Abstract
Photovoltaic cells have been used for a long time to supply the electrical
devices of small power in areas without access to the electricity networks
(or other sources of electric energy). The ecological aspect of the use of
the renewable energy sources, together with the technology development and
increasingly lower costs of production the photovoltaic cells, cause the
increase of their application. The solar power plants are built in several
places in the world, not necessarily in the areas of high light intensity.
Nowadays, such developments mostly depend on the wealth of a particular
country. The largest photovoltaic power stations have power of a several
dozen of MW. The major disadvantage of the photovoltaic cells is that the
energy production is possible only during the day. This causes a necessity
of energy accumulation in large photovoltaic systems. One possibility of
storing large amounts of energy gives a hydrogen fuel, generated in the
electrolysers powered directly from photovoltaic cells. Hydrogen, stored
in pressure tanks or in tanks with synthetic porous materials, can be
again used to produce electricity in fuel cells. This paper introduces
selected issues and test results associated with the use of photovoltaic
cells to power the hydrogen generators. The possible connections of
photovoltaic modules integrated with electrolysers were analyzed. In this
article the results of the electricity daily production by polycrystalline
photovoltaic cells, collected in the course of the entire year were also
presented.
Go to article