Cost and unit-sizing analysis of a hybrid SOFC/microturbine generation system for residential applications

Although capital cost trends for fuel cell and microturbine technologies continue toward better affordability, the combination of systems may yield accelerated market viability. To this end, a cost and unit-sizing analysis is conducted using a solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and microturbine (MT) hybrid system to supply electricity to a residential community of 500 representative homes in the Pacific Northwest. The hybrid SOFC/MT system explored supplies 1.0 MW of nameplate electrical power by employing a cascaded configuration that internally reforms natural gas as fuel, preheats fuel streams, and recycles exhaust products to increase overall system efficiency. A system cost and a cost of electricity (COE) analysis are performed for a series of system combinations. The results from this analysis show that while SOFC and MT technologies still have major cost hurdles to surmount, their hybrid combination may be more viable in select distributed generation applications.