Study of a water electrolysis system using a compact solar cell module with a plant shoot configuration

The system proposed in this paper produces hydrogen by supplying photovoltaic power to a water electrolyzer and then supplying this gas to a fuel cell with a time shift. The objective of this system is to supply power to an individual house or apartment building with only green energy. However, the solar cell module installation area is large in the proposed system. Therefore, this paper considered installing a solar cell module with a plant shoot configuration. As a result of this modification, the power generation area of the proposed system is 33–52% smaller than that of a conventional flat solar cell module. From these results, it should be possible to introduce the proposed system into an individual house.