Techno-economic analysis of fuel cell-assisted heat pumps to mitigate the effects of “Dunkelflaute” on domestic houses

Air source heat pumps (ASHPs) provide heat efficiently to domestic houses. However, in winter, their performance drops, renewable energy supply is low, and heat demand is high, resulting in high electricity prices, especially during “Dunkelflaute” periods. Integrating a low-temperature PEM fuel cell enables local co-production of heat and electricity, achieving combined thermal-electric efficiencies up to 132%. This study assesses the techno-economic feasibility of fuel cell-assisted heat pumps (FCHPs) to mitigate the impact of Dunkelflaute for grid-connected domestic households, under the assumption of zero storage. While ASHPs meet most annual heating needs, PEMFC assistance during Dunkelflaute events helps to avoid price spikes prevent grid overload. Although FCHP systems offer a 5% reduction in operating costs, their levelised cost of energy (LCOE) increases to 66% compared to ASHP systems under the assumed current market conditions. The benefits of FCHP systems are more pronounced for larger installations with relatively high heat demand.