Acha Izquierdo, SalvadorSalvadorAcha IzquierdoLe Brun, NNLe BrunDamaskou, MMDamaskouFubara, TCTCFubaraMulgundmath, VVMulgundmathMarkides, CCMarkidesShah, NNShah2020-07-212021-06-072020-09-01Energy, 2020, 206, pp.1-130360-5442http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/80893This work investigates the viability of fuel cells (FC) as combined heat and power (CHP) prime movers in commercial buildings with a specific focus on supermarkets. Up-to-date technical data from a FC manufacturing company was obtained and applied to evaluate their viability in an existing food-retail building. A detailed optimisation model for enhancing distributed energy system management described in previous work is expanded upon to optimise the techno-economic performance of FC-CHP systems. The optimisations employ comprehensive techno-economic datasets that reflect current market trends. Outputs highlight the key factors influencing the economics of FC-CHP projects. Furthermore, a comparative analysis against a competing internal combustion engine (ICE) CHP system is performed to understand the relative techno-economic characterisitcs of each system. Results indicate that FCs are becoming financially competitive although ICEs are still a more attractive option. For supermarkets, the payback period for installing a FC system is 4.7–5.9 years vs. 4.0–5.6 years for ICEs when policies are considered. If incentives are removed, FC-CHP systems have paybacks in the range 6–10 years vs. 5–8.5 years for ICE-based systems. A sensitivity analysis under different market and policy scenarios is performed, offering insights into the performance gap fuel cells face before becoming more competitive.© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Energy0913 Mechanical Engineering0914 Resources Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy0915 Interdisciplinary EngineeringJournal Articlehttps://www.dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2020.118046https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544220311531?via%3DihubCEPSE_P57236EP/P004709/1