Degradation-aware optimization of SOFC operating strategies under off-design balance-of-plant dynamics

Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) systems face significant performance and cost challenges due to stack degradation and the resulting off-design operation of balance-of-plant (BoP) components. This study presents an optimization framework for SOFC operation that explicitly accounts for stack degradation and off-design BoP dynamics. A 10-cell hydrogen-fueled SOFC stack was fabricated and tested under varied flow and humidity conditions to obtain polarization data, which were used to calibrate the system model with an R 2 of 94.7–99.2%. The calibrated model, coupled with surrogate-based optimization, enables time-segmented scheduling of current density and fuel utilization with periodic setpoint updates over a 20-year techno-economic assessment based on levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), electrical efficiency, and lifetime electricity output. The results show that, under the assumptions of the representative case study, the optimized schedules can reduce LCOE by up to 16%, increase lifetime electrical efficiency by more than 10 percentage points, and increase cumulative electricity output by nearly 20%. In addition, the sensitivity of the optimal schedules to the adjustment interval reveals practical trade-offs between economic performance and computational cost. These findings demonstrate the potential of the proposed framework to identify improved long-term SOFC operating strategies under degradation and off-design constraints, while the absolute economic values remain case-dependent.