Thermo economic comparison of conventional micro combined heat and power systems with solid oxide fuel cell systems for small scale applications

Fuel cells have the potential to reduce domestic energy consumption by providing both heat and electricity at the point of use. However, the cost of installing the fuel cell must be sufficiently competitive to be recovered by the savings made over its lifetime.
The goal of this paper is to carry out a thermo economic comparison of a conventional micro combined heat and power systems with solid oxide fuel cell systems.
A model to estimate the savings and cost targets for solid oxide fuel cell systems is presented. A comparison between fuel cell technologies in the danish market with “state of the art” traditional heat and power generation technologies currently used in Denmark is considered.
The conventional method of covering electrical, heating (e.g. hot water) and cooling (e.g. space cooling) load demands is by purchasing electricity from the electricity network grid and with a fossil fuel-fired boiler. The household heat and power demand is evaluated. The lifetime, capital cost is also considered when estimating the resulting target cost. The electrical and thermal efficiency of fuel cell systems is estimated and compared with alternative technologies (i.e. Steriling Engine, Internal combustion engine). By calculating the amount of fuel that would be required by different technologies to heat and power homes, the financial savings that could be realized by adopting SOFC systems are estimated.