Photovoltaic Hydrogen Power-Coupled Polygeneration System for Green Data Center: Energy, Economic, and Environmental Analysis

The rapid growth of data centers has sharply increased power consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, making improved energy efficiency and renewable energy integration urgent priorities for their sustainable development. This study proposes an integrated energy system for powering and cooling data centers, combining photovoltaic (PV) modules, a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer, a PEM fuel cell (PEMFC), and an absorption chiller. When solar energy is available, the PV is first supplied to power the data center, and the surplus is directed to the PEM electrolyzer for hydrogen production via water electrolysis. The stored hydrogen is later converted back into electricity through the PEMFC during peak-price periods in the nighttime or when solar irradiance is insufficient. Waste heat from the electrolyzer and PEMFC is used to drive the absorption chiller for data center cooling and waste heat recovery, while recovered heat from the data center is utilized for domestic hot water and space heating. A comprehensive exergy analysis is conducted to assess the thermodynamic performance of the proposed polygeneration system, alongside an evaluation of its economic and environmental benefits under varying PV participation levels. Comparative results show that when PV generation meets 40% of the annual power demand in the data center, annual operating costs can be reduced by approximately $238,000 and CO₂ emissions by 2,940 tons compared with a conventional grid-supplied configuration. Additionally, the integrated system achieves an average power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.25 and a maximum exergy efficiency of 28.5% during the heating season, highlighting its strong potential to enhance energy efficiency and mitigate environmental impacts, particularly in regions with moderate solar radiation.