Design and optimization of solar-powered water electrolysis for sustainable green hydrogen generation

Green hydrogen is considered a sustainable, clean, and environmentally friendly alternative energy source. This paper presents a methodology for modelling a hydrogen production system combining water electrolysis with solar panels. Green hydrogen is produced by alkaline water electrolysis, and photovoltaic cells provide the necessary electrical energy. The modelling aims to study the electrochemical behaviour of the electrolyzer using the Ulleberg model, and to analyze the effect of varying basic operating parameters (current density, temperature, pressure, and electrolyte concentration), the overall efficiency, and the hydrogen production rate. Thus, an optimization process using the Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm is used to select optimal points that generate maximum electrolyser efficiency. To carry out a robust sizing of the photovoltaic system, we calculate the quantity of solar radiation and the energy requirement, which determines the number of photovoltaic solar panels, the number of batteries, and the appropriate selection of static energy converters.