i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 6 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 2 4 2 7 1 e2 4 2 8 5

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Performance assessment of an electrochemical

hydrogen production and storage system for solar
hydrogen refueling station

Somayeh Toghyani, Ehasn Baniasadi*, Ebrahim Afshari**

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Isfahan, Hezar Jerib Ave., Isfahan,
81746-73441, Iran

highlights graphical abstract

A solar hydrogen refueling station

is designed for remote application.

The exergy cost of hydrogen is
determined in different working
conditions.

An electrochemical hydrogen
compressor is integrated in the
hydrogen production system.

An on-grid refueling station has
considerably lower hydrogen cost
than off-grid.

The efficiency of off-grid refueling
station is highly sensitive to the
capacity.

article info abstract

Article history: This paper investigates the performance of a hydrogen refueling system that consists of a
Received 16 January 2021 polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzer integrated with photovoltaic arrays, and an
Received in revised form electrochemical compressor to increase the hydrogen pressure. The energetic and exer-
10 April 2021 getic performance of the hydrogen refueling station is analyzed at different working con-
Accepted 4 May 2021 ditions. The exergy cost of hydrogen production is studied in three different case scenarios;
Available online 4 June 2021 that consist of i) off-grid station with the photovoltaic system and a battery bank to supply
the required electric power, ii) on-grid station but the required power is supplied by the
Keywords: electric grid only when solar energy is not available and iii) on-grid station without energy
Solar hydrogen refueling station storage. The efficiency of the station significantly increases when the electric grid em-
Exergy cost powers the system. The maximum energy and exergy efficiencies of the photovoltaic
PEM electrolyzer system at solar irradiation of 850 W m-2 are 13.57% and 14.51%, respectively. The exergy
Electrochemical compressor cost of hydrogen production in the on-grid station with energy storage is almost 30% higher
Energy storage than the off-grid station. Moreover, the exergy cost of hydrogen in the on-grid station

* Corresponding author.
** Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: e.baniasadi@eng.ui.ac.ir (E. Baniasadi), e.afshari@eng.ui.ac.ir (E. Afshari).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2021.05.026
0360-3199/© 2021 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
24272 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 6 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 2 4 2 7 1 e2 4 2 8 5
without energy storage is almost 4 times higher than the off-grid station and the energy
and exergy efficiencies are considerably higher.
© 2021 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction
Clean hydrogen production from renewable energy resources
is one of the main goals in the global attempt to supply
alternative fuels and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Therefore, hydrogen refueling stations based on renewable
energy sources can be significantly effective in the energy
supply of remote areas [1]. Numerous experimental and nu-
merical studies have been carried out to advance hydrogen
fuel technology and to facilitate the deployment of hydrogen
infrastructure.
The past studies are mainly focused on the improvement
of solar electrolyzer technology for hydrogen production,
advancing hydrogen storage technology, reducing costs,
analyzing and optimizing off-grid hydrogen production, and
hydrogen safety issues [2]. In recent years, many improve-
ments have been made to increase the efficiency of
photovoltaic-electrolyzer hybrid systems. The first industrial-
scale solar hydrogen production program was launched in
Neunburg vorm Wald, Germany. The facility, in the first
phase, included photovoltaic panels, a low-pressure alkaline
electrolyzer with 47 Nm3 hydrogen production capacity, and
the second phase consisted of high-pressure electrolyzers [2].
Another hydrogen hybrid system was installed in Germany at
the Forschungszentrum Jülich research center. The system
consists of 312 m2 photovoltaic arrays with an output power of
43 kW, 110 lead-acid battery cells to supply 220 V, and an
alkaline electrolyzer with input power between 5 kW and
26 kW. The produced oxygen and hydrogen were stored using
a mechanical compressor. During the operation of the system
between 1997 and 2001, photovoltaic arrays supplied about
25% of the energy demand and the rest was indirectly supplied
from the battery storage system [3]. Since 2007, empirical re-
searches have been performed to connect photovoltaic arrays
to an electrolyzer system, directly. Valverde et al. [4] per-
formed experimental studies on a photovoltaic-electrolyzer
hybrid system and they simulated the system. Their results
show that the rate of hydrogen production using a DC-DC
converter system is more feasible. Garrigo
s et al. [5] showed
that the efficiency of solar hydrogen generation using a
photovoltaic system is 12.4%.
Gibson et al. [6] investigated all parameters that affect
the efficiency of a solar hydrogen production process con-
sists of a photovoltaic-polymer electrolyte membrane
(PEM) electrolyzer system. The electrolyzer stack includes a
series of 20 cells and connected to a photovoltaic module.
The hydrogen production efficiency is 12.4%. Valverde et al.
[7] investigated the direct coupling of electrolyzers with a
photovoltaic system. They used a simple zero-dimensional
model to extract the maximum power output at all tem-
perature and solar irradiation conditions. Then the opti-
mum ratio between the overall sizes of the components
was obtained based on a normalized polarization curve.
Ghribi et al. [8] studied a solar hydrogen process using a
photovoltaic - PEM electrolyzer system. The system in-
cludes a 60 W photovoltaic module connected to a 50 W
electrolyzer. They performed experiments in 7 regions with
different climatic conditions in Algeria. Their results show
that the maximum hydrogen produced in the southern
regions of Tamanrasset was 29 m3 per year. Calderon et al.
[9] performed exergy analysis of a wind turbine-
photovoltaic hybrid system with a hydrogen storage sys-
tem and calculated the exergy efficiency of different sys-
tem components and exergy losses due to irreversibilities.
The results show that the efficiency of the electrolyzer
system is 68.75% and the photovoltaic module efficiency is
8.39%. Dursun et al. [10] investigated a model to simulate
electrolyzers powered by renewable energies in a case
study in Istanbul, Turkey. They investigated the hydrogen
generation capacity of the off-grid hybrid power system
and the results were compared with the experimental re-
sults. The system produced 34.3 kg H2 during a year. Yadav
et al. [11] performed thermodynamic and economic ana-
lyses of a hydrogen production system using high-
temperature steam electrolysis integrated with concen-
trated solar and photovoltaic power plants. They concluded
that the process may achieve the cost target of 6e8 $/kg if
the costs of components decrease in comparison with the
current steam methane reforming system.
Kelly et al. [12] investigated the design and performance
of a hydrogen refueling station, which includes high-
efficiency photovoltaic modules and high-pressure electro-
lyzers. The results show that the efficiency of solar energy
conversion to hydrogen is 9.3% and the system generates
0.5 kg of hydrogen per day on average, which is enough for
hydrogen vehicles to travel 30 miles. Gibson and Kelly [13]
increased the efficiency of the photovoltaic electrolyzer
system, which was studied in the previous paper, by about
12%. A small 6 kW electrolyzer can produce approximately
0.6 kg H2 per day using an approximately 37 m2 photovoltaic
panel, which is sufficient for a fuel cell vehicle to travel
about 36 miles per day. Brown et al. [14] analyzed the per-
formance of a hydrogen refueling station, assuming the
average hydrogen consumption per car is 0.7 kg per day.
They reported that the electrical energy consumption rate
per kilogram of hydrogen is 5.18 kWh and the required
power for compressing hydrogen from 1.3 MPa to 35 MPa and
70 MPa is 2.5 and 2.7 kWh, respectively. Farzaneh et al. [15]
conducted a performance analysis of hydrogen refueling
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 6 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 2 4 2 7 1 e2 4 2 8 5
stations. They investigated two cascades and buffer storage
systems in terms of compressor input power, irreversibility,
and tank filling time. Their results show that the time
required to reach a final pressure of 35 MPa in the buffer
storage system is 66% lower than that of the cascade storage
system. Shah et al. [16] presented a conceptual design of a
hydrogen refueling station using a photovoltaic system for a
residential building. They considered 60 photovoltaic panels
of 18.9 kW silicon monocrystalline cells with a total area of
238 m2 to supply 99.4% of the total power demand. The
hydrogen refueling station consists of a high-pressure elec-
trolyzer (165 bar) and the 2.24 kg H2 produced during the day
is stored in cascaded tanks to reach a final pressure of
350 bar. Rothuizen et al. [17] developed a thermodynamic
model to simulate a high-pressure hydrogen refueling sta-
tion with a storage system. They suggested that the cascade
storage system deteriorates the compressor performance
and reduces the cooling capacity, significantly; because the
cascade hydrogen storage system requires almost 12% less
electrical energy for cooling and the compressor energy
consumption decreases by about 17%.
Dispenza et al. [18] accomplished a research project on an
on-site hydrogen refueling station integrated with an on-grid
solar photovoltaic system, and F. Gruger et al. [19] proposed
an on-site wind-powered hydrogen refueling station for
shared fuel cell electric vehicles. In both studies, alkaline
electrolyzer is considered for hydrogen production. Then,
hydrogen is compressed by a mechanical compressor, cooled,
and stored in baffle tanks. Although different energy sources
are used, a similar system arrangement has been studied,
which consists of hydrogen production, processing and stor-
age. Micena [20] studied a hydrogen refueling station fed by a
photovoltaic plant for a taxi fleet, that comprises alkaline
water electrolyzer to produce hydrogen, and a mechanical
compressor that increase the pressure of hydrogen to the level
of pressure required for the hydrogen dispensing. Their re-
sults indicate that 185.4 kgH2/day is required to supply 100% of
the taxi fleet with hydrogen, while only 19.8 kgH2/day is suf-
ficient to supply 10% of the fleet.
In this study, for the first time in the literature, an elec-
trochemical hydrogen compressor (EHC) is utilized in a
hydrogen refueling station to increase the pressure of
hydrogen before storage in the tank. In the previous studies by
the authors [21,22], three-dimensional numerical models of
the electrochemical compressor and PEM electrolyzer are
developed, and the influence of geometrical and working pa-
rameters on the performance of the systems are investigated.
In the present study, the results of numerical modeling are
used for thermodynamic and exergieconomic analyses of the
hydrogen refueling station. The main contributions of the
present study are as follows:

The past studies on hydrogen refueling stations are mostly
dedicated to the utilization of alkaline electrolyzer to pro-
duce hydrogen and a mechanical compressor to increase
the hydrogen pressure. In this study, a PEM electrolyzer is
used that brings advantageous characteristics such as high
purity hydrogen, no circulation of corrosive electrolyte, low
power consumption, operation at high pressure, and the
possibility of direct hydrogen storage. Moreover, for the first
24273
time, an electrochemical hydrogen compressor is proposed
to be integrated with the electrolyzer. The EHC has signifi-
cant features such as higher efficiency than small-scale
mechanical compressors, no moving parts, and low spe-
cific power consumption.

The exergy cost of hydrogen production in the refueling
station is determined and it is compared in three case
scenarios that consist of on-grid and off-grid stations with
battery energy storage.
System description
Fig. 1 shows a flow diagram of the solar hydrogen production
and storage system for the vehicular application. The power
generated by the photovoltaic arrays is transferred to the
electrolyzer, in which water is decomposed and hydrogen and
oxygen are produced. The produced hydrogen by the PEM
electrolyzer is directed to the electrochemical compressor and
its pressure increases. High-pressure hydrogen is stored in the
tank and can be used for fuel cell vehicles.
Hydrogen refueling stations involve a lot of safety chal-
lenges due to hydrogen thermophysical characteristics. In
particular, the low ignition temperature and flammability of
hydrogen over a wide range of concentrations. On the other
hand, low hydrogen density causes storage problems which
forces us to adopt very high gas pressure and make the leaks a
significant hazard. Therefore, safety practices are essential for
the successful implementation of hydrogen refueling stations.
Safety practices generally rely on the integrated use of
HAZard Operability Analysis (HAZOP), Failure Mode and Effect
Analysis (FMEA), and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), which
constitute standard methods in safety engineering [23]. The
Society of Automotive Engineers developed standard SAE
J2601 [24] that suggests realistic hydrogen station character-
ization metrics, but few public data exist on actual station
performance.
The technical and geometric properties of the components
are presented in Table 1. The purpose of this study is to
perform an exergy-economic analysis of the integrated solar
hydrogen refueling station based on the numerical simulation
results. The utilization of renewable energy resources for
hydrogen vehicles requires high energy conversion efficiency
in the production systems. The first step in increasing the
efficiency of a hybrid system is to identify the performance of
each component. Therefore, exergy analysis of the proposed
refueling system is performed to calculate the exergy
destruction rate of the system and the results of this study can
be used to optimize the design of the system by reducing the
exergy degradation of the system.
Photovoltaic modules have several basic parameters that
describe the technical specifications of the modules. The
specifications are usually reported in standard conditions, i.e.
the ambient temperature of 25  C and the radiation intensity
of 1000 W/m2. It should be noted that the parameters can be
changed depending on the modules' nominal power and
manufacturing technology. The design of a photovoltaic sys-
tem should be done according to the ambient conditions of the
installation location. Table 1 presents the technical
24274 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 6 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 2 4 2 7 1 e2 4 2 8 5

Fig. 1 e Flow diagram of the solar hydrogen refueling station.

specifications of the single crystalline silicon photovoltaic entropy, and the index 0 represents standard conditions.
module used in this study. Given the molar fraction of species, the chemical exergy for
The solar refueling station is designed such that it is not the input and output species of the electrolyzer and electro-
dependent on the electric power grid. Since solar systems are chemical compressor is calculated as follows [26]:
not capable of continuous power generation and their capac- X X
ity depends on weather conditions, energy storage units such exch ¼ k þ RT0
xk exch xk lnxk (2)
as batteries can be used to supply the power demand. A
where xk and exchk are the mole fraction and the chemical
lithium-ion battery provides the highest energy density than
exergy of the species k, respectively. The total exergy of each
other batteries, it does not require full discharge and it can be
stream is obtained as follows:
charged at any time without affecting its performance.
Lithium-ion batteries are used in this study and the specifi- ex ¼ exch þ exph (3)
cations of the lithium-ion battery bank used in the solar
The exergy destruction rate of each component is calcu-
refueling station are given in Table 1.
lated using the exergy of inlet and outlet flows as follows [26]:

X 
T0 _ X X
1 Qk þ _ exi ¼
m m _ þ Ex
_ exo þ W _ d (4)
Exergy analysis Tk in out

To perform exergy analysis of the integrated system, the where exi is input exergy, exo is output exergy, Q_ k is the
exergy of each fluid stream should be calculated according thermal exergy rate, W_ is the produced useful work and Ex_ d
to the dead state reference conditions. The temperature represents the exergy destruction rate.
and pressure in the reference conditions are 298 K and Based on the aforementioned equations, the exergy effi-
1 atm, respectively. The enthalpy and entropy of the ciency of the subsystems and the integrated system is calcu-
streams are determined based on the results of the nu- lated as follows:
merical analysis of electrolyzer and electrochemical
compressor. The physical exergy of the streams is calcu- Ex_ H ;out
jtotal ¼ 2
(5)
lated as follows [26]: _
Exin;solar

where Ex _ in;solar is the input exergy by solar irradiation and

exph ¼ ðh  h0 Þ  T0 ðs  s0 Þ (1)
_
ExH2 ;out is the exergy of hydrogen produced by the station.
where h represents the stream enthalpy, s is the stream
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 6 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 2 4 2 7 1 e2 4 2 8 5 24275

Exergy analysis of the subsystems meet the power demand of the electrochemical compressor,
electrolyzer, and battery systems.
Photovoltaic cells are used to convert solar energy to electrical
PPV ¼ Pstack;comp þ Pstack;elec þ Pbat (12)
energy and to empower the electrolyzer system and the
electrochemical compressor. When solar energy is not avail- where Pstack;comp is the compressor stack power, Pstack;elec is the
able, the battery system can be used to supply electrical electrolyzer stack power and Pbat is the battery power.
power. Here, the performance of the photovoltaic system, The energy efficiency of the photovoltaic system is defined
batteries, electrolyzer stack, and electrochemical compressor as the ratio of the electrical power generated by the photo-
is examined using the second law of thermodynamic. voltaic module to the solar irradiation received by the photo-
voltaic module [27].
Photovoltaic system
To integrate the photovoltaic panel with the electrolyzer and PPV
hPV ¼ (13)
electrochemical compressor, the voltage-current characteristics S
of the panel should be specified. The general equation between where Sis the absorbed solar irradiation and it is defined as
current and voltage of a photovoltaic cell is as follows [25]: follows:
 
I ¼ Iph  Id ¼ Iph  Ir e½ðqþðVþIRs ÞÞ=ATcell k  1 (6) S ¼ ns np Ga APV (14)
where I is the photovoltaic cell output current, V is the output The input exergy by solar radiation is calculated as follows
voltage of the photovoltaic system, Id is diode current, Ir is [27]:
reverse saturation current, qis electron charge equal to 1:602 
  4 
1019 , Ais an ideal factor, i.e. equal to 1 for amorphous cells _ in;solar ¼ 1  3 Ta þ 1 Ta
Ex S (15)
and 2 for crystalline cells, and Tcell is the operating tempera- 4 Tsun 3 Tsun
ture of the cell in Kelvin. Given that np is the number of cells in where Tsun is the Sun's black body temperature, i.e. 6000 K, and
parallel and ns is the number of cells in series in a module, the APV is the photovoltaic module area [27]. The exergy output of
general equation is written as follows [25]: the photovoltaic panel can be calculated as outlet exergy for a
  photovoltaic panel, including thermal exergy and electrical
I ¼ np Iph  np Ir e½q=VATcell k ns   1 (7)
exergies [28].
Using Eq. (7), the voltage-current characteristics of the
Ex _ thermal þ Ex
_ useful; solar ¼ Ex _ electrical (16)
photovoltaic module can be obtained based on the solar irra-
diation and the operating temperature of the cell. Using the Exergy of the thermal energy [29]:
above equation, the characteristic curve of each photovoltaic
!
module is obtained. The photonic current Iph is directly pro- Ta
_ thermal ¼ Q 1 
Ex (17)
portional to solar irradiation. The current depends on the TTcell:eff
temperature of the cell and it is calculated as follows [25]:
where
Ga  
Iph ðGa ; Tcell Þ ¼ Isc ðSTSÞ ½1 þ K0 ðTcell  Ts Þ (8) Q ¼ UA Tcell:eff  Ta (18)
Gas
where Ga is the solar irradiation and Tcell is the operating The overall heat loss coefficient of a photovoltaic module
temperature of the cell that depends on solar irradiation. includes convection and radiation losses.
Other constant parameters in Eq. (8) are Isc ðSTS), which is the
U ¼ hc þ hr (19)
short-circuit current under standard test conditions,
Gas standard irradiation (1000 W/m2), K0 the short-circuit tem- where hc is the convection heat transfer coefficient between
perature coefficient, and Ts the standard temperature (25  C). the photovoltaic module and the surrounding environment,
The operating temperature of the cell is approximately pro- which is calculated using the empirical equations as follows
portional to the solar irradiation as stated below: [27]:

Tcell ¼ Ta þ Gt Ga (9) hc ¼ 5:7 þ 3:86  v (20)

where Gt is calculated as follows [25]: where vis the wind speed.

NOCTð CÞ  20
Gt ¼
800
where NOCT is the normal operating temperature of the cell,
which is generally related to the manufacturing properties.
The output power of the photovoltaic modules is obtained
from the following equation:
 
PPV ¼ VI ¼ np Iph V  np Ir V e½q=VATcell k ns   1
The number of photovoltaic modules should be specified to
The radiative heat transfer coefficient between PV panels
(10) and the surrounding is calculated as follows [29]:
 
hr ¼ εs Ta;day þ Tcell:eff T2a;day þ T2cell;eff (21)
where εand sare emissivity of the panel and Stefan Boltzmann
constant, respectively. Tcell:eff and Ta;day are the average effec-
tive daily temperature of a solar cell in the photovoltaic
(11) module and the average day temperature in degrees Celsius,
respectively (see section The effect of ambient temperature).
24276 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 6 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 2 4 2 7 1 e2 4 2 8 5

_ useful; solar is equal to the output electrical power of the

where Ex
Table 1 e Technical properties of the components.
photovoltaic module considering the effect of ambient
Photovoltaic
temperature.
modules
Model TW320M672 Electrochemical compressor
Maximum power at standard condition 320 The number of cells required for the electrochemical
(W) compressor stack is determined according to the hydrogen
Voltage at maximum power under 37 flow rate required for the hydrogen refueling station and the
standard conditions (V)
inlet current to the compressor as follows [22]:
Current at maximum power under 8.6
standard conditions (A) _ H2  n  F
m
Open circuit voltage at standard 45.8 Ncell;comp ¼ (23)
Icomp  MH2
conditions (V)
Short-circuit current in standard 9.1 where is FFaraday constant, nis the number of transferred
conditions (A) _ H2 is the
electrons, Icomp is input current to compressor and m
Output power error ±0.05
production hydrogen mass flow rate.
Number of cells 72
Module area (m2) 1.940 The polarization curve (voltage-current density curve) of
Temperature variation coefficient of 0.158 the electrochemical compressor cell is precisely deter-
voltage (V/ºC) mined based on the numerical analysis [22]. Then, by
Temperature variation coefficient of 0.004 specifying the number of EHC cells using Eq. (24) and the
current (A/ºC) voltage obtained from the numerical modeling of the elec-
PEM electrolyzer trochemical compressor, the working voltage, and the
stack [21,25] required power for the electrochemical compressor stack
Thickness of bipolar plate (mm) 1 are determined.
Thickness of gas diffusion layer (mm) 0.4
Thickness of membrane (mm) 0.127 Vstack;comp ¼ Ncell;comp  Vcell;comp (24)
Channel height (mm) 1
Thickness of catalyst layer (mm) 0.02 Pstack;comp ¼ Icomp  Vstack;comp (25)
Channel width/channel rib (mm) 1/1
Channel length (mm) 90 The thermal energy dissipated from the electrochemical
Active area (cm2) 81 compressor cell is calculated based on an energy balance as
Working temperature (K) 363 follows:
Working pressure (bar) 1
Number of cells 100 Pcell;comp  Q_ loss;comp þ H
_ H ;in  H
2
_ H ;out ¼ 0
2
(26)
Electrochemical
compressor stack [22] where Q_ loss;comp is the dissipative power of the electrochemical
compressor cell that is calculated by determining the enthalpy
Thickness of bipolar plate (mm) 1.5
Thickness of gas diffusion layer (mm) 0.3
rate of the input and output streams of the electrochemical
Thickness of catalyst layer (mm) 0.001 compressor cell. On the other hand, the input power to the
Thickness of membrane (mm) 0.127 electrochemical compressor is also obtained by calculating
Channel height (mm) 1 voltage using the numerical model at a specified current
Channel width (mm) 1 density. The heat dissipation of the electrochemical
Channel length (mm) 50
compressor cell is extended to the electrochemical
Width of channel rib (mm) 1
compressor stack according to Eq. (27).
Working temperature (K) 363
Number of cells 100
Q_ loss;comp; stack ¼ Ncell;comp  Q_ loss;comp (27)
Li-ion
battery The energy and exergy efficiency of the electrochemical
Model WB-LYP1000AHC(A)
compressor subsystem is calculated as follows:
Nominal capacity (Ah) 1000
_ H2  LHV
m
Maximum voltage (V) 24 hPEM comp ¼ (28)
Pstack;comp
Weight (kg) 42
Charging temperature range (ºC) 0e45
Discharging temperature range (ºC) 20e85 ExH2 ; out
jPEM comp ¼ (29)
Cell voltage (V) 3 Pstack;comp
Number of cells 8
where m_ H2 is the mass flow rate of produced hydrogen, and
LHV refers to the Lower Heating Value of hydrogen.
Based on the aforementioned equations, the exergy effi-
ciency of the photovoltaic system is calculated as follows [27]: Electrolyzer subsystem
By neglecting the hydrogen leakage, the inlet hydrogen to the
_ useful; solar
Ex electrochemical compressor is equal to the hydrogen pro-
jPV ¼ (22)
_ in;solar
Ex duced at the cathode side of the electrolyzer. Eq. (30) is used to
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 6 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 2 4 2 7 1 e2 4 2 8 5 24277

stored in the battery using Eq. (38), it is necessary to design the

Table 2 e Investment costs of the solar hydrogen
number of batteries needed for the hydrogen refueling station.
refueling station equipment.
To obtain the number of batteries, the total capacity should be
Equipment Capital cost
divided by the specific capacity of each battery.
PEM Electrolyzer 3404  PðkWÞ0:885 US$ [33]
Electrochemical compressor 5.3 US$/kgH2 [34] Hydrogen storage tank
Photovoltaic System 1138 US$/kW [35] The high-pressure hydrogen produced in the electrochemical
Li-ion battery storage 0.42 $/MWh [35]
compressor is stored in the tank, and the required volume to
High-pressure storage tank 1495 US$/kg [36]
Safety and control system 285 US$/kgH2/day [37]
store the hydrogen is calculated as follows:

Vtank ¼ Mtank  Ttank  R=Ptank (39)

calculate the number of cells required for the electrolyzer
stack [21]. where Vtank is the hydrogen tank volume, R is the hydrogen
gas constant, Ptank is the tank pressure and Ttank is the tank
_ H2  n  F
m
Ncell;elec ¼ (30) temperature.
Ielec  MH2

A similar procedure to EHC cell is performed for the elec- Exergo-economic analysis
trolyzer to determine the voltage and input power of the
electrolyzer stack as follows: Exergo-economic analysis is a powerful tool for evaluating the
performance of a system based on a combination of thermo-
Vstack;elec ¼ Ncell;elec  Vcell;elec (31) dynamic and economic methods. In a thermodynamic system,
several inlet and outlet streams associated with heat transfer
to the environment and work can be considered. The mass and
Pstack;elec ¼ Ielec  Vstack;elec (32)
energy streams transfer exergy into and out of the system. In
The thermal energy dissipation rate Q_ loss;elec from the this analysis, the cost of these flows should be linked to the
electrolyzer cell is calculated using the following energy bal- exergy transfer rate. The costs of input, output flows, work, or
ance equation. heat transfer to the environment are calculated as follows [31]:
 
Pcell;elec  Q_ loss;elec þ H
_ H O;in  H
2
_ H ;out  H
2
_ O ;out ¼ 0
2
(33) C_ i ¼ ci Ex
_ i ¼ ci m_ i  Exi (40)
The enthalpy of inlet water and outlet oxygen and
hydrogen is calculated based on the numerical analysis re- 
C_ o ¼ co Ex
_ o ¼ co m_ o  Exo (41)
sults. The thermal power loss from the electrolyzer stack is
calculated as follows:
C_ w ¼ cW  W
_ (42)
Q_ loss;elec; stack ¼ Ncell;elec  Q_ loss;elec (34)

The energy and exergy efficiencies of the electrolyzer C_ q ¼ cq  Q_ (43)

subsystem are stated as follows:
The cost balance equation for a thermodynamic cycle is
m_ H2  LHV written as follows [31]:
hPEM elec ¼ (35)
_ H O;in
Pstack;elec þ H X X
C_ o;k þ C_ w;k ¼ C_ q;k þ C_ i;k þ Zk
2
(44)

Ex_ H ;out The first term on the left side of Eq. (44) represents the rate
jPEM elec ¼ 2
(36)
Pstack;elec þ Ex_ H O;in of output costs of the component k, and the second term on
2

Battery subsystem
The capacity of a battery should be determined so that it can
provide power when the required solar energy is not available
either at night or even for several cloudy days. The battery
capacity is obtained by the following equation [30]:
Ebat ¼ C  Vbat
the right side represents the input cost rate of the component
k. Also, C_ w;k and C_ q;k are the cost rates of work and heat
transfer. The costs of maintenance and initial investment are
based on valid references and equipment costs in terms of
their capacity, and they are generally the summation of the
investment cost (ZCI ) and the maintenance cost (ZOM ) as
(37) defined below [31]:

where Ebat is the amount of energy required that should be Z ¼ ZCI þ ZOM (45)
supplied by the battery, C is the battery capacity and Vbat is the
It is considered that the maintenance cost is equal to 3% of
battery voltage. The energy required to be stored in the battery
the annual investment cost for the electrolyzer and electro-
is obtained from the following equation [30].
chemical compressor that is calculated as follows [28]:
 
Ebat ¼ Pstack;comp þ Pstack;elec  tnosun (38) f ACC PStack
ZCI ¼ (46)
where tnosun is the time duration when solar energy is not t
available and the power required by the subsystems should be where f is the maintenance cost factor which is often 1.06,
supplied by the battery. By determining the energy that is ACC is the annual investment cost, and t is the operating
24278 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 6 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 2 4 2 7 1 e2 4 2 8 5
hours of each subsystem during the year that is considered
7200 h. ACC is defined as follows:
ACC ¼ Ccap  CRFðir; nÞ
n
ir  ð1 þ irÞ
CRFðir; nÞ ¼ n (48)
ð1 þ irÞ  1
where Ccap is the capital cost of the equipment, CRF is the
capital recovery factor, n is the lifetime of the subsystem, and
ir is the inflation rate that is assumed 7% [22]. The cost-
equilibrium equations for subsystems are introduced below
[32].
Electrolyzer:
_ H O:in þ CW W
CH2 O Ex _ stack;elec þ ZPEM elec ¼ CO Ex
_ O :out þ CH Ex
_ H :out
2 2 2 2
Electrochemcial compressor:
_ H :in þ CW W
CH2 Ex _ stack;comp þ ZPEM comp ¼ CH Ex
_ H :out
2 2 2 factors are the converter efficiency, photovoltaic system los-
Overall system:
CPV Exin;solar þCH2 O ExH2 O:in þZtotal ¼ CH2 ExH2 :out
The investment costs of the subsystems are considered as
presented in Table 2. The economic calculations are on the
exchange rates of October 2020 (1.00 USD - 0.85 EUR). It is
assumed that the lifetime of all equipment is 20 years, and the
electrolyzer and electrochemical compressor stacks will be
replaced after 10 years at half of their initial cost.
The cost of hydrogen production based on the capital, and
operating and maintenance costs is calculated using the
method presented by Silveira et al. [38] as follows:
Ccap
CH2 ¼  f þ CO&M
t  EnH2
where CH2 [US$/kWh] is the cost of produced hydrogen, Ccap
[US$] is the investment cost of the hydrogen station, f [1/year]
is the annuity factor, t [hours/year] refers to the annual
operating time of the system and CO&M is the operation and
maintenance cost of the system that is considered as 3% of the
investment cost [22]. Also, EnH2 is the energy of the produced
hydrogen that is equal to the mass flow rate of produced
hydrogen multiply by LHV of hydrogen.
The annuity factor is calculated as follows:
qk  ðq  1Þ
f¼
ðqk  1Þ
with
r to contaminations over the module surface and air pollution,
q¼1 þ
100
where r is the annual inflation rate and k is the amortization
payback that is considered 7% and 20 years, respectively.
To calculate the pay-back period of the solar hydrogen
refueling station, the target cost of hydrogen production for
fuel cell cars, according to the department of energy of US, is
considered as $4/gge (gasoline gallon equivalent, i.e. almost
equivalent to 1 kg of hydrogen) to be competitive advanced
hybrid vehicles [39].
Design of a photovoltaic system for solar
refueling station
(47)
The solar refueling station is intended to be independent of
the distribution grid. Due to the intermittent nature of solar
energy, an energy storage unit such as a battery should be
used to supply the power demand, reliably. The technical
specifications of the components used at the station are pre-
sented in Table 1 and the number of photovoltaic arrays is
designed herein.
Design of photovoltaic arrays
To calculate the number of photovoltaic arrays for the solar
2
refueling station, the required power by the electrolyzer sys-
(49)
tem and electrochemical compressor should be determined.
Various factors cause the photovoltaic arrays to produce
electricity less than their rated power. The most important
(50)
ses, temperature, and contamination effects.
Considering the energy conversion losses in the inverter,
(51) the output power of the photovoltaic arrays should be more
than the required power of the electrolyzer and electro-
chemical compressor. In this study, inverter efficiency is
considered 92%.
In this study, the required power for the PEM electrolyzer
and the electrochemical compressor is 11.22 kW and 385.56 W,
respectively. Therefore, the total power required in the station
is 11.605 kW, which is equivalent to 278.53 kWh for 24 h.
Taking into account the effect of losses, with a maximum of
5%, and inverter efficiency of 92%, the required energy of the
station is 318.68 kWh. The average sunshine duration in the
city of Isfahan is 5 h per day [33]. Therefore, the maximum
(52)
power output generated by photovoltaic arrays is about
63.736 kW. However, the effect of parameters that decrease
the output power of the photovoltaic module should be
considered. The effect of those parameters is explained below.
Manufacturer error
The output power of the photovoltaic modules is considered
concerning the manufacturing precision, which is approxi-
mately 5% as mentioned in Table 1 [33]. Therefore, for the
selected module, the maximum reduction in output power is
16 W and thus the final power of the module is 304 W.
(53)
The effect of pollution and dust
The output power of the photovoltaic module decreases due
(54)
which depends on the weather conditions of the location. In
large cities, power reduction due to air pollution is considered
about 5%. Since the output power of the module is 304 W
concerning the manufacturer's error, the output power of the
module is 288.8 W by considering pollution effects.
The effect of ambient temperature
The average effective daily temperature of a solar cell in the
photovoltaic module is obtained as:
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 6 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 2 4 2 7 1 e2 4 2 8 5
Tcell:eff ¼ Ta:day þ 25
where Ta:day is the average day temperature in degrees Celsius.
It should be mentioned that the temperature coefficient de-
termines how much the output power of a photovoltaic
module decreases per degree above 25 Celsius. Three types of
photovoltaic modules are commercially available, including a
single-crystal silicon module with a temperature coefficient of
0.45%, a polycrystalline silicon module with a temperature
coefficient of 0.5%, and an amorphous module with a tem-
perature coefficient of 0.2% [33]. In this study, a single-
crystalline silicon module is used to obtain higher efficiency.
In general, the reduction in output power of photovoltaic ar-
rays due to temperature depends on the module type and the
average maximum ambient temperature at the installation
site. The amount of power loss due to ambient temperature is
calculated as follows:
  
ftemp ¼ 1  g  Tcell:eff  Tstc
where g is the temperature coefficient and Tstc is cell temper-
ature at standard test conditions in degrees Celsius. The
average annual temperature in Isfahan is 18  C. Thus, the
average effective daily temperature of the photovoltaic cell is
43  C. Therefore, the power loss coefficient due to ambient
temperature based on Eq. (49) is 0.919. Taking into account the
temperature coefficient, the solar module power decrease to
265.40 W. Therefore, 240 modules with a capacity of 320 W are
required to supply power to the electrolyzer and electro-
chemical compressor at the solar refueling station.
Design of energy storage system
Batteries are usually utilized for short-term energy storage in
off-grid photovoltaic systems. In this study, the battery is
designed to provide the required power during the hours
when the sunlight is not sufficient or not available. To deter-
mine the capacity of the batteries, the maximum number of
successive days that sunlight is not available should be first
estimated. It is assumed that two successive cloudy days take
place and during these days, the battery stack supplies the
required power for the electrolyzer and the electrochemical
compressor. Also, to maintain the lifetime of the batteries, it is
assumed that the batteries are charged at 80% of the
maximum discharge depth.
The capacity of the battery stack is calculated based on the
multiplication of the number of successive cloudy days by the
required Amp-hour per 24 h in the refueling station. In this
regard, considering the working voltage of the photovoltaic
panels, i.e. 48 V, the required input energy for the electrolyzer
and electrochemical compressor is 6639.16 Amp-hour per
24 h. Therefore, for two successive days, the required capacity
equals 13278.33 Amp-hour.
Typically, the depth of discharge when the battery is dis-
charged but still capable of operating is in the range of
0.25e0.8, which is assumed for the lithium-ion battery to be
0.8 in this study [33]. It should be mentioned that during the
process of charging and discharging, part of the energy is lost,
which should be taken into account in calculating the energy
stored in the battery. Assuming a battery energy loss factor of
24279
25% and a discharge depth of 0.8, the capacity of the battery is
(55) 19917 A h. (13278.33  1.25  1.2 ¼ 19917 A h).
The number of batteries should be determined based on
the total amp-hour (Ah) that is supplied by the photovoltaic
array. To calculate the number of battery banks in parallel, the
total Ah should be divided by the Ah of each battery. Ac-
cording to the specifications of the battery in Table 1, 20 banks
of lithium-ion batteries (1000 A and 24 V) are needed in
parallel.
Photovoltaic modules with battery energy storage
In this case, the number of photovoltaic modules should be
calculated by taking into account the required energy to be
stored in batteries in addition to supplying the required power
for electrolyzer and electrochemical compressor. The coeffi-
cient of 0.1 is assumed to meet the presumed charging rate
limit and it depends on the type of battery. The required en-
ergy to charge the battery is 48 kWh and the total energy
required in the station is 366.68 kWh, which should be pro-
(56)
vided by photovoltaic arrays. Therefore, the aforementioned
calculation in section Design of photovoltaic arrays is per-
formed and the number of required photovoltaic modules is
333.
In the next section, the effect of environmental conditions
on the performance of a single photovoltaic module is inves-
tigated, and the energy and exergy efficiency of photovoltaic
arrays at the solar refueling station is determined based on the
irradiation data of January 10th, 11th, and 12th in Isfahan city.
According to the meteorological data of Isfahan, the average
solar irradiation in the three winter days is about 600 W m-2,
which is relatively low. In other words, the design is done for
the lowest available solar energy, so that the capacity of the
system is sufficient for the entire year.
Then, the energy and exergy efficiency of the entire system
and the exergy destruction of the subsystems are investigated.
Moreover, a comparison is made between refueling stations
with different capacities in terms of energy efficiency, exergy
Table 3 e The technical characteristics of the solar
hydrogen refueling system.
Parameter Value
Required power for the PEM electrolyzer (kW) 11.22
Required power for the electrochemical compressor 385.56
(W)
Total power required in the station (kW) 11.605
Required energy of the station (kWh) 318.68
Maximum power output generated by photovoltaic 63.736
arrays (kW)
Maximum reduction in the output power of the 16
photovoltaic module (W)
Output power of the photovoltaic module (W) 265.4
PV power loss coefficient due to ambient 0.919
temperature
Number of photovoltaic modules/capacity of 240/320
photovoltaic module (W)
Energy storage capacity of battery (Ah) 19917.15
Number of lithium-ion battery banks (1000 A and 20
24 V)
Number of photovoltaic modules with battery 333
storage
24280 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 6 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 2 4 2 7 1 e2 4 2 8 5
Fig. 2 e The algorithm of design methodology of the solar
hydrogen refueling system.
efficiency, and the cost of hydrogen produced by different
stations. Finally, the cost of hydrogen production in on-grid
and off-grid solar refueling stations are compared.
The technical characteristics of the solar hydrogen refu-
eling system that is designed in this study are presented in
Table 3. Fig. 2 shows the design algorithm for the solar
hydrogen refueling station.
Results and discussion
In this paper, a solar hydrogen refueling station is designed to
supply hydrogen for 8 fuel cell vehicles with an average daily
consumption of 0.7 kg of hydrogen and a traveling distance of
35 km. Therefore, the station can produce 5.6 kg of hydrogen
per day. The main goal is to analyze the performance of the
refueling station in terms of production capacity and cost of
Fig. 3 e Solar irradiation on 10, 11, and 12 January in
Isfahan.
hydrogen production. Therefore, three case scenarios are
studied. Herein, the thermodynamic model of the hydrogen
production system is performed while the results of numeri-
cal models of the PEM electrolyzer and the electrochemical
compressor have been used as the input to the thermody-
namic model. The numerical models have been presented in
the previous manuscripts by the authors [21,22] and the re-
sults have been validated.
The intensity of solar radiation for three winter days, i.e.
January 10, 11, and 12, in Isfahan is shown in Fig. 3. The irra-
diation data are extracted for 15 min time intervals using
Trnsys software [35]. Since this software assumes the first
hour of solar irradiation in January, therefore, the first solar
hour of January 10th is equivalent to hour 240 of the year, and
on a three-day basis, i.e. 72 h later, 312 h is the last hour on the
twelfth day of January. Accordingly, meteorological data have
been reported during the three days from 240 to 312 h. The
average daytime solar radiation is about 600 W m-2, which is
relatively low. Therefore, the design is performed in condi-
tions where the intensity of solar radiation is not optimal and
applies to all days of the year. In other words, the design of
Fig. 4 e Electric power production, storage, and
consumption during three days.
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 6 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 2 4 2 7 1 e2 4 2 8 5 24281

solar refueling station is based on the worst weather condi-

tions, so that it can be applied to other days of the year.
The photovoltaic system has been designed in such a way
that in addition to supplying power to the electrolyzer and
electrochemical compressor, it can store the surplus power
output in the battery.
Given that two consecutive cloudy days are considered in
this study, the battery bank provides the required power of the
electrolyzer and the electrochemical compressor. Further-
more, when solar energy is not available during the day, the
batteries supply power to the electrolyzer system. Therefore,
the battery capacity is much higher than the capacity of
photovoltaic panels.
Fig. 4 shows the output power of the photovoltaic system,
the power consumption by the electrolyzer and electro-
chemical compressor, and the electrical power stored in the
battery. The power generated by the photovoltaic panels and
Fig. 6 e The energy efficiency of the photovoltaic arrays.
the stored power in the battery is shown on the right-side
vertical axis and the required power by the electrochemical
and electrochemical compressor can be found on the left-side
vertical axis. Negative values indicate the discharging process
in batteries.
It should be noted that the hydrogen refueling station
should produce a certain amount of hydrogen during a day
and its pressure for use in fuel cell vehicles is high; therefore,
the power required by the electrolyzer and compressor is
constant throughout the day. The electrochemical
compressor consumes 385.56 W electric power, and to pro-
duce 5.6 kg of hydrogen per day using a 77-cell electrolyzer,
11.2 kW of power is required per day.
Fig. 5 shows the state of charge (SOC) of the battery from
January 10th to 12th which is calculated using the enhanced
Coulomb counting method [36].
Initially, the battery is assumed to be half-charged
(SOC ¼ 0.5). According to the solar irradiation data presented
in Fig. 3, during the first hours of January 10th when solar Fig. 7 e The exergy efficiency of the photovoltaic arrays.
energy is not available, it is necessary to use the energy stored
in the battery to drive the electrolyzer and electrochemical
compressor. In other words, the 11.6 kW power required by lithium battery pack. When solar energy is available, surplus
the electrolyzer and the compressor must be supplied by a power is stored in the battery. Negative slopes indicate the
discharging state of the battery, and positive slopes indicate
the state when the battery is being charged. To enhance bat-
tery performance and to prevent battery full charging and full
discharging, the charging and discharging depth is set be-
tween 0.25 and 0.8 depending on the memory effect. It means
that after each charge cycle, the battery capacity is reduced by
a very small amount unless the battery is fully discharged at
least once a week. In contrary to nickel-cadmium and nickel
metallic hydride batteries, the memory effect is not observed
in a lithium-ion battery. Also, the lithium-ion battery has a
relatively higher energy density and life cycle than a lead-acid
battery, so it is a suitable choice for hydrogen stations with
short-term energy storage.
The energy and exergy efficiency of the photovoltaic arrays
during the three winter days are shown in Figs. 6 and 7. When
the maximum solar irradiation is available, the photovoltaic
system has the highest energy and exergy efficiency. The
fluctuations of energy and exergy efficiency on the second day
are due to variations of solar intensity. It is observed that the
Fig. 5 e State of charge of the battery. maximum energy efficiency on the second day is 13.57% and
24282 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 6 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 2 4 2 7 1 e2 4 2 8 5
Fig. 8 e The effect of solar irradiation on photovoltaic
module output power.
maximum exergy efficiency is 14.51%. The reported data are
discrete because efficiency for photovoltaic arrays cannot be
defined at night when sunlight is not available.
The effect of ambient conditions on photovoltaic module
performance
The characteristics of the photovoltaic system are subject to
environmental parameters such as ambient temperature and
solar radiation intensity. The characteristics are inherently
nonlinear. The maximum power can be obtained by selecting
the best operating condition of the photovoltaic arrays under
constant irradiation and ambient temperature. It should be
noted that the best performance condition changes due to the
variation of environmental parameters.
Fig. 8 shows the output power of the module at solar ra-
diation intensity of 600e1000 W m-2 and the ambient tem-
perature of 298 K. As the intensity of solar radiation increases,
the output current of the PV module increases. An increase in
the output current of the module leads to an increase in the
Fig. 9 e The effect of ambient temperature on photovoltaic
module power.
maximum output power of the module. To yield the
maximum power, the photovoltaic module should operate at
higher solar irradiation.
An increase of solar irradiation from 600 W/m2 to 1000 W/
m2 leads to the increase of peak power from 205.4 W (@ cur-
rent of 19.15 A) to 366.4 W (@current of 55.5 A). Besides, the
open-circuit voltage increases with increasing solar irradia-
tion, logarithmically, while the short-circuit current increases
linearly.
Fig. 9 presents the output power of the photovoltaic mod-
ule at different ambient temperatures. The solar irradiation is
assumed to be 600 W/m2.
An increase in ambient temperature leads to a decrease in
the open-circuit voltage of the PV module. Therefore, the ef-
ficiency of the module is reduced. Also, the ambient temper-
ature affects the photovoltaic module power and the
maximum power, especially at high voltages. The maximum
power at 298 K, 308 K, and 318 K is 208.8 W, 219.19 W, and
299.2 W, respectively. The maximum power occurs at a tem-
perature of 298 K and current of 5.2 A and for the ambient
temperature of 318 K the maximum power occurs at the cur-
rent of 25.25 A. The photovoltaic output power is calculated
using Eq. (11).
Design of solar hydrogen refueling station with a constant
hydrogen production rate
The design of the solar refueling station is carried out in three
cases to evaluate the energy and exergy efficiency of the in-
tegrated system and the cost of hydrogen production.
1. In the first case (off-grid), it is assumed that a constant
hydrogen production rate is provided by the station for 24 h
and the refueling station is off-grid. The photovoltaic sys-
tem is used with lithium-ion battery storage.
2. In the second case (on-grid with PV and battery), it is
assumed that the refueling station produces a constant
amount of hydrogen during the day, but that the required
electric power is supplied from the grid when the solar
energy is unavailable.
3. In the third case (on-grid), it is assumed that the hydrogen
refueling station is empowered by the electric grid and the
photovoltaic system and battery bank are eliminated.
In order to investigate the energy and exergy efficiency of
the entire system, three different hydrogen refueling stations
are compared in terms of production capacity and cost of
hydrogen production. Herein, the assumption is that the
electrolyzer and electrochemical compressor work at different
current densities, then the number of required photovoltaic
arrays, energy efficiency, exergy efficiency, hydrogen genera-
tion capacity, and the hydrogen production cost are compared
under different operating conditions. The current density of
the electrolyzer is adjusted in the range of 2000e10,000 A m-2
to compare refueling stations with different capacities that
are capable of fueling different numbers of fuel cell vehicles. It
should be noted that the 77 cells are considered for the PEM
electrolyzer and 140 cells for the electrochemical compressor,
but the capacity of the battery bank and the number of
photovoltaic modules are variable. Table 4 presents the
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 6 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 2 4 2 7 1 e2 4 2 8 5 24283

Table 4 e Characteristics of the hydrogen refueling station- 1st Scenario.

Case study Current density Hydrogen production Number of Battery Energy demand (kWh)
of PEM (A/m2) capacity (kg/day) Photovoltaic modules energy (kWh)
1 2000 1.12 53 13.23 44.12
2 3000 1.68 82 20.60 68.67
3 4000 2.23 112 28.38 94.62
4 5000 2.79 145 36.63 122.1
5 6000 3.35 179 45.36 151.20
6 7000 3.91 216 54.60 182
7 8000 4.47 245 64.36 214.57
8 9000 5.03 295 74.68 248.94
9 10,000 5.58 338 85.56 285.261

low and almost equal in the first and second cases because the
Table 5 e Comparison between refueling stations in the
efficiency of the photovoltaic module is low. The increase of
1st and 2nd scenarios.
the current density of the electrolyzer and compressor leads
Case study 1st Scenario 2nd Scenario
to an increase in the number of photovoltaic modules,
   
$ j h $ J h therefore, the energy and exergy efficiency of station 9 is lower
CH2 CH2
GJ GJ than station 1. The only difference between the two cases is
1 92.09 0.25 0.13 66.06 0.25 0.13 the cost of hydrogen production. In the latter case, when the
2 91.53 0.17 0.088 67.55 0.17 0.088 station is on-grid and batteries are not utilized, the cost of
3 93.5 0.12 0.064 67.74 0.12 0.064 producing hydrogen decreases.
4 96.5 0.096 0.055 69.24 0.096 0.055
Table 6 also compares the stations in the first and third
5 99.81 0.076 0.044 71.69 0.076 0.044
scenarios (battery and photovoltaic modules are eliminated).
6 102.8 0.064 0.033 73.75 0.064 0.033
7 105.5 0.054 0.028 75.57 0.054 0.028 As mentioned earlier, the output power and exergy efficiency
8 109.2 0.047 0.024 77.86 0.047 0.024 of the on-grid station is significantly higher than the off-grid
9 112.8 0.041 0.021 80.04 0.041 0.021 station due to the low efficiency of the photovoltaic system.
Moreover, when batteries and photovoltaic arrays are de-
tached from the station, the cost of hydrogen production per
capacity of the different stations in the first case, i.e. the off- energy consumption reduces. Although the utilization of
grid station integrated with photovoltaic arrays and the bat- photovoltaic arrays increases the cost of hydrogen, the impact
tery bank. The required energy that should be supplied by of solar energy on the conservation of fossil fuel resources and
batteries and photovoltaic arrays and the capacity of the sta- the reduction of environmental pollution is considered
tion are reported for different operating conditions of the valuable.
electrolyzer and electrochemical compressor. The increase of
hydrogen production capacity from 1.12 to 5.58 kg/day in the
refueling station requires more than six times larger photo- Conclusions
voltaic modules and battery energy storage capacity.
Table 5 presents a comparison between the refueling sta- Due to the intermittent nature of solar irradiation, the rate of
tion in the first scenario (off-grid) and the station in the second hydrogen production by solar electrolysis does not exactly
scenario (on-grid without battery). The comparison is made in match the rate of consumption, therefore, a storage system is
terms of energy and exergy efficiency and the cost of hydrogen essential to enhance the reliability of the systems. In this
production. The energy and exergy efficiency of the station is study, the Li-ion battery is used as a short-term power storage
unit to supply the required power to the electrolyzer system
when solar energy is not available. The produced hydrogen is
fed to the electrochemical compressor and its pressure is
Table 6 e Comparison between refueling stations in the
1st and 3rd scenarios. increased to the desired pressure for use in fuel cell vehicles.
The results of numerical analysis of a PEM electrolyzer cell
Case study 3rd Scenario 1st Scenario
    and electrochemical compressor cell, in the past studies by
$ j h $ J h the authors [21,22], are applied to a hydrogen refueling station
CH2 CH2
GJ GJ that supplies 5.6 kg H2 per day for 8 fuel cell vehicles. The
1 21.82 0.91 0.85 92.09 0.25 0.13 results of energy and exergy-economic analyses of the solar
2 23.02 0.88 0.81 91.53 0.17 0.088 hydrogen refueling station are summarized as follows:
3 24.29 0.84 0.78 93.5 0.12 0.064
4 25.45 0.82 0.76 96.5 0.096 0.055

The performance of a photovoltaic system is a function of
5 26.65 0.79 0.74 99.81 0.076 0.044
6 27.89 0.77 0.71 102.8 0.064 0.033 ambient temperature, atmosphere turbidity, and solar ra-
7 29.16 0.75 0.69 105.5 0.054 0.028 diation intensity, and the characteristics of PV cells are
8 30.47 0.72 0.67 109.2 0.047 0.024 inherently nonlinear. As the solar irradiation increases, the
9 31.87 0.7 0.65 112.8 0.041 0.021 output current from the photovoltaic cell increases and it
24284 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 6 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 2 4 2 7 1 e2 4 2 8 5
leads to an increase in the maximum output power of the
module. The increase of solar irradiation from 600 W m-2
to 1000 W m-2 enhances the maximum power from
205.4 W to 366.4 W corresponding to the current of 5.19 A
and 8.55 A, respectively.

The ambient temperature mainly affects the open-circuit
voltage of the PV cell and it decreases linearly with
increasing temperature. Therefore, the power and conse-
quently the efficiency of the module decreases.

The photovoltaic system has the highest energy and en-
ergy efficiency when maximum solar irradiation is avail-
able. The maximum energy efficiency is equal to 0.1357 and
the exergy efficiency is equal to 0.1451.

The results indicate that the energy and energy efficiency
of the off-grid and on-grid station with constant hydrogen
production rate is almost equal, and in the latter case when
the required power is supplied by the electric grid instead
of the battery, the cost of producing hydrogen decreases.
Moreover, when the grid feeds the hydrogen refueling
station and photovoltaic panels are not used, the cost of
producing hydrogen per energy demand decreases. It
should be noted that the cost of hydrogen production in-
creases with the use of photovoltaic panels, but the envi-
ronmental advantages of solar energy and the application
of this arrangement in remote areas are always justifiable.

In the case of off-grid solar hydrogen production, the pay-
back period of the refueling station is between 4.5 and 8
years for the production capacity of 5.58 and 1.12 kgH2/day,
respectively.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by
the Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) under contract
No. 96015082.
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