Techno-economic analysis of a PV/biomass/fuel cell energy system considering different fuel cell system initial capital costs

Despite many investigations on photovoltaic (PV)/wind/fuel cell (FC) systems, the integration of FC with biomass energy, biogas generator (BG), is rarely found. In this paper, a hybrid PV/BG/FC power generation system is modeled and designed for electrification to a stand-alone region in Iran. The configuration of the proposed hybrid system is optimally determined with respect to different fuel cell system initial capital costs. For this aim, the fuel cell system initial capital cost is varied from 2000 $/kW to 4000 $/kW and the amount of the FC generation from the total generation of the hybrid system is evaluated by considering loss of power supply probability (LPSP). From the results it is seen that in the optimized PV/BG/FC system and at LPSP = 2%, by decrease of the fuel cell system initial capital cost from 4000 $/kW to 2000 $/kW, the rated power of fuel cell system increases from 33.34 kW to 213.54 kW, the rated power of the biomass system decreases from 145.00 kW to 0.11 kW and total area occupied by the photovoltaic system decreases from 373.40 m(2) to 0.96 m(2). (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.