Techno-economic assessment of hybrid solar spectral-splitting PV–thermal green hydrogen production systems
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Tian, Yu
Hadikhani, Pooria
Markides, Christos N
Huang, Gan
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
This study presents a comprehensive techno-economic assessment of a spectral-splitting photovoltaic-thermal hydrogen system across diverse climatic zones in Karlsruhe, Barcelona, Cairo and Dunhuang. By integrating optical-thermal simulations with an economic model, the analysis quantifies the impact of geography and tracking strategies on techno-economic performance. Results demonstrate a peak annual solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of around 20 % in high-irradiance regions like Cairo; specifically, while Cairo achieved the highest summer production yields, Dunhuang exhibited a unique profile that mitigates seasonal fluctuations, resulting in comparatively uniform hydrogen production throughout the year. The comparative analysis demonstrates that the substantial gain in hydrogen yield from dual axis tracking outweighs the incremental hardware costs. This establishes dual axis tracking as the economic optimum, reducing the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) to 6.0 €/kg, approximately 9.6 % lower than the single axis baseline. Furthermore, Monte Carlo uncertainty analysis confirms that deploying the system in high-irradiance sites significantly compresses investment risk. Under hydrogen-only revenue situations, the discounted payback time (PBT) is around 6 years for dual axis configurations in Cairo and Dunhuang, while commercial valorisation of the oxygen byproduct accelerates capital recovery, reducing the PBT to around 5 years in Cairo.
Date Issued
2026-12-01
Date Acceptance
2026-09-06
Citation
Energy Conversion and Management, 2026, 370
ISSN
0196-8904
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Energy Conversion and Management
Volume
370
Copyright Statement
© 2026 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
10.1016/j.enconman.2026.122159
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
122159
Date Publish Online
2026-09-14