Hydrogen production system from photovoltaic panels: experimental 1 characterization and size optimization 2 3 M.L. Ferrari, M. Rivarolo , A.F. Massardo 4 5 TPG, University of Genoa -TPG, Via Montallegro 1, 16145 Genoa, (Italy) 6 7 Corresponding author: mario.ferrari@unige.it 8 Tel. +39 0103532443 9 10 ABSTRACT 11 In this paper an approach for the determination of the optimal size and management of a plant for hydrogen 12 production from renewable source (photovoltaic panels) is presented. 13 Hydrogen is produced by a pressurized alkaline electrolyser (42 kW) installed at the University Campus of Savona 14 (Italy) in 2014 and fed by electrical energy produced by photovoltaic panels. Experimental tests have been carried out in 15 order to analyze the performance curve of the electrolyser in different operative conditions, investigating the influence of 16 the different parameters on the efficiency. The results have been implemented in a software tool in order to describe the 17 behavior of the systems in off-design conditions. 18 Since the electrical energy produced by photovoltaic panels and used to feed the electrolyser is strongly variable 19 because of the random nature of the solar irradiance, a time-dependent hierarchical thermo-economic analysis is carried out 20 to evaluate both the optimal size and the management approach related to the system, considering a fixed size of 1 MW for 21 the photovoltaic panels. The thermo-economic analysis is performed with the software tool W-ECoMP, developed by the 22 authors' research group: the Italian energy scenario is considered, investigating the impact of electricity cost on the results as 23 well. 24 25 Keywords: renewable energy sources, thermo-economic optimization, hydrogen production. 26 NOMENCLATURE 27 Abbreviation 28 AEC Alkaline Electrolytic Cell 29 CCS Carbon Capture and Sequestration 30 DPBP Discounted Pay Back Period 31 IRR Internal Rate of Return 32 NPV Net Present Value 33 PEC Purchased Equipment Cost 34 TCI Total Capital Investment 35 TPG Thermochemical Power Group 36 W-ECoMP Web-based Economic Cogeneration Modular Program 37 38 *Revised Manuscript with no changes marked Click here to view linked References