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A small-scale, decentralized hybrid system is proposed for autonomous operation in a commercial building (small hotel). The study attempts to provide a potential solution, which will be attractive both in terms of efficiency and economics. The proposed configuration consists of the photovoltaic (PV) and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) subsystems. The fuel cell subsystem is fueled with natural gas. The SOFC stack model is validated using literature data. A thermoeconomic optimization strategy, based on a genetic algorithm approach, is applied to the developed model to minimize the system lifecycle cost (LCC). Four decision variables are identified and chosen for the thermoeconomic optimization: temperature at anode inlet, temperature at cathode inlet, temperature at combustor exit, and steam-to-carbon ratio. The total capacity at design conditions is 70 and 137.5 kWe, for the PV and SOFC subsystems, respectively. After the application of the optimization process, the LCC is reduced from 1,203,266 to 1,049,984 USD. This improvement is due to the reduction of fuel consumed by the system, which also results in an increase of the average net electrical efficiency from 29.2 to 35.4%. The thermoeconomic optimization of the system increases its future viability and energy market penetration potential.

New energy solutions are needed to decrease the currently high electricity costs from conventional electricity-only central power plants in Cyprus. A promising solution is a decentralized, hybrid photovoltaic-solid oxide fuel cell (PV-SOFC) system. In this study a decentralized, hybrid PV-SOFC system is investigated as a solution for useful energy supply to a commercial building (small hotel). An actual load profile and solar/weather data are fed to the system model to determine the thermoeconomic characteristics of the proposed system. The maximum power outputs for the PV and SOFC subsystems are 70 and 152 kWe, respectively. The average net electrical and total efficiencies for the SOFC subsystem are 0.303 and 0.700, respectively. Maximum net electrical and total efficiencies reach up to 0.375 and 0.756, respectively. The lifecycle cost for the system is 1.24 million USD, with a unit cost of electricity at 0.1057 USD/kWh. In comparison to the conventional case, the unit cost of electricity is about 50% lower, while the reduction in CO2 emissions is about 36%. The proposed system is capable of power and heat generation at a lower cost, owing to the recent progress in both PV and fuel cell technologies, namely longer lifetime and lower specific cost.

A proposed residential energy system based on the PBI (Polybenzimidazole) fuel cell technology is analyzed in terms of operational performance. Conventional operational strategies, such as heat-led and electricity-led, are applied to the simulated system to investigate their performance characteristics. Based on these findings, an improved operational strategy is formulated and applied in an attempt to minimize the shortcomings of conventional strategies. System parameters, such as electrical and thermal efficiencies, heat dumping, and import/export of electricity, are analyzed. The applied load profile is based on average data for a single-family household in Denmark and includes consumption data for electricity and heat demands. The study analyzes the potential of the proposed system on market penetration in the area of residential heat-and-power generation and whether this deployment can be justified as compared to other micro-CHP system technologies. The most important findings of this research study indicate that in comparison to non-fuel cell-based micro-CHP systems, such as Stirling Engine-based systems, the proposed system has significantly higher efficiencies. Moreover, the lower heat-to-power ratios allow the system to avoid high thermal surpluses throughout the whole annual operational profile.

Novel proposals for the modeling and operation of a micro-CHP (combined-heat-andpower) residential system based on HT-PEMFC (High Temperature-Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell) technology are described and analyzed to investigate the technical feasibility of such systems. The proposed systems must provide electricity, hot water, and space heating for an average single-family household in Denmark. A complete fuel processing subsystem, with all necessary BOP (balance-of-plant) components, is modeled and coupled to the fuel cell stack subsystem. The research project is divided into five main study topics: (a) Modeling, simulation and validation of the system in LabVIEW environment to provide the ability of Data Acquisition of actual components, and thereby more realistic design in the future; (b) Modeling, parametric study, and sensitivity analysis of the system in EES (Engineering Equation Solver). The parametric study is conducted to determine the most viable system/component design based on maximizing total system efficiency; (c) An improved operational strategy is formulated and applied in an attempt to minimize operational implications, experienced when using conventional operational strategies; (d) Application of a GA (Genetic Algorithm) optimization strategy. The objective function of the single-objective optimization strategy is the net electrical efficiency of the micro-CHP system. The implemented optimization procedure attempts to maximize the objective function by variation of nine decision variables; (e) The micro-CHP system is optimized by formulating and applying a process integration methodology. The methodology involves system optimization targeting in net electrical efficiency maximization. Subsequently a MINLP (Mixed Integer Non-Linear Programming) problem optimization strategy is applied to minimize the annual cost of the HEN (Heat Exchanger Network). The results obtained throughout this research work indicate the high potential of the proposed micro-CHP system, since net electrical efficiencies of up to 44% were reached, which are far and away higher than heat engine-based systems. Another interesting aspect is the simplicity of the system's fuel processing subsystem, which makes it more competitive, in terms of commercialization prospects, than other fuel cell-based micro-CHP systems.

Detailed thermodynamic, kinetic, geometric, and cost models are developed, implemented, and validated for the synthesis/design and operational analysis of hybrid solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) – gas turbine (GT) – steam turbine (ST) systems ranging in size from 1.5 MWe to 10 MWe. The fuel cell model used in this thesis is based on a tubular Siemens-Westinghouse-type SOFC, which is integrated with a gas turbine and a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) integrated in turn with a steam turbine cycle. The SOFC/GT subsystem is based on previous work done by Francesco Calise during his doctoral research (Calise, 2005). In that work, a HRSG is not used. Instead, the gas turbine exhaust is used by a number of heat exchangers to preheat the air and fuel entering the fuel cell and to provide energy for district heating. The current work considers instead the possible benefits of using the exhaust gases in an HRSG in order to produce steam which drives a steam turbine for additional power output. Four different steam turbine cycles are considered in this M.S. thesis work: a single-pressure, a dual-pressure, a triple-pressure, and a triple-pressure with reheat. The models have been developed to function both at design (full load) and off-design (partial load) conditions. In addition, different solid oxide fuel cell sizes are examined to assure a proper selection of SOFC size based on efficiency or cost. The thermoeconomic analysis includes cost functions developed specifically for the different system and component sizes (capacities) analyzed. A parametric study is used to determine the most viable system/component syntheses/designs based on maximizing total system efficiency or minimizing total system life cycle cost. Master of Science