Fuel cell micro-CHP techno-economics: Part 2 – Model application to consider the economic and environmental impact of stack degradation

This article presents a literature review regarding the mechanisms of fuel cell degradation, accompanied by the reported range of observed degradation rates in experimental, demonstration and early commercial systems. It then synthesises and exploits this information to investigate the influence of degradation on the economic and environmental credentials of fuel cell micro-combined heat and power (micro-CHP) for the UK residential sector. The investigation applies a techno-economic model developed in the companion article designed to demarcate the key characteristics of commercially successful systems. Two distinct modes of degradation are examined; one proportional to power density in the stack, and the other proportional to thermal-cycling rate of the stack. It is found that limiting the power-density related degradation rate is very important from economic and environmental viewpoints, but thermal-cycling related degradation is less important when thermal energy storage is available because cycling can be avoided. Furthermore it is noted that techno-economic studies that ignore degradation can overestimate the marginal value of a micro-CHP system with respect to the conventional alternative by up to 45% and the CO2 emissions reduction potential by up to 57%, for performance degradation rates of 2% per MWeh output. This conclusion is noteworthy because most techno-economic analyses of fuel cells ignore degradation, potentially providing misleading results. Finally it is concluded that existing commercial degradation targets, such as the SECA targets, are appropriate for achieving marketable systems.