International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882

Volume 5, Issue 4, April 2016

POWER MANAGEMENT OF A STAND-ALONE PHOTOVOLTAIC/

FUEL CELL HYBRID ENERGY SYSTEM
Cherry Lodha, Ved Shukla
M. Tech (Power Electronics)
College of Technology and Engineering, MPUAT

Abstract
This paper intends a hybrid photovoltaic (PV)/fuel cell
(FC) hybrid energy system for stand-alone applications.
Photovoltaic is the principal energysource of the system,
and a Fuel cell is used as a long-term storage system and
backup. A complete power management strategy is
planned for the anticipated system to accomplish power
flows among the different renewable energy sources and
the storage unit in the system. A model for the hybrid
system has been established using MATLAB/Simulink.
The hybrid system performance under diverse scenarios
has been confirmed by carrying out simulation studies
using a load demand profile and weather data.
Index Terms: fuel cell (FC), alternative energy, hybrid
system, photovoltaic (PV), electrolyzer, stand-alone,
power management, alternative energy system.

I. INTRODUCTION
The ever growing energy consumption, the rising cost
and the exhaustible nature of fossil fuel, and the
deteriorating global environment have created
augmented interest in renewable and/or fuel cell (FC)based energy sources power generation systems. Solar
power generation is one of the most promising
renewable power generation technologies. The
development of PV power generation systems has
surpassed the most expectant estimation. Fuel cells also
display great latent to be green power sources of the
future due to several merits (such as zero or low
emission of pollutant gases, flexible modular structure
and high efficiency) and the speedy progress in FC
technologies. However, each of the aforesaid
technologies has its own shortcomings. For example,
solar power is highly dependent on climatic conditions
while Fuel cells need hydrogen-rich fuel. Nonetheless,
as diverse alternative energy sources can balance each
other to some degree, multisource hybrid alternative
energy systems have unlimited potential to offer
advanced quality and more reliable power to clients than
a system based on a single resource. Due to this, hybrid
energy systems have caught international research
attention.

Many alternative energy sources including PV, wind,

diesel system, FC, micro turbine and gas turbine can be
used to construct a hybrid energy system. However, the
foremost renewable energy source used and reported is
Photovoltaic. Due to the erratic nature of solar energy,
stand-alone PV system usually needs other generation
sources or energy storage devices to form a hybrid
system. The storage device can be superconducting
magnetic energy storage (SMES), battery bank, FC
electrolyzer system or a super capacitor bank.
In this paper, a stand-alone hybrid renewable energy
system comprising of PV, FC and electrolyzer is
projected. PV is the prime energy source of the system
to take complete benefit of renewable energy, and the
FC electrolyzer combination is used as a long-term
storage system and a backup unit. The particulars of the
system configuration and the features of the major
system components are also deliberated in the paper. A
complete power management strategy is planned for the
system to synchronize the power flows among the
different power sources. Simulation studies have been
carried out to validate the system performance under
different situations using practical load profile and real
weather data. The paper is systematized as follows. The
system configuration is conferred in Section II. Section
III gives the system component characteristics. Section
IV confers the inclusive power management strategy for
the hybrid system and Section V gives the simulation
results. Conclusion of the paper is given in Section VI.

II. SYSTEM CONFIGURATION

System configuration of the proposed hybrid energy can
be considered as a complete eco-friendly power
generation system because the chief energy source and
storage system are all environment friendly. When there
is additional solar generation available, the electrolyzer
is activated to produce hydrogen, which is then delivered
to the hydrogen storage tanks. If the H2 storage tanks
become full, the excess power will be diverted to the
dump load. When there is a shortage in PV power
generation, the Fuel cell stack will begin to produce
power using hydrogen from the reservoir tanks.
Different energy sources are connected to the AC bus

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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882
Volume 5, Issue 4, April 2016

through appropriate power electronic interfacing circuits.

The hybrid system is designed to supply power to five
homes in a rural area. A typical hourly residential load
demand for rural homes is used. The total hourly average
load
demand
is
shown
in
Figure
1.

C. Electrolyzer
An electrolyzer is a device that yields hydrogen and
oxygen from water. In divergence to the electro chemical
reaction occurring in an FC to produce electricity, an
electrolyzer converts electrical energy into chemical
energy stored in hydrogen. For a given electrolyzer,
within its rating range, the higher the dc voltage applied,
the greater is the load current. So, by applying a higher
dc voltage, more H2 can be generated.

IV. OVERALL
STRATEGY

Fig. 1: Hourly average demand of five typical homes in

a rural area.

III.
SYSTEM
CHARACTERISTICS

COMPONENT

To design an overall power management strategy for the

system and to examine the system performance, dynamic
models for the main components in the proposed hybrid
energy system have been developed using
MATLAB/Simulink.
A. Photovoltaic
PV effect is a simple physical process through which
solar energy is converted directly into electrical energy.
The physics of a solar cell, is similar to the p-n junction
diode. In a PV array higher the irradiance, the higher are
the short-circuit current (Isc) and the open-circuit
voltage (Voc). As a result, the larger will be the output
PV power. Temperature plays avital role in the PV
performance. It is noted that lower the temperature, the
greater is the maximum power and higher the open
circuit voltage.
B. Fuel Cell
The PEMFC model is operated under continuous
channel pressure with uncontrolled input fuel flow into
the Fuel cell. The FC will adjust the input fuel flow
according to its load current to maintain the channel
pressure constant. The characteristic curve can be
divided into three areas. The voltage drop across the
Fuel cell related with low currents is because of the
activation loss inside the Fuel cell; the voltage drop in
the middle of the curve is due to the ohmic loss in the
FC stack; and as a result of the concentration loss, the
output voltage at the end of the curve will drop suddenly
as the load current rises.

POWER

MANAGEMENT

A total control scheme for power management among

different resources in a multisource energy system is
needed. The block diagram of the overall control scheme
for the proposed hybrid alternative energy system is
shown in figure 2. The Photovoltaic power generation
unit, controlled by a maximum power point tracking
(MPPT) controller, are the primary energy sources of the
system. The power difference between the generation
sources and the load demand is calculated as

Pnet PPV Pload Psc

Where PPV is the power produced by the PV energy
system, P load is the load demand, and Psc is the selfconsumed power of various components in the hybrid
system, for example, the power needed for running the
control unit, the gas compressor and the cooling systems.
The central control strategy is that, at any given time,
any extra PV-generated power (Pnet > 0) is delivered to
the electrolyzer to produce hydrogen that is delivered to
the hydrogen storage tanks. Therefore, the power
balance equation can be written as

PPV Pload Pelec Pcomp

where Pelec is the power consumed by the electrolyzer
to generateH2 and Pcomp is the power consumed by the
gas compressor.
When there is a shortage in power generation (Pnet < 0),
the fuel cell stack initiates to produce energy for the load
using hydrogen from the storage tanks. Therefore, the
power balance equation can be written as

PPV PFC Pload

where PFC is the power generated by the FC stack.

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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882
Volume 5, Issue 4, April 2016

Fig. 4: Air temperature data for the winter scenario

simulation study.
Fig. 2. Block diagram of the overall control scheme for
the proposed hybrid alternative energy system.

The PV array output power in the hybrid system over

the24 h simulation period is shown in Figure 5.

V. SIMULATION RESULTS
The component models can be used to develop a model
for the proposed PV/FC hybrid energy system using
MATLAB/Simulink. In order to authenticate the system
performance under different conditions, simulation
studies have been carried out using real weather data (air
temperature and solar irradiance) and practical load
demand data. Simulation studies are carried out for
power management during a typical winter and summer
day. The load demand is kept the same for the two cases.
Results for the winter and summer scenarios in simulink
are discussed below.
A. Winter Scenario
Weather Data: The air temperature and hourly solar
irradiance data collected on the same winter day are
shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4 respectively.

Figure 3: Solar irradiance data for the winter scenario

simulation study.

Fig. 5. PV power for the winter scenario.

When Pnet < 0, the PV-generated power is not sufficient
to supply the load demand. In this condition, the Fuel
cell turns on to supply the power shortage. Figure 6
shows the actual power delivered by the FC stack.

Fig. 6: Power supplied by the FC stack of the winter

scenario study.
B. Summer Scenario

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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882
Volume 5, Issue 4, April 2016

Weather Data: The solar irradiance and air temperature

data at the same place on the same day are shown in
Figures 7 and 8, respectively.

the simulation period. The corresponding DC voltage

applied to the electrolyzer is shown in Figure 11.

Fig.10: H2 generation rate for the summer scenario

study.
Fig. 7: Irradiance data for the summer scenario
simulation study.

Fig.11: Electrolyzer voltage for the summer scenario

study.
Fig. 8: Air temperature data for the summer scenario
simulation study.
The output power from the PV array in the hybrid
energy system over the 24 h simulation period is shown
in Figure 9.

When Pnet<0, the PV generated power is not sufficient

to supply the load demand. Under this condition, the fuel
cell turns on to supply the power shortage. Figure 12
shows the power supplied by the FC. The corresponding
H2 consumption rate is given in Figure 13.

Fig. 12: Power supplied by the FC over the simulation

period for the summer scenario study.
Fig. 9: PV power generated for the summer scenario
study.
When Pnet>0, there is excess power available for H2
generation. The available power is used by the
electrolyzer to generate H2 through the electrolyzer
controller. Figure 10 shows theH2 generation rate over
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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882
Volume 5, Issue 4, April 2016

Fig.13: H2 consumption rate for the summer scenario

study.

VI. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a stand-alone PV/FC hybrid alternative
energy system is proposed. The system configuration is
proposed; the characteristics of the main components in
the system, explicitly, the Photovoltaic, Fuel cell, and
electrolyzer are given; and the overall control and power
management scheme for the projected hybrid system is
presented. The PV generation systems are the main
power generation devices, and the electrolyzer acts as a
storage device using any surplus power available to
produce Hydrogen. The Fuel cell system serves as
backup generation and supplies power to the system
when there is power scarcity. The simulation model of
the hybrid energy system has been developed using
MATLAB. Simulation studies have been carried out to
prove the system performance under different
circumstances using typical load profile. The winter and
summer scenario simulation results, show the efficacy of
the overall power management strategy and the power
flows among the different energy sources and the load
demand is balanced successfully.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
A big thanks to the faculty members of the Electrical
Engineering Department of the College of Technology
and Engineering (CTAE), MPUAT (Udaipur). Also my
deep thanks to all the authors whose works have been
cited in this paper.

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