produce hydrogen and produce electricity when
needed via fuel cell. The designed energy system uses a PV cell
with a rated capacity of 240 kW and a hydrogen tank of 20 kg. Total
capital of the proposed system is $ 610,000 with a replacement
cost of $ 359,252.87. Operation and maintenance cost of the sys-
tem is $ 201,851.21. Thus, all cost leads to a total net present cost
of $ 1,030,406 with a lifetime of 25 years. Levelized Cost of energy
is obtained as 0.6050 for the PV-hydrogen system. Although cost
per kW for the proposed system is much higher than the cost per
kW of electricity obtained from the grid. It is justified with the
motive of using a cleaner form of energy with no harmful emission.
Integrating hydrogen energy storage with photovoltaic aids in
standalone use of clean energy and support energy transitions. Pro-
posed system’s benefits include climate change reduction,
4
Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
increased energy sector reliability, and increased power source
stability.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Alfred John: Data curation, Conceptualization, Writing - origi-
nal draft. Srijit Basu: Visualization, Methodology. Akshay: Investi-
gation. Anil Kumar: Writing - review & editing, Supervision.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper
Acknowledgment
The authors are highly thankful to the Centre for Energy and
Environment, Delhi Technological University, for providing basic
infrastructure for compiling this work.
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