Economic Analysis of Hydrogen Household Energy Systems Including Incentives on Energy Communities and Externalities: A Case Study in Italy

Niccolò Caramanico, Giuseppe Di Florio, Maria Camilla Baratto, Viviana Cigolotti, Riccardo Basosi and Elena Busi
Additional contact information
Niccolò Caramanico: Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Siena, Via Aldo Moro 2, 53100 Siena, Italy
Giuseppe Di Florio: Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Siena, Via Aldo Moro 2, 53100 Siena, Italy
Maria Camilla Baratto: Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Siena, Via Aldo Moro 2, 53100 Siena, Italy
Viviana Cigolotti: Portici Research Center, ENEA—Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Piazzale EnricoFermi 1, 80055 Naples, Italy
Riccardo Basosi: Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Siena, Via Aldo Moro 2, 53100 Siena, Italy
Elena Busi: Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Siena, Via Aldo Moro 2, 53100 Siena, Italy

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 18, 1-24

Abstract: The building sector is one of the key energy consumers worldwide. Fuel cell micro-Cogeneration Heat and Power systems for residential and small commercial applications are proposed as one of the most promising innovations contributing to the transition towards a sustainable energy infrastructure. For the application and the diffusion of these systems, in addition to their environmental performance, it is necessary, however, to evaluate their economic feasibility. In this paper a life cycle assessment of a fuel cell/photovoltaic hybrid micro-cogeneration heat and power system for a residential building is integrated with a detailed economic analysis. Financial indicators (net present cost and payback time are used for studying two different investments: reversible-Solid Oxide Fuel Cell and natural gas SOFC in comparison to a base scenario, using a homeowner perspective approach. Moreover, two alternative incentives scenarios are analysed and applied: net metering and self-consumers’ groups (or energy communities). Results show that both systems obtain annual savings, but their high capital costs still would make the investments not profitable. However, the natural gas Solide Oxide Fuel Cell with the net metering incentive is the best scenario among all. On the contrary, the reversible-Solid Oxide Fuel Cell maximizes its economic performance only when the self-consumers’ groups incentive is applied. For a complete life cycle cost analysis, environmental impacts are monetized using three different monetization methods with the aim to internalize (considering them into direct cost) the externalities (environmental costs). If externalities are considered as an effective cost, the natural gas Solide Oxide Fuel Cell system increases its saving because its environmental impact is lower than in the base case one, while the reversible-Solid Oxide Fuel Cell system reduces it.

Keywords: NPC; LCC; hydrogen systems; SOFC; externalities; energy communities; self-consumers’ groups (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/18/5847/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/18/5847/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:18:p:5847-:d:636223

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().