Within the PECSYS Project, Forschungszentrum Jülich together with the other partners developed a directly coupled photovoltaic (PV) – water electrolysis system.

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers, with media, supply exclusively from the cathode, were electrically coupled to commercial-sized PV modules, without any power electronics, in a so-called cassette design.

The performance of this direct solar to hydrogen generating system during outdoor operation in Jülich, Germany is summarised as Solar to hydrogen (STH) conversion efficiency was in the range of 10 % all over the year.

Durability over more than 6 months (~2,500 h) was demonstrated. Cumulative generation of 231,000 liters hydrogen over 6 months was achieved.

This video shows one of the direct solar to hydrogen generation approaches that were developed in the PECSYS Horizon 2020 Project coordinated by Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin.

PECSYS

PECSYS is a research and innovation project aimed at demonstrating a system for solar-driven electrochemical hydrogen generation.  The final demonstrator shall consist of several planar modules with an active area >10 m² and is projected to produce more than 10 Kg of hydrogen over a six month period.

The consortium shall test various established PV materials (thin-film silicon, crystalline silicon heterojunction, and copper indium gallium di-selenide,CIGS) and integrate them with established electrolyzers technologies to develop innovative device concepts for integrated photo-electrochemical devices.

The focus shall be on energy efficiency enhancement, scaling up and optimizing the long-term stability of these devices that will go far beyond the current state of the art in terms of performance and cost.

Project Details

Read the most up to date Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Industry news at FuelCellsWorks