costinghydrogen
Screening-stage model for a stationary containerized PEM fuel cell system to estimate hydrogen consumption, CAPEX/OPEX breakdown, and LCOE with an optional PSA purification package.
Set to 'Yes' if a PSA purification subsystem is included upstream of the fuel cell to condition hydrogen.
Net AC export rating of the containerized PEM fuel cell system.
min 0.1 · max 100 · step 0.1 · MW
Specific hydrogen consumption
Hydrogen per net electricity output
Annual hydrogen consumption
H2 demand adjusted for optional PSA recovery loss
Average utilization over the year as a percent of nominal power (net).
min 0 · max 100 · step 1 · %
Annual net electricity
Net export electricity based on nominal power and capacity factor
Equipment purchase cost (EPC excl.)
Major equipment only: fuel cell system + optional PSA package
Installed plant cost (CAPEX total)
Equipment cost plus installation-related costs (no owner’s cost)
Annualized replacement cost
Fuel cell stack replacement + PSA adsorbent replacement (if enabled)
Fixed O&M cost
Annual fixed O&M proportional to installed CAPEX (scaled and clamped)
Annual hydrogen fuel cost
Variable fuel OPEX from hydrogen consumption and hydrogen price
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Real or nominal must be consistent with cost basis; used for CRF.
Amortization period for CAPEX annualization via CRF.
LCOE (excluding hydrogen fuel)
Shows non-fuel cost of power (CAPEX + non-fuel OPEX)
LCOE (incl. hydrogen fuel)
Total annual cost divided by annual electricity output
All-in delivered hydrogen price to the container (including logistics), used to compute fuel cost and LCOE.
min 0 · max 30 · step 0.1 · EUR/kg
Calculator context
This calculator estimates hydrogen consumption and levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for a containerized stationary PEM fuel cell power system, with an optional PSA purification sub-system. It is intended for screening-stage development decisions using public benchmark ranges (IEA/IRENA/NREL/DOE) and a transparent cost-and-energy balance approach suitable for early feasibility. The scope is global (defaults reflect widely cited international datasets).
The model converts nominal net electrical power and capacity factor into annual electricity output, then computes hydrogen demand from fuel cell net electrical efficiency and hydrogen LHV. Costs are built bottom-up at a major-subsystem level (fuel cell system + optional PSA), scaled with a power-law and annualized with a capital recovery factor.
Key equations (variables shown with units):
28 assumptions used in the calculations
Division guard to prevent undefined behavior when denominators approach zero.
Market range Not applicable (numerical stability parameter)
Used to avoid inline numeric literals in expressions.
Market range Not applicable
Used for boolean-style comparisons and toggles without inline literals.
Market range Not applicable
Percent scaling and validation bound without inline literals.
Market range Not applicable
Converts percent inputs (0–100) to fractions (0–1).
Market range Not applicable
Average hours per (non-leap) year for annual energy calculations.
Market range 8760 (standard), 8784 (leap year)
Power unit conversion used for CAPEX per kW scaling.
Market range Not applicable
Energy unit conversion for hydrogen consumption calculations.
Market range Not applicable
Hydrogen lower heating value used for LHV-basis efficiency and consumption.
Representative net electrical efficiency for stationary PEM fuel cell systems at/near rated conditions on an LHV basis.
Represents hydrogen loss through PSA purification (less than 100% recovery), increasing upstream H2 requirement.
Reference power for CAPEX/O&M scaling curves (1 MW reference).
Economy-of-scale exponent for specific CAPEX vs power (weak scaling typical for modular containerized systems).
Market range -0.05 to 0.25 depending on modularity and balance-of-plant share
Screening reference equipment CAPEX for containerized stationary PEM fuel cell systems (equipment purchase cost only).
Prevents implausibly low specific CAPEX when scaling to large sizes.
Prevents implausibly high specific CAPEX when scaling to very small systems.
Approximate incremental equipment CAPEX to include a PSA purification package sized to the fuel cell power block (screening proxy).
Converts equipment purchase cost to installed plant cost including installation, integration, and indirects (excludes owner’s costs).
Reference fixed O&M fraction of installed CAPEX for stationary fuel cell systems.
Captures mild economies of scale for O&M fraction with increasing system size.
Market range -0.15 to 0.00
Lower bound on fixed O&M fraction for screening robustness.
Upper bound on fixed O&M fraction for screening robustness.
Represents variable operating costs excluding hydrogen fuel (consumables, minor maintenance per output).
Approximate fraction of fuel cell equipment cost attributable to stack(s), used to estimate replacement event cost.
Multiplier to represent replacement event cost relative to stack cost share (includes labor/overheads implicitly).
Representative stack life before replacement for stationary PEM fuel cell operation (order-of-magnitude).
Fraction of PSA package equipment cost attributable to replaceable adsorbent/media used to estimate replacement event cost.
Typical planning interval for PSA adsorbent/media replacement under continuous operation (order-of-magnitude).
