ABSTRACT
Seasonal storage of solar energy is a challenging technical problem to which hydrogen technology may provide a feasible solution. In a photovoltaic-hydrogen (PV–H2) system, excess photovoltaic electricity is fed to the electrolyser to produce hydrogen and oxygen from water. The hydrogen thus produced is stored over the season to be converted back to electricity in a fuel cell in the winter. Thus, hydrogen is used as a storage medium to shift solar energy from summer to winter. The purpose of this pilot plant is to test the technical feasibility of the whole PV–H2 concept and its separate system components. The system is not operated continuously, but different kinds of test runs are performed to get operating experiences in real conditions. The PV–H2 pilot plant is located at the solar energy testing site at the Helsinki University of Technology in Espoo, Finland. The reliability of hydrogen-based systems must be further improved.
