The demand for green hydrogen is growing as the increasing production of pure hydrogen can no longer be based on fossil hydrocarbons. As water electrolysis would move from niche to a significant consumer of emission-free electricity, the efficiency of electrolytic gas production, lifetime of water electrolysis systems, and balance in the electricity grid become essential. The operational and investment costs of an industrial-scale alkaline water electrolyzer with four practical rectifier topologies are investigated. The results show thyristor-based rectifiers provide poor quality for the AC and DC sides, which leads to nonoptimal specific energy consumption (SEC) of the water electrolyzer and a notable reactive power component. Transistor-based topologies may offer up to 4.5% lower SEC of the electrolyzer than the conventional 6-pulse thyristor bridge. The reactive power results in additional costs in either investments in compensation equipment or regular allowance costs. An additional DC/DC converter can be installed to improve the power quality for the electrolyzer, but the second conversion stage adds to the system complexity and cost without eliminating reactive power. A modular single-stage rectifier based on insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) bridges is suggested as an alternative to provide improved power quality for both the electrolyzer and the electricity grid.

对绿色氢的需求正在增长，因为越来越多的纯氢产量不再基于化石碳氢化合物。由于水电解将从无利可图的市场转变为无排放电力的重要消耗者，因此，电解气体的生产效率，水电解系统的使用寿命以及电网的平衡变得至关重要。研究了具有四种实际整流器拓扑结构的工业规模碱性水电解槽的运行和投资成本。结果表明，基于晶闸管的整流器在交流和直流侧的质量较差，这导致水电解槽的非最佳比能耗（SEC）和明显的无功功率分量。基于晶体管的拓扑最多可提供4种。与传统的六脉冲晶闸管电桥相比，电解槽的SEC降低5％。无功功率导致补偿设备投资或常规津贴成本的额外成本。可以安装一个附加的DC / DC转换器以提高电解槽的电能质量，但是第二个转换阶段会在不消除无功功率的情况下增加系统的复杂性和成本。建议使用基于绝缘栅双极晶体管（IGBT）桥的模块化单级整流器作为替代方案，以为电解器和电网提供改进的电能质量。但是第二个转换阶段会在不消除无功功率的情况下增加系统的复杂性和成本。建议使用基于绝缘栅双极晶体管（IGBT）桥的模块化单级整流器，以为电解器和电网提供改进的电能质量。但是第二个转换阶段会在不消除无功功率的情况下增加系统的复杂性和成本。建议使用基于绝缘栅双极晶体管（IGBT）桥的模块化单级整流器，以为电解器和电网提供改进的电能质量。