Optimal integration of a solid-oxide electrolyser cell into a direct steam generation solar tower plant for zero-emission hydrogen production

The results show that operating the stack at atmospheric pressure, penalties over the solar plant can be reduced by 60% if process steam is extracted from low pressure turbine section and solar plant feed water is preheated with rejected hot streams from the electrolyser. In high pressure SOEC scenarios, although penalties over the CSP plant are increased, the overall performance of the hybrid plant could be improved by 5.8%, and also oxygen could be collected as co-product if a pressure swing adsorption unit is integrated.