A Feasibility Study on Using a Photovoltaic-Fuel Cell Hybrid System for Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Generation in Residential Sector in the East of Iran

The limitation of fossil fuel resources and pollution associated problems, especially in urban areas, and moreover, low efficient traditional energy convertors are the reasons for tendency to use more efficient energy convertors and renewable resources. Using a photovoltaic system for producing hydrogen beside a fuel cell system to supply the electrical and heat demands will be attractive in the near future. in this paper The feasibility study on using a photovoltaic-fuel cell hybrid system to produce heat and electricity simultaneously has been carried out. The results show that the photovoltaic system is the most economical case nowadays, which decreases the electrical dependency on the network and furthermore it has no pollution consequences, but the fuel cell based systems are not justifiable. It’s expected that they will have economical benefit in the future with increasing the cost of energy carriers, also decreasing the capital and operation costs of such systems.