Energy Return of Investment (EROI) Analysis of Directly-Coupled Photovoltaic Storage Systems

Abstract

To address the energy dependence challenges and the climate change issues, Hydrogen has received unprecedented attention, as an energy carrier and a storage medium. In this research work, a quasi-island utility scale of 1MW Photovoltaic storage system that meets the energy requirements of the water electrolysis process for the generation of Hydrogen, under the climatic condition of Farafenni town, in The Gambia was designed as a reference case. The energetic performance of three different system configurations, the reference case scenario, direct coupled photovoltaic-electrochemical water splitting system, and the battery assisted direct coupled photovoltaic-electrochemical system were analysed using the Energy Return of Investment metric. The Life cycle assessment method and the System Advisory Model simulation tool were used for the analysis and the results imply that for the configuration to operate without grid inter-connection, a battery capacity of 3MWh will be required. The net energy analysis metric results are 2.36, 2.48, and 2.39 for the reference case, the direct coupled Photovoltaic-electrochemical water splitting system, and the battery assisted direct coupled photovoltaic-electrochemical system, respectively. These values indicate that the direct-coupled photovoltaic storage systems are viable options for hydrogen production.