Abstract—The solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) was adopted in a tri-generation configuration in this study to meet the electricity, cooling and hot water demand in a single family house in Malaysia. With the current advancement of technologies, the fuel cells can achieve a high electrical efficiency of 60%. They are able to consume natural gas directly. Hence, it is more environmental friendly and fuel efficient compared to the less efficient gas turbine power plants. Furthermore, the exhaust heat energy from the high operating temperature could be harnessed to power the air-conditioners using the ejector cooling system, suitable for applications in the tropical climate. From this study, it was found that SOFC could meet the electricity, cooling and hot water demand in a single family house, with many technical and environmental merits. However, it is economically not viable with the current pricing conditions. The financial viability could be mended with higher electricity price or lower equipment costs. This might be achieved through established energy policy tools or through further development and improvement of the technology.
Index Terms—Distributed generation, solid oxide fuel cell, energy storage, thermal powered air-conditioning system, tropics.
S. L. Koh is with the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot Watt University, Putrajaya, 62100 Malaysia (e-mail: S.Koh@hw.ac.uk).
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Cite:Siong Lee Koh, "Viability of Distributed Generation in Single Family Houses Using Solid Oxide Fuel Cells in Tropical Climate," Journal of Clean Energy Technologies vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 345-350, 2015.
