Optimization of accurate PV for Green Hydrogen Production under Sahelian Climate Conditions: Case of Niger

Abstract

Green Hydrogen has gained significant attention to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 scenario. This study performs an optimization of an Accurate photovoltaic for Green Hydrogen production under severe environment conditions including temperature, wind and dust accumulation effects on photovoltaic modules in the Sahel. Two different photovoltaic models were set up to optimize Green Hydrogen production using COMANDO energy systems modelling framework, an accurate photovoltaic model including the environmental factors mentioned above and a photovoltaic with water-cooling system model that limits the cells overheating and dust accumulation loss. The optimization results of photovoltaic with water-cooling based considering Reversible Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells, wind turbines, batteries, ground-water suppliers, hydrogen storage, water storage, electricity grid fed in by the electricity excess and a hydrogen demand of 15.3 tons per day revealed better than the results of the accurate photovoltaic with respectively a total annualized investment costs of 88.58 million USD and 84.13 million USD. Similarly, the optimal design of the photovoltaic plant size decreases from 274.22 MWp to 259.78 saving a PV modules installation of 13.13 MWp and 7.5 hectares of land. These results are due to the improvement of photovoltaic operating efficiency by limiting the cells' overheating and dust accumulation through photovoltaic water-cooling. Investigation of the impact of the electrolyzers technologies and the hydrogen demand profile on the optimization results meeting the same daily hydrogen demand shows that hydrogen production using the alkaline electrolyzer with a base demand of 200 kg/h and a pick demand during the daytime up to 2422.6 kg/h gives the best optimization results. The total annualized investment costs dropped significantly from 84.13 million USD to 65.68 million USD led by a significant increase of the photovoltaic size up to 348.22 MWp and a significant decrease in wind turbines from 39.76 MW to 11.54 MW. It can be drawn that Hydrogen production in the Sahel with hybrid solar and wind without battery is more cost-effective in high production during the daytime due to the huge solar potential and lower production on the nights or cloudy days by the wind energy. Finally, it was found that 12,258 m3 is required for one cooling cycle of 348.22 MWp of photovoltaic plant and this significant amount of water can be used in agriculture to improve food security.