Impact of Power Quality in Specific Energy Consumption of PEM Water Electrolyzer

The power quality of the rectifier power supply and the load characteristics influence the specific energy consumption (SEC) of PEM water electrolyzer. This paper establishes a PEM water electrolyzer model, and examines the harmonic distribution of the stack current for 6-pulse and double star rectifiers. It then calculates the ripple factors (RF) and power factors (PF) of the PEM water electrolyzer, and analyzes the SEC of the water PEM electrolyzer under the two rectifier types. The results indicate that the double star rectifier shows greater improvements in PF, RF, and harmonic distribution. Therefore, to reduce the cost of electricity for hydrogen production, the double star rectifier may be considered in PEM systems.