Economic analysis of a solid oxide fuel cell cogeneration/trigeneration system for hotels in Hong Kong

Abstract

Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is promising for efficient stationary power generation. The high temperature waste heat from SOFC stack can be recovered for cogeneration/trigeneration. Due to the lack of relevant analysis on SOFC system in Hong Kong, this research is purposely designed to investigate the economics of a SOFC-absorption cooling cogeneration/trigeneration system for building application in Hong Kong. Energy consumption profile of Hotel ICON is adopted for a case study. Existing products of SOFC server and absorption chiller are chosen to configure the system. It is found that the payback period is less than 6 years with the Government subsidy at 50% of the overall system cost for a trigeneration system. Sensitivity analyses show that increases in the rate of electricity and the level of government subsidy increase the payback period of SOFC systems in Hong Kong. Besides certain technological difficulties, obstacles on the way to realize the proposed cogeneration/trigeneration system in Hong Kong are legal and social constraints and space limitation as well. This study highlights the suitability and the environmental impact of the SOFC-based multi-generation for building application in Hong Kong.