Hydrogen capacity for use in public transportation using the excess electricity generated by photovoltaics from rooftops in the urban area of Cuenca, Ecuador

Abstract

The drawback of renewable technologies is the lack of coupling with energy demand, to reduce these drawbacks is by applying hydrogen as an energy vector. Hydrogen obtained from renewable energy sources could be stored and used when required, directly or in fuel cells. This work focuses on determining the hydrogen potential that can be obtained using photovoltaic plants in urban areas. In the city of Cuenca, with the renewal of the public transport vehicle fleet, it was reduced to 475 units, which emit 112 tons of CO2 and burn 11,175 gallons of diesel per day. The analysis determines the photovoltaic energy that is produced by implementing photovoltaic panels in the Historic Center of Cuenca, Ecuador. With this it is determined that the electrical energy produced is 5.5 times the demand of the study area. With the energy surplus, it was determined that energy would be available that would cover between 97% and 127% of the demand required to mobilize the total urban buses. There are advantages such as the reduction of emissions or the increase in the quality of life, but the economic and technological aspects could be barriers to the implementation of these in the medium or short term.