Feasibility study for hydrogen production using hybrid solar power in Algeria

Hydrogen demand as a clean energy is one of the new energy challenges in the future. Being a very controlled technology, the water electrolysis is more efficient at high temperature level than at low one. This is because of the use of thermal energy which is less expensive than the use of electricity power to produce the hydrogen; the chemical reaction is more activated in these conditions. In this paper, the feasibility of hydrogen production at high temperature electrolyser, using a hybrid solar resource, thermal energy (parabolic trough concentrators) to produce high temperature, steam water and photovoltaic energy for electricity requirements of the HTE, is presented. The described hereafter presented in this document guarantees the production of an important quantity of hydrogen at 900 degrees C. The production rate depends on geographic position, on climatic conditions and on sun radiation. The optimization of the process is strongly related to what preceded these three parameters. Then, we suggest the set up construction in any region allowing maximum extraction of energy based in our simulation results. Copyright (C) 2010, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.