Performance evaluation of optimal photovoltaic-electrolyzer system with the purpose of maximum Hydrogen storage

Power electronics-based electrolyzer systems are prevalently in current use. This paper proposes the more recently employed directly coupled photovoltaic (PV) electrolyzer systems. Equipped with accurate electrical models of the advanced alkaline electrolyzer, PV system and Hydrogen storage tank simulated using MATLAB, the system's performance for a full week is analyzed using Miami, Florida's meteorological data. A multi-level Genetic Algorithm (GA)-based optimization facilitates maximum hydrogen production, minimum excess power generation, and minimum energy transfer loss. The crucial effect of temperature on the overall system performance is also accounted for by optimizing this parameter using GA, maintaining operating conditions close to the Maximum Power Point (MPP) of the PV array. The results of the analysis have been documented to show that the optimal system for a 10 kW electrolyzer can produce, on an average, Hydrogen of 0.0176 mol/s, when the system is operating with 6.3% power loss and 2.4% power transfer loss.