The Economic Performance of an Integrated Biogas Plant and Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Combined Heat and Power System (PEMFC-CHP) in Sweden

A Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Combined Heat and Power system (PEMFC-CHP) fuelled by the hydrogen-rich gas reformed from biogas may be seen as an efficient and sustainable technology. This system can provide electrical and thermal energy dynamically to residential applications. In this study, an assessment of the economic performance of an integrated biogas plant and PEMFC-CHP for Swedish electricity and heat prices is presented. The economic factors considered are the capital and operation & maintenance (O&M) costs of the biogas plant and the PEMFC-CHP, the price of heat and electricity, and the value of the digestate as fertilizer. The analysis includes two cases: 1) both biogas plant and PEMFC-CHP are located on the farm. The farm sells the electricity and heat to the power grid and district heating system, respectively; 2) the PEMFC-CHP is located in a centralized-biogas plant, not on the farm. The manure is transported from farms to the plant. The plant also sells the electricity and heat to the power grid and district heating system. The results show that the farm-based and the centralized biogas plant have almost the same biogas production cost. The electricity cost of today, expected for 2020, and for the break-even of this integrated system are 530, 305 and 197 €/MWh, respectively. With the current trend of the fuel cell industry development, this break-even price may be reached in the near future.