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 Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 2022 169 054503

Review—Engineering Challenges in Green Hydrogen Production

Systems
Meng Tao,1,*,z Joseph A. Azzolini,1,a Ellen B. Stechel,2 Katherine E. Ayers,3,** and Thomas
I. Valdez4
1
School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-5706, United
States of America
2
ASU LightWorks® and School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-5402, United States
of America
3
Nel Hydrogen, Wallingford, Connecticut 06492, United States of America
4
Plug Power, Latham, New York 12110, United States of America

Today, hydrogen (H2) is overwhelmingly produced through steam methane reforming (SMR) of natural gas, which emits about
12 kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) for 1 kg of H2 (∼12 kg-CO2/kg-H2). Water electrolysis offers an alternative for H2 production,
but today’s electrolyzers consume over 55 kWh of electricity for 1 kg of H2 (>55 kWh/kg-H2). Electric grid-powered water
electrolysis would emit less CO2 than the SMR process when the carbon intensity for grid power falls below 0.22
kg-CO2/kWh. Solar- and wind-powered electrolytic H2 production promises over 80% CO2 reduction over the SMR process,
but large-scale (megawatt to gigawatt) direct solar- or wind-powered water electrolysis has yet to be demonstrated. In this
paper, several approaches for solar-powered electrolysis are analyzed: (1) coupling a photovoltaic (PV) array with an
electrolyzer through alternating current; (2) direct-current (DC) to DC coupling; and (3) direct DC-DC coupling without a
power converter. Co-locating a solar or wind farm with an electrolyzer provides a lower power loss and a lower upfront system
cost than long-distance power transmission. A load-matching PV system for water electrolysis enables a 10%–50% lower
levelized cost of electricity than the other systems and excellent scalability from a few kilowatts to a gigawatt. The concept of
maximum current point tracking is introduced in place of maximum power point tracking to maximize the H2 output by solar-
powered electrolysis.
© 2022 The Author(s). Published on behalf of The Electrochemical Society by IOP Publishing Limited. This is an open access
article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 License (CC BY-
NC-ND, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reuse, distribution, and reproduction
in any medium, provided the original work is not changed in any way and is properly cited. For permission for commercial reuse,
please email: [email protected]. [DOI: 10.1149/1945-7111/ac6983]

Manuscript submitted February 15, 2022; revised manuscript received March 28, 2022. Published May 3, 2022. This paper is part
of the JES Focus Issue on Advanced Electrolysis for Renewable Energy Storage.

Green hydrogen (H2), which is produced from low-carbon Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Hydrogen Production Processes
renewable sources including water and renewable energy, is
Today hydrogen is overwhelmingly produced by steam methane
indispensable for our energy and environmental sustainability.1–4
reforming (SMR) of natural gas. The complete conversion of
H2 can serve as a storage medium for intermittent solar and wind
methane in natural gas to H2 is given below:
power, enabling longer-term (typically weekly) storage beyond
daily storage by batteries.5,6 It can provide a fuel for fuel cells in
CH4 (g) + 2H2 O (g) → 4H2 (g) + CO2 (g) [R-1]
transportation, which is particularly important for long-haul heavy-
duty trucking as an electric truck requires a massive battery and although there are multiple steps involved in this overall reaction.
long charging times. It can also act as an agent to convert captured SMR is carried out with high-temperature (700 °C–1,000 °C) and
carbon dioxide (CO2) to a hydrocarbon (e.g., methanol) as a pressurized steam (3–25 bar), which requires energy to produce. The
sustainable fuel for buildings, transportation, and industries, or as a total equivalent carbon dioxide emissions from the SMR process are
sustainable feedstock for other synthetic hydrocarbons such as close to 12 kg of CO2 per kilogram of H2 produced (kg-CO2/kg-H2),8,9
plastics.7 which include about 9 kg-CO2/kg-H2 direct emissions from the SMR
This paper presents an analysis on some of the engineering process and up to 3 kg-CO2/kg-H2 equivalent emissions from
challenges and opportunities in integrating renewable energy with upstream methane leakage. While 12 kg-CO2/kg-H2 is lower than
electrolytic hydrogen production. The analysis will focus on 19 kg-CO2/kg-H2 for the coal-to-H2 process,9 it is still very high
intermittent solar and wind power. Hydro power is dispatchable compared to solar- and wind-powered water electrolysis.
and currently used in electrolytic H2 production as part of the Water is a carbon-free source of hydrogen, which is abundant and
electric grid mix. On the electrolyzer side, the analysis will focus renewable. Although less popular, there are three commercial
on alkaline and polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM). Solid-oxide processes to produce H2 from water and grid power:10 alkaline,
electrolyzers operate at an elevated temperature of 700 °C–900 °C, polymer electrolyte membrane, and solid oxide electrolysis. The
which represents a unique case for integration, i.e., maintaining the overall reaction for water electrolysis is:
high temperature on a 24/7 basis with intermittent solar and wind
power is a challenge that alkaline and PEM electrolyzers do not 2H2 O (aq) → 2H2 (g) + O2 (g) [R-2]
share. In addition, the analysis will focus on large-scale water
electrolysis systems from a megawatt to a gigawatt, as these are the where H2 is produced at the cathode and O2 at the anode in an
scales required for green H2 production but such large scales electrolyzer. These electrolytic processes do not directly emit carbon
present significant challenges that smaller-scale systems do not dioxide, but they require a huge amount of electricity, 50–60 kWh of
encounter. electricity to produce 1 kg of H2 excluding transmission losses.10 The
problem is that the grid is generally “dirty.” In the U.S., over 60% of
the grid power is derived from fossil fuels.11 Generating 1 kWh of
*Electrochemical Society Member. electricity in the U.S. emits on average 0.42 kg of CO2 at power
**Electrochemical Society Fellow.
a plants.12 This carbon intensity translates into 23 kg-CO2/kg-H2 with
Present address: Electric Power Systems Research, Sandia National Laboratories,
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87123, United States of America. grid power, nearly double the CO2 emissions of the SMR process. The
z
E-mail: [email protected] increased CO2 emissions are due to the extra steps to convert natural
 Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 2022 169 054503

Table I. Carbon dioxide emissions for four different hydrogen production processes.

Steam methane Grid-powered Solar-powered Wind-powered

H2 production process reforming electrolysis (U.S.) electrolysis electrolysis14

CO2 emission in kg-CO2/kg-H2 12 23 2.1 0.68

gas to electricity and then use the electricity to produce H2, instead of
directly converting natural gas to H2.
The situation is different in some countries such as Norway and
Sweden where the electric grid is already quite clean or low carbon.
Typically those countries have abundant hydro power. When
supplemented by nuclear and/or wind power, grid-powered water
electrolysis makes perfect sense there. In general, the CO2 emissions
for grid power must be below 0.22 kg-CO2/kWh to compete with the
SMR process and substantially lower to derive environmental benefits,
as 55 kWh/kg-H2 × 0.22 kg-CO2/kWh = 12 kg-CO2/kg-H2. This fact
means that the U.S. must reduce the CO2 emissions of its grid power
by at least 50% for any environmental benefit from grid-powered
electrolytic H2 production.
Much greener hydrogen can be achieved if electrolysis is powered
directly by renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and/or hydro
power. Take solar power as an example, which is arguably the “dirtiest”
renewable energy source. It requires about 3 kWh of electricity to
produce a 1-Wp (watt peak) solar module.13 Solar manufacturers rely
on the same electric grid as other manufacturers, so the electricity they
use has the same carbon intensity, i.e., a 1-Wp module is equivalent to
1.26 kg of CO2 emissions at power plants in the U.S. On the other
hand, the 1-Wp module generates on average 30 kWh of electricity
over its 25-year lifespan, or the CO2 emissions for solar electricity are Figure 1. Polarization curve of a commercial PEM hydrogen cell operating
0.042 kg-CO2/kWh. With solar-powered electrolytic H2 production, at 50 °C.
the CO2 emissions are 2.1 kg-CO2/kg-H2. With wind and hydro
power, the CO2 emissions should be lower than 2 kg-CO2/kg-H2.14
Table I summarizes the carbon intensity of different processes for A large-scale electrolyzer for hydrogen production today con-
H2 production. tains several cell stacks in a parallel connection. Each stack contains
While the motivation for green hydrogen is clear, the technology 100–200 hydrogen cells in a serial connection, where the hydrogen
for large-scale water electrolysis from solar and wind power has yet to cell is the basic building block for electrolyzers. As an example,
be developed. Hydro power does not suffer from intermittency, and it Fig. 1 shows the polarization curve, i.e., the current-voltage relation-
has been applied to green H2 production as part of the grid mix since ship, for a commercial PEM hydrogen cell with a 7-mil perfluor-
the 1920’s with the Norsk Hydro/alkaline technology. This paper will osulfonic acid membrane operating at 50 °C. There are two features
focus on wind and solar power for electrolytic H2 production. in Fig. 1 that are common for both alkaline and PEM hydrogen cells:

Current Electrolytic Hydrogen Production Systems • The cell requires a turn-on voltage, below which the current is
practically zero.
Today most commercial electrolyzers for hydrogen production • Beyond the turn-on voltage, the current-voltage relationship is
take alternating-current (AC) power from the electric grid, but the largely linear.
cell stacks operate on direct-current (DC) power. To match the AC
power, all the supporting components in today’s electrolyzer For system design and simulation, the following equation
systems such as the pumps are AC components. Efforts are required represents the current-voltage relationship of the cell15:
if one decides to run the entire electrolyzer system on DC power.
For large-scale electrolyzers over 1 MW, high-voltage AC power Vcell = Vth + Icell × R cell [E-1]
typically exceeding 100,000 V is required as input to the electrolyzer
site. The high voltage minimizes the resistive losses from transmis- where Vcell, Icell, and Rcell are the voltage, current, and resistance of
sion, as the current required to deliver 1-MW AC power at 400 Vrms the hydrogen cell, and Vth the turn-on voltage. For the hydrogen cell
is 2,500 Arms. Most electrolyzers today operate at 200 V or 400 V in Fig. 1, the turn-on voltage is 1.56 V cell−1. In Fig. 1, the current is
DC. In either case, a large-scale electrolyzer requires a step-down given in current density Jcell with a unit of A/cm2 and the resistance
transformer to convert the high-voltage AC power to low-voltage in specific resistance Rs with a unit of Ω-cm2. The relationships
AC and then a rectifier to convert the low-voltage AC power to 200- between Rs and Rcell and between Icell and Jcell are: and
V or 400-V DC before delivering it to the cell stacks. Therefore,
there are two power conversions on the electrolyzer side: R s = R cell × A [E-2]

• High-voltage AC to low-voltage AC. Icell = Jcell × A [E-2]

• Low-voltage AC to low-voltage DC.
where A is the area of the cathode in the hydrogen cell.
It is reminded that each time power is converted or conditioned, When n hydrogen cells are serially connected in a stack, the
there is a power loss associated with that conversion/conditioning. current-voltage relationship for the stack is:
There is also a monetary cost associated with the power conversion/
conditioning device. Vstack = n × Vth + Icell × n × R cell [E-3]
 Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 2022 169 054503

With m stacks parallelly connected in an electrolyzer, the current- One advantage of wind-powered electrolytic hydrogen produc-
voltage relationship for the entire electrolyzer system is: tion is that the power electronics are largely available. Today large-
scale electrolysis from megawatt to gigawatt is carried out to
Vsystem = n × Vth + m × Icell × n × R cell [E-4] produce several raw materials including caustic soda, aluminum,
copper, and zinc.17 The electrolyzers for those materials all take AC
It is possible that a large-scale electrolyzer requires more than one power from the grid, i.e., those megawatt to gigawatt transformers
rectifier, and equation E-4 applies to the m stacks powered through and rectifiers are readily available for large-scale wind-powered
one rectifier. electrolyzers.
The largest electrolyzer for hydrogen production today is a few There is a major difference between grid-powered electrolysis
megawatts. To scale up the electrolyzer to a gigawatt , one can, in and direct wind- or solar-powered electrolysis, i.e., the intermittency
principle, do the following: of wind and solar power. According to the U.S. Energy Information
Administration,18 the capacity factor of utility-scale wind turbine
• Increase the area of the cathode in the hydrogen cell to increase generators in 2020 is 35.3%, so a wind-alone electrolyzer produces
its current. A larger cathode area does not change the current density 65% less hydrogen than a grid-powered electrolyzer running on a 24/
as the cell voltage is more or less fixed to about 2 V cell−1. Today 7 basis. The capacity factor for large-scale solar PV systems is even
the typical cell current is between 2,500 A and 5,000 A, so each cell lower at 24.2%. The low capacity factors contribute to the high cost
requires 5–10 kW to drive. For example, the Giner ELX 225 kW cell of green H2.
stack has a nominal current of 3,750 A.16 Conversations with One approach to improve the capacity factor of the electrolyzer is
electrolyzer manufacturers suggest that in the future, over 10,000 A to combine wind power with solar power.19,20 Wind power and solar
cell−1 can be expected. power are often complementary temporally, so a wind and solar
• Increase the number of cells per stack to increase the stack hybrid hydrogen production system may achieve a capacity factor of
power. Today most stacks contain 100–200 cells, so a single stack 50%. One engineering challenge here is how to couple intermittent
requires as low as 0.5 MW stack−1 and as high as 2 MW stack−1 to AC power with intermittent DC power for DC electrolyzers. Another
drive. Solar modules can withstand a maximum system voltage of challenge is how to properly size the wind generator, PV array, and
1,500 V, so one can imagine a stack of 750 hydrogen cells for electrolyzer for a specific location to maximize the system capacity
1,500 V. A 1,500-V 10,000-A stack would require 15 MW to power. factor and minimize the upfront system cost.
• Increase the number of stacks in an electrolyzer system to Beyond 50%, other renewable or low-carbon energy sources are
increase the system power. Today a typical megawatt-scale electro- needed such as hydro and/or nuclear power. Here storage of wind
lyzer has between 1 and 20 stacks and designs for larger systems and solar power through hydrogen is excluded as an option for
have been developed. If a system has 100 1,500-V 10,000-A stacks, improving the capacity factor of the electrolyzer. One could use H2
the system power would reach 1.5 GW! produced from wind or solar power to generate electricity through a
fuel cell, and then produce H2 with this electricity at night. This does
However, there remain significant engineering challenges to not seem like a smart choice due to the power losses associated with
come up with a gigawatt-scale electrolyzer, as some of the the additional conversions from H2 to electricity to H2. There is
approaches above are already maxed out to the limitations of today’s nothing to be gained by such an approach except less H2. Wind- and
technology. solar-powered H2 production can be used for many applications such
as storage of intermittent wind and solar power, long-haul heavy-
Wind-Powered Electrolytic Hydrogen Production duty trucking, and conversion of captured CO2 to a hydrocarbon, but
not for production of H2.
Wind turbine generators produce AC power, whereas solar
photovoltaic (PV) arrays output DC power. Therefore, some of the Solar-Powered Electrolytic Hydrogen Production
challenges that wind-powered water electrolysis systems encounter
are different from solar-powered systems. Solar power is projected to overtake wind power soon and
Wind-powered electrolytic hydrogen production systems require become the leading renewable energy source of the future.21 The
three power conversions, two on the electrolyzer side: largest solar PV systems today exceed 2 GWp.22,23 Without a cost-
effective and scalable technology for PV-powered electrolytic
• High-voltage AC to low-voltage AC. hydrogen production, those large-scale solar systems are backed
• Low-voltage AC to low-voltage DC. with only battery storage systems.23 The discharge time for various
batteries is limited to a few hours for daily storage, but hydrogen
And one on the wind turbine side: enables weekly storage.24
Driving large-scale electrolyzers with solar power presents
• Low-voltage AC to high-voltage AC. significant engineering challenges. Since PV arrays output DC
power and electrolyzers take DC power, there are several possibi-
The last conversion arises because the output voltage of wind lities to integrate solar power with electrolysis including:
turbine generators is typically in the 600–700 Vrms range. A step-up
transformer is thus necessary to bring the low-voltage AC power up • DC to AC and then back to DC.
to high-voltage AC. Moreover, a dedicated transmission line from • DC to DC without going through AC.
the wind farm to the electrolyzer site is likely needed to deliver wind
power for two reasons: It is reminded that a traditional PV system always contains power
electronics for maximum power point tracking (MPPT). MPPT
• In most cases, the current grid does not have the capacity to ensures that a PV system always outputs the maximum available PV
accept and deliver additional power of a megawatt to gigawatt scale, power under any irradiance and/or load conditions. For a grid-tied
without an expensive grid upgrade. system, the DC-AC inverter performs MPPT. DC-DC coupling
• Through a “dirty” grid, it is impossible to produce greener H2 requires the DC-DC power converter to perform MPPT.
than steam methane reformed H2. This fact is true for most countries.
DC-AC-DC for PV-powered hydrogen production.—Today the
Co-locating a wind farm with an electrolyzer is preferred to reduce only feasible approach to drive a large-scale electrolyzer with solar
both the cost and the power loss from long-distance power power is through an AC grid (Fig. 2). To quantify, let us assume a
transmission. 10-MW electrolyzer. Four PV arrays of 3 MWp each are needed to
 Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 2022 169 054503

Figure 2. Today’s approach for solar-powered electrolytic hydrogen production through an AC grid.

provide about 12 MWp of solar power for the electrolyzer. The There are four power conversions in the DC-AC-DC approach.
reason for the multiple solar arrays is that the largest inverter Two on the PV array side:
available on the market today is about 3 MW. The low-voltage DC
solar power (typically around 500 V) is first converted to low- • Low-voltage DC to low-voltage AC with MPPT.
voltage AC by the inverters. If the power loss through the inverters is • Low-voltage AC to high-voltage AC.
10%, 12-MWp DC power provides about 11-MWp AC.
Once the DC solar power becomes AC, the rest of the power And two on the electrolyzer side:
system looks essentially the same as for wind-powered electrolyzers.
The outputs of the four inverters go through a step-up transformer • High-voltage AC to low-voltage AC.
that converts the low-voltage AC power to high-voltage AC. The • Low-voltage AC to low-voltage DC.
electric grid accepts the AC power peaked at 11 MW and delivers it
to the electrolyzer site, where the high-voltage AC power is Again, a dedicated transmission line from the solar farm to the
converted back to low-voltage AC (200–400 Vrms) through a step- electrolyzer site is likely needed for the same reasons as for wind-
down transformer. The low-voltage AC power is then rectified back powered electrolyzers.
to DC for the DC electrolyzer. The transformers and rectifiers all Short-distance power transmission can employ a low voltage
incur power losses. If the combined power loss by the transformers with a high current, for a limited transmission loss. Therefore, co-
and rectifiers is 10%, the 11-MWp AC power is now reduced to 10- locating a solar farm with an electrolyzer brings out the opportunity
MWp DC for the 10-MW electrolyzer. to eliminate the power conversions between low-voltage AC and
 Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 2022 169 054503

high-voltage AC, making two power conversions possible for DC-

AC-DC based water electrolysis, one conversion on the PV array
side:

• Low-voltage DC to low-voltage AC with MPPT.

And one on the electrolyzer side:

• Low-voltage AC to low-voltage DC.

Therefore, co-locating a solar farm and an electrolyzer has the
potential to reduce both the power loss and the upfront system cost
over those systems relying on long-distance power transmission.

DC-DC for PV-powered hydrogen production.—There is an-

other approach to drive large-scale electrolyzers with solar power,
i.e., through DC-DC coupling, which is a major opportunity for
electrical engineers as large-scale solar-powered DC-DC electro-
lyzers do not exist today.
There are several methods to implement the DC-DC approach.
One is through a high-voltage DC transmission line. In this method,
there are two power conversion or conditioning steps on the PV
array side:

• MPPT for low-voltage DC.

• Low-voltage DC to high-voltage DC.And one on the electro-
lyzer side:
• High-voltage DC to low-voltage DC.
The advantages of this method seem marginal as it cuts down the
four power conversions for the DC-AC-DC approach to three.
Moreover, high-voltage DC transmission25 is a new technology as
high-voltage AC transmission has been in practice for over 100
years.
The DC-DC approach does allow a much simpler system, in
principle, when the solar farm and the electrolyzer are co-located.
Like the DC-AC-DC approach, co-location can eliminate the power
conversions between low-voltage DC and high-voltage DC, making
one power conversion possible for DC-DC based electrolytic
hydrogen production. All it requires is a DC-DC power converter
between the PV array and the electrolyzer, which also performs
MPPT. Such a system has been demonstrated at small scales for
individual homes,26–28 with a lower power loss and a lower upfront
system cost than relying on long-distance power transmission.
However, it is technically difficult to scale up the DC-DC power
converter to a megawatt to gigawatt scale. The largest DC-DC power
converter on the market today is only 500 kW, the Dynapower model
DPS-500 battery charge controller.29 This scale is far smaller than the
typical electrolyzers today, 1–10 MW. The Dynapower DPS-500
outputs 1,000 V and 500 A, which represents a mismatch to the input
of the electrolyzers, 200–400 V and 2,500–5,000 A.
Solar-powered large-scale electrolysis requires a high-current
DC-DC power converter because the hydrogen output by electrolysis
depends on the number of electrons supplied. Every H2 molecule
produced requires two electrons to the cathode:
2H + + 2e− → H2 (g) [R-3]

as long as the voltage stays above the turn-on voltage. High-current

power converters present a new, unique engineering challenge. First,
there would be significant resistive losses due to the high current. Figure 3. Direct coupling through co-locating PV array and electrolyzer for
Moreover, the only way to have a 10,000 A power converter today is green hydrogen production.
to connect many matched power transistors in parallel as each
transistor can handle only a tiny fraction of the total current. It is converter is likely limited by power electronics to about 1 MW per
expensive to find a large number of matched power transistors, and converter.
more transistors mean more chances of transistor failure thus a
shortened lifespan of the power converter. Practically anything Direct coupling for PV-powered hydrogen production.—Co-
beyond a few thousands of amperes is highly unlikely. Large-scale locating the solar farm and the electrolyzer introduces another
solar-powered electrolytic H2 production through a DC-DC power opportunity, i.e., direct coupling between the PV array and the
 Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 2022 169 054503

Figure 4. The basic, stand-alone load-matching PV system with five loads.34

electrolyzer.30 The output of a solar array can be directly connected • A stand-alone system with no power exchange with an electric grid.
to the input of an electrolyzer without any power electronics in • A grid-feeding system allowing PV power to feed into the grid
between (Fig. 3), although proper designs of the PV array and/or the when needed.
electrolyzer are required to achieve voltage and power matching • A grid-backed system allowing grid power to drive hydrogen
between them.31,32 production when needed.
Let us examine the state-of-the-art half-cut monocrystalline • A grid-integrated system allowing power to flow in both
passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) solar modules as an example. directions.
A module with 120 half-cut PERC cells outputs 310 Wp under the
standard test conditions (AM 1.5 and 25 °C).33 At the maximum Here only the stand-alone system will be explained for a better
power point, the module outputs a voltage of 33 V and a current of understanding.
9.4 A. With the operating voltage of a hydrogen cell around 2 V A couple of features are essential for the load-matching PV system:
cell−1, each solar module can, in principle, drive 16 or 17 serially-
connected hydrogen cells in a stack. For a typical stack of 3,000 A • The system has more than one load for load management. For
and 400 V, a solar array consisting of 12 modules in a string for water electrolysis, each load is a cell stack. The Nel Hydrogen M500
396 V and 319 strings in parallel for 2,999 A is required to power it, and the Teledyne Titan EL-1400 each offers two loads or two cell
i.e., 3,828 solar modules for a 1.2-MW stack. For a 1,500-V 10,000- stacks.
A stack, each string can have 45 solar modules in series for 1,485 V • The system contains no power converter for power conversion
and 1,064 strings in parallel for 10,002 A. In this case 47,880 solar or conditioning. Instead, it digitally delivers PV power to a load
modules would be connected for one stack of 1,485 V × 10,002 A = through a relay, i.e., the power is either on or off for a load.
14.9 MW. • The loads, when connected to the PV array, are connected in
While direct coupling represents a simple system topology for parallel, i.e., the combined resistance of all the connected loads
solar-powered electrolysis, it suffers from a low system efficiency of decreases with more connected loads.
about 90%,15 i.e., about 10% of the maximum available PV power • The system has a microcontroller that connects or disconnects
from the solar array is lost due to the mismatch between the solar a load through a relay based on the information provided by the
array and the electrolyzer. Nevertheless, it is a worthy approach if no power sensor for MPPT.
better approach is available, considering the higher power losses and
additional system costs associated with a transmission line and the Figure 5 illustrates the basic control algorithm for MPPT in the
technical barriers to a high-current DC-DC power converter. load-matching PV system.36 The power sensor first measures the
power delivered to the currently-connected loads. The microcon-
troller then switches, i.e., connects or disconnects, a load so the
Direct coupling with load management for PV-powered hy- system has a different number of connected loads. The sensor
drogen production.—A directly-coupled system for solar-powered measures the power delivered to the new set of connected loads, and
electrolytic hydrogen production can be much more efficient if load the microcontroller compares the two measured powers. If the new
management is incorporated.34,35 Such a system can exceed a 99% power is lower than the old power, the microcontroller undoes the
power efficiency without a traditional power converter for MPPT, switched load, and the system goes back to the original number of
i.e., less than 1% of the maximum available PV power is lost and connected loads. If the new power is higher than the old power, the
over 99% of the maximum available PV power is delivered to the microcontroller keeps the switched load so the system has a different
loads. The load-matching PV system performs MPPT by matching number of connected loads now. In either case, the algorithm starts
the power demand of the loads with the maximum available PV over again and will continue until the maximum power point is
power. This is achieved by changing the number of loads connected found.
to the solar array. Figure 6 presents a load-line analysis for the load-matching PV
The basic, stand-alone load-matching PV system is illustrated in system with three electrolytic loads which explains how the system
Fig. 4. Five loads are shown in Fig. 4 but the system can have fewer performs MPPT through load management.35 When the solar
or more loads if needed. There are different methods to implement irradiance increases, the blue current-voltage curve of the PV array
this basic system for water electrolysis: gradually shifts up. The three red load lines in Fig. 6 represent one,
 Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 2022 169 054503

The system cuts the load resistance in half by connecting load 2 in

parallel with load 1, jumping from point 2 to point 3. This critical
point is referred to as a switch point. The optimal switch point for a
maximum system power efficiency occurs when the power delivered
to n + 1 loads, Pn+1, is equal to that of n loads, Pn:
Pn = Pn + 1 [E-5]

The system then operates along the 2-loads line until it reaches the
next switch point, and so on. When the irradiance decreases, this
process occurs in reverse and loads are disconnected from the PV
array one by one.
The load-matching PV system with electrolytic loads is efficient.
Both static and dynamic simulations suggest that the daily-averaged
system power efficiency is over 99% with just four electrolytic
loads, and increasing the loads from four to six marginally improves
the system power efficiency by less than 0.5%.35,37 With a nearly
50% increase in the electrolyzer cost from four stacks to six stacks, a
load-matching PV system with four electrolytic loads is more cost-
effective. Compared to those systems relying on long-distance
power transmission, this load-matching system is about 25% better
in efficiency alone, from about 80% to over 99%.
The elimination of the traditional power converter underlies the
efficiency, cost, and scalability advantages of the load-matching PV
system over all the other systems discussed in this paper. Instead of
three or four power conversions through a DC or AC transmission
line, the load-matching system involves zero power conversion. As
Figure 5. The basic control algorithm for MPPT through load management shown in Fig. 4, the PV power feeds directly into the loads without
in PV systems with multiple loads.36 any power conversion or conditioning. Therefore, any power loss
and component cost associated with power conversion/conditioning
are eliminated in the load-matching PV system. Without a power
converter, the upfront system cost is reduced by about 10% over a
DC-DC power converter-based system, based on the cost of the
inverter in today’s PV systems.38 Compared to those systems relying
on long-distance power transmission, the load-matching PV system
is estimated to reduce the upfront system cost by about 30% from the
long transmission line, transformers, rectifiers, and power conver-
ters. In addition to the cost benefits, the load-matching PV system
offers a close to 100% efficiency. DC-DC power converter-based
systems have a typical efficiency of about 90%, so the load-matching
PV system reduces the levelized cost of electricity by about 20%.
Compared to those systems through long-distance power transmis-
sion, the levelized cost of electricity is estimated to be reduced by
about 50%.
Moreover, the elimination of the traditional power converter
makes the load-matching PV system easily scalable from a few
kilowatts for an individual home to a gigawatt for a large-scale solar
farm, or anywhere between. Once the cell and stack are defined, an
obvious route to scale up the system is to add more loads.34,35,37
There is no fundamental limitation to how many loads the system
can manage, so the number of loads can vary between 2 and, say,
500 if needed. It is reminded that the size of a traditional solar PV
system is defined by the power rating of the power converter. This is
why a traditional PV system with an inverter is limited to about 3
MWp.
Table II compares the different integration approaches for solar-
Figure 6. load-line analysis for a load-matching PV system with three powered electrolytic hydrogen production systems. The number of
electrolytic loads.35 power conversion required for each approach has been discussed in
this paper. To estimate the power losses for each approach, it is
assumed that:
two, or three loads connected to the PV array, and the system can
operate only along these red straight lines. At point 1, load 1 is • Each power converter (DC-AC inverter and DC-DC converter)
connected to the PV array. At this moment, the load resistance is incurs a power loss of about 10%.
smaller than the characteristic resistance of the PV array so the • Transformers and rectifiers incur a power loss of about 3%
system is on the left side of the maximum power point. As each.
the irradiance increases, the PV array resistance decreases and the • Power transmission losses are distance-dependent and here
operating point of the system moves along the 1-load line, passes transmission losses are excluded.
through the maximum power point, and reaches point 2. At this • Direct coupling without load management incurs a power loss
moment, the load resistance is larger than the PV array resistance. of about 10%.15
 Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 2022 169 054503

Table II. Comparison of different integration approaches for solar-powered electrolyzers.

Power System Long-haul AC Co-located AC Long-haul DC Co-located DC Directly-coupled Load-matching

Power conversions 4 2 3 1 0 0
Power loss 20% 13% 30% 10% 10% 1%
Power rating MW to GW kW to GW kW to MW kW to MW kW to MW kW to GW

electrolyzer, a maximum current point tracking (MCPT) technique is

required. However, all the power converters in today’s PV systems
incorporate a MPPT algorithm by default, which is not suitable for
solar-powered electrolysis.
Of note is that the load-matching PV system in Fig. 4 can easily
be modified to perform MCPT. A current sensor replaces the power
sensor in Fig. 4 to measure the current delivered to the loads, and
only a few small changes are needed for the control algorithm in
Fig. 5 to perform MCPT. As shown in Fig. 7, the MCPT algorithm
compares the currents before and after a load is switched to track the
higher current. This algorithm will continue until the maximum
current point is found.

Conclusions
An analysis is presented on integration approaches for large-scale
direct solar- and wind-powered electrolytic hydrogen production
systems. While wind-powered electrolyzers can take advantage of
the current megawatt to gigawatt industrial electrolyzers, there are
more questions about large-scale solar-powered electrolyzers.
Several approaches for solar-powered electrolysis are discussed:
(1) DC-AC-DC coupling between a PV array and an electrolyzer; (2)
DC-DC coupling without AC; and (3) direct DC-DC coupling
without power electronics. Some of the conclusions include: (1)
co-locating a solar or wind farm with an electrolyzer for a lower
power loss and a lower upfront system cost than long-distance power
transmission; (2) a directly-coupled system with load management
for a significantly lower levelized cost of electricity and excellent
Figure 7. The basic control algorithm for MCPT through load management scalability than all the other systems in this paper; and (3) a MCPT
in PV systems with multiple loads. technique in place of MPPT for solar-powered electrolyzers to
maximize the H2 output. The analysis also concludes that the carbon
For power rating, it is reminded that if a system requires a DC-DC dioxide emissions for grid power must fall below 0.22 kg-CO2/kWh
power converter to interface with an electrolyzer, the converter is for grid-powered water electrolysis to achieve lower CO2 emissions
likely limited to about 1 MW due to engineering challenges in high- than the mainstream SMR process for H2 production.
current DC-DC converters.
This load-matching PV system is not without limitations to its ORCID
size. The system voltage or stack voltage is currently limited to
Meng Tao https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5743-7092
1,500 V as this voltage is the maximum that a solar module can
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