| This work consists of the study of hydrogen production by electrolytic methods with the use of solar energy as the primary energy source. In the first part, two new hybrid high-temperature solar hydrogen production systems are introduced. Both of the systems make use of hybrid solar collectors in order to produce hydrogen by means of a high-temperature electrolyser. The second part of this work concentrates on the cost analysis of providing hydrogen to a house, a shopping center and a town with hybrid high-temperature solar hydrogen production systems. In the cost study, three different solar cells have been considered, viz., amorphous silicon, single crystal silicon and gallium arsenide.; The two solar hydrogen systems considered have been evaluated by performing numerical simulations, and comparing the results with those obtained from previous studies. Hydrogen efficiencies up to 36% have been obtained. Efficiency studies showed good correlation with results obtained from other studies.; The cost analysis for the implementation of hybrid high-temperature solar hydrogen systems was conducted using actual cost data for the components wherever possible. Results show that gallium arsenide modules are most cost effective when they are used to generate hydrogen for large applications such as a shopping centers or a town. For smaller applications, such as providing hydrogen for a house, amorphous silicon and single crystal silicon cells result in more cost effective hydrogen. |
