Thermodynamic analysis of a combined PV/T–fuel cell system for power, heat, fresh water and hydrogen production

• Design and analysis of a proposed PV/T–fuel cell hybrid renewable energy system.
• PV/T produces heat and electricity while fuel cell produces electricity, heat and purified water.
• Utilizing the fuel cell heat increases the overall efficiency to 5.65% for energy and 19.8% for exergy.
• Utilizing the fuel cell exhaust water increases the efficiency to 5.67% for energy and 19.9% for exergy.
• Up to 80 L of drinkable water can be collected from the fuel cell when operated for extended periods.

A hybrid renewable energy system is proposed and analyzed for electricity, heated air, purified water and hydrogen production. Energy, exergy and economic analyses are performed to analyze and determine the performance of the system under different operating conditions. The photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) system produces heat and electricity for residential applications. Excess power is used to operate electrolyser which produces hydrogen to be fed directly to a fuel cell. Fuel cell is operated during high power demand, and it produces electricity, heat and water for residential applications. The water produced as a by-product by the fuel cell is used for drinking water supply. The parametric studies are conducted to determine the efficiencies of the system with and without fuel cell network for hot air, power and purified water. When fuel cell heat is used, the overall system efficiency increases to 5.65% for energy and 19.8% for exergy. Up to 80 L of drinkable water can be collected from the fuel cell when operated for extended periods. The present study confirms a significant economic gain when fuel cell heat and water are utilized as useful outputs.