Dynamic modeling and sizing optimization of stand-alone photovoltaic power systems using hybrid energy storage technology

Economic and environmental concerns over fossil fuels encourage the development of photovoltaic (PV) energy systems. Due to the intermittent nature of solar energy, energy storage is needed in a stand-alone PV system for the purpose of ensuring continuous power flow. Three stand-alone photovoltaic power systems using different energy storage technologies are studied in this paper. Key components including PV modules, fuel cells, electrolyzers, compressors, hydrogen tanks and batteries are modeled in a clear way so as to facilitate the evaluation of the power systems. Based on energy storage technology, a method of ascertaining minimal system configuration is designed to perform the sizing optimization and reveal the correlations between the system cost and the system efficiency. The three hybrid power systems, i.e., photovoltaic/battery (PV/Battery) system, photovoltaic/fuel cell (PV/FC) system, and photovoltaic/fuel cell/battery (PV/FC/Battery) system, are optimized, analyzed and compared. The obtained results indicate that maximizing the system efficiency while minimizing system cost is a multi-objective optimization problem. As a trade-off solution to the problem, the proposed PV/FC/Battery hybrid system is found to be the configuration with lower cost, higher efficiency and less PV modules as compared with either single storage system.     

Sizing optimization,dynamic modeling and energy management strategies of a stand-alone PV/hydrogen/battery-based hybrid system

This paper presents a sizing method and different control strategies for the suitable energy management of a stand-alone hybrid system based on photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, hydrogen subsystem and battery. The battery and hydrogen subsystem, which is composed of fuel cell (FC), electrolyzer and hydrogen storage tank, act as energy storage and support system. In order to efficiently utilize the energy sources integrated in the hybrid system, an appropriate sizing is necessary. In this paper, a new sizing method based on Simulink Design Optimization (SDO) of MATLAB was used to perform a technical optimization of the hybrid system components. An analysis cost has been also performed, in that the configuration under study has been compared with those integrating only batteries and only hydrogen system. The dynamic model of the designed hybrid system is detailed in this paper. The models, implemented in MATLAB-Simulink environment, have been designed from commercially available components. Three control strategies based on operating modes and combining technical-economic aspects are considered for the energy management of the hybrid system. They have been designed, primarily, to satisfy the load power demand and, secondarily, to maintain a certain level at the hydrogen tank (hydrogen energy reserve), and at the state of charge (SOC) of the battery bank to extend its life, taking into account also technical-economic analysis. Dynamic simulations were performed to evaluate the configuration, sizing and control strategies for the energy management of the hybrid system under study in this work. Simulation results show that the proposed hybrid system with the presented controls is able to provide the energy demanded by the loads, while maintaining a certain energy reserve in the storage sources.     

FC vehicle hybridisation: an affordable solution for an energy-efficient FC powered drive train

Fuel cells (FCs) have potential as clean and efficient energy sources for automotive applications without sacrifice in performance or driving range. However, the complete FC system must operate as efficiently as possible over the range of driving conditions that may be encountered while maintaining a low cost. To achieve this target, a storage unit can be introduced in the FC system to reduce the size of the fuel cell that is the most expensive component. This “hybrid” concept would not only reduce the drive train total cost but it also allow the recover of the braking energy and the operation at the voltage–current point of maximum efficiency for the FC system. Pro-and-cons of the “full-power” versus the “hybrid” configuration are shown in this work. The “Hybridisation rate” or “Hybridisation degree”, a parameter expressed by the relationship between two installed powers, the generation power and the traction power, is also introduced and it is demonstrated that for each category of hybrid vehicles there is an optimal value of hybridisation degree. The storage systems considered are based on high power batteries or ultra capacitors (UCs) or a combination of them. A preliminary design of a sport utility vehicle (SUV) using a combined storage system and a FC energy source (called Triple Hybrid), is proposed. Finally, the experience of the Italian industry in this field is also reviewed.     

A fuzzy logic based supervisory controller for an FC/UC hybrid vehicular power system

Depending on growing concerns on energy crises and environmental issues, fuel cell (FC) powered electrical vehicles are favored for possible substitute to conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) based vehicular systems. However, the typical power profile of an automobile motor consisting of transients is not suitable for the use of a sole FC system for vehicle propulsion. This shortcoming could be partly overcome by hybridization. Two potential benefits of combining an FC system with an energy storage unit, ultra-capacitor (UC) has been presented in this study. Firstly, the durability of the FC system could be improved because the additional energy source can fulfill the transient power demand fluctuations. Secondly, the ability of the energy storage source to recover braking energy enhances the fuel economy greatly. An important aspect in designing a hybrid power structure is to find a suitable control strategy that can manage the active power sharing and take advantage of the inherent scalability and robustness benefits of the hybrid system. An integrated procedure for mathematical modeling and power control strategy design for an FC/UC hybrid vehicle is presented in this paper. A fuzzy logic supervisory controller based power management strategy that secures the power balance in hybrid structure, enhances the FC performance and minimizes the power losses is proposed. The main contribution of this paper apart from the previous studies of the authors is the modeling of the complete FC power system with air supply compressor and the integration of the control of the FC system internal dynamics (especially the oxygen excess ratio) into the overall supervisory control structure to maximize the efficiency and durability. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed power management scheme, simulation studies were performed using MATLAB^®, Simulink^® and SimPowerSystems^® environments by integrating the detailed mathematical and electrical models of the hybrid vehicular system.     

Techno-economic analysis for rustic electrification in Egypt using multi-source renewable energy based on PV/ wind/ FC

A technical-economic investigation based on mathematical modeling, simulation, and optimization approach is employed in this research to assemble an island combined renewable energy systems (CRES) consists of solar PV/Wind/Fuel Cell (FC) of a small-scale countryside area in Egypt. The intent of the proposed island CRES is to boost the share of renewable energy in the energy mix and to study the possibility of using fuel cells as a storage/backup system instead of using battery banks.Three combinations of CRES are presented in this research to select the most optimum one. The combinations of the hybrid systems are PV/FC, PV/WT/FC, and WT/FC. The performance and the total cost of the suggested CRES were optimized using Firefly Algorithm (FA). The results obtained from the FA are compared with those obtained from the Shuffled Frog Leaping Algorithm (SFLA) and the particle swarm optimization (PSO).The selected case study area with latitude and longitude of (29.0214 N, 30.8714 E) is identified for economic viability in this work.The simulation outcomes show that the solar PV/Wind/Fuel Cell combination incorporated with an electrolyzer for hydrogen production grants the excellent performance. The proposed system is economically viable with a levelized cost of energy of 0.47 $/kWh.     

Hybridized off-grid fuel cell/wind/solar PV /battery for energy generation in a small household: A multi-criteria perspective

In this paper, the robust capability of HOMER and Criteria-COPRAS is deployed to explore the prospect of selecting a renewable energy system. The energy system consisting of wind turbines, solar photovoltaic (PV), fuel cell (FC), electrolyzer, hydrogen storage, and battery energy storage is intended to power a residential load in Lagos Nigeria. Based on the economic metric, the results show that the optimal system is a PV-Battery whose total net present cost (TNPC) and initial investment cost are $9060 and $3,818, respectively. However, if the energy systems are ranked based on multiple criteria (economic, technical and environmental aspects), the most preferred of the feasible energy systems is a hybrid PV-FC-wind-battery (TNPC-$10,324, initial cost: $7670). The study results indicate that, for viability in the adoption of hydrogen energy storage as part of the hybrid energy system, the selection metric should be based on more than one criterion.     

Techno-economic study of off-grid hybrid photovoltaic/battery and photovoltaic/battery/fuel cell power systems in Kunming,China

The objective of this study is to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of stand-alone hybrid photovoltaic (PV)/battery and PV/battery/fuel cell (FC) power systems for a community center comprising 100 households in Kunming by using the Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) software. HOMER is used to define the optimum sizing and techno-economic feasibility of the system equipment based on the geographical and meteorological data of the study region. In this study, different hybrid power systems are analyzed to select the optimum energy system while considering total net present cost (NPC) and levelized cost of energy (COE). The results showed that the optimal hybrid PV/battery system comprised 500 kW PV modules, 1200 7.6-kWh battery units, and 500 kW power converters. The proposed system has an initial cost of $6,670,000, an annual operating cost of $82,763/yr, a total NPC of $7,727,992, and a levelized COE of $1.536/kWh. While the PV/battery/FC power system is possible, the cost increases were due to the investment cost of the FC system. The optimal PV/battery/FC system has an initial cost of $6,763,000, an annual operating cost of $82,312/yr, a total NPC of $7,815,223, and a levelized COE of $1.553/kWh.     

A flower pollination optimization algorithm for an off-grid PV-Fuel cell hybrid renewable system

This research work crucially deals with a techno-economic feasibility study for off-grid solar photovoltaic fuel cell (PV/FC) hybrid systems. The hybrid renewable energy system is investigated for feeding electric to remote areas and isolated urban regions in Egypt. To achieve this goal, all the system equipment are modeled, simulated and the area under study data is gathered. The objective function is formulated depending on the total annual cost (TAC). The Flower Pollination Algorithm (FPA), as an efficient recent metaheuristic optimization method, proposed to estimate the optimum number of both PV panels and the FC/electrolyzer/H₂ storage tanks set mandatory where the least total net present value (TNPV) is reached.The loss of power supply probability (LPSP) is considered to enhance the performance of the proposed design. The effect of the variation of FC, electrolyzer, H₂ storage tanks and the PV power system initial cost on the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is presented through a comprehensive sensitivity analysis.Through Matlab™ program, the numerical simulation results obtained by the FPA algorithm have been compared to the corresponding outcomes while using the artificial bee colony (ABC) and the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) techniques. According to the simulation outcomes analysis, the FPA Algorithm has the less fulfillment time and good rendering between the other algorithms. In addition, the optimum system configuration is acquired using FPA with the optimal hybridization of 27 solar PV, 28 FCs, 58 electrolyzers and 37 H₂ storage tanks for an LPSP and PEE of 1.52% and 4.68% respectively. The system TNPV is $3,244,897 with the LCOE of 0.334 $/kWh.     

Viability study of a FC-battery-SC tramway controlled by equivalent consumption minimization strategy

This paper evaluates the option of using a new powertrain based on fuel cell (FC), battery and supercapacitor (SC) for the Urbos 3 tramway in Zaragoza, Spain. In the proposed powertrain configuration, a hydrogen Proton-Exchange-Membrane (PEM) FC acts as main energy source, and a Li-ion battery and a SC as energy support and storage systems. The battery supports the FC during the starting and accelerations, and furthermore, it absorbs the power generated during the regenerative braking. Otherwise, the SC, which presents the fastest dynamic response, acts mainly during power peaks, which are beyond the operating range of the FC and battery. The FC, battery and SC use a DC/DC converter to connect each energy source to the DC bus and to control the energy exchange. This configuration would allow the tramway to operate in an autonomous way without grid connection. The components of the hybrid tramway, selected from commercially available devices have been modeled in MATLAB-Simulink. The energy management system used for controlling the components of the new hybrid system allows optimizing the fuel consumption (hydrogen) by applying an equivalent consumption minimization strategy. This control system is evaluated by simulations for the real driving cycle of the tramway. The results show that the proposed control system is valid for its application to this hybrid system.     

Optimal battery/ultracapacitor storage combination

A simple, global model for the optimal combination of ultracapacitor and battery for electrical energy storage is developed. The goal for this hybrid storage technology is to reduce the system life-cycle cost by making use of an ultracapacitor’s claimed long cycling-life in order to supplement relatively cheap, but cycle-limited battery storage. The model is built up of two independent sub-models that allow flexibility in the relative proportion of system energy storage. An analysis performed in this paper indicates that ultracapacitor/battery storage systems may be cost effective for high-cycle applications.     

Optimisation and techno-economic feasibility analysis of hybrid (photovoltaic/wind/fuel cell) energy systems in Kerman,Iran; considering the effects of electrical load and energy storage technology

A hybrid (photovoltaic, PV/wind/fuel cell, FC) system comprising different combinations of PV arrays, wind turbine, hydrogen tank, electrolyser, and FC has been investigated for stand-alone applications. Load demand was the electrical requirements of atypical residential apartment having a total area of 500 m² with a peak electrical load of 35 kW and a yearly load of 24.4 MWh in Kerman, Iran. The assessment criterion for the analysis was levellised cost of energy of each system configuration. National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable software was utilised as the assessment tool of the present study. The effect of electrical load profile on the optimisation results has also been investigated considering a demand load profile with a low peak of 12 kW. Also, a comparison was made between the hybrid (PV/wind/diesel/bat) systems and the hybrid (PV/wind/FC) system of the current study at different fuel price scenarios.     

Fuel cell/supercapacitor passive configuration sizing approach for vehicular applications

Active configuration i.e., source coupling via a power converter, is the most common configuration for fuel cell/supercapacitor (FC/SC) vehicles. Passive connection of the FC with the SCs without any converters is an original and less expensive solution to distribute the power among the sources. This passive configuration does not require an energy management strategy. In fact, the power distribution only depends on the FC and SC impedance characteristics. Conventional methods to size the SC follow two criteria: storage capacity and maximum voltage. In this paper, a third criterion is added which is the FC operating current dynamics. This novel sizing methodology reduces the FC degradation and improves the global system efficiency. Experimental results provide validation to the proposed sizing approach. The SCs boost the FC to meet the requirements of the load with a guarantee of system stability reaching higher global performances and less stress to the FC.     

Comparative study of artificial intelligence techniques for sizing of a hydrogen-based stand-alone photovoltaic/wind hybrid system

As non-polluting reliable energy sources, stand-alone photovoltaic/wind/fuel cell (PV/wind/FC) hybrid systems are being studied from various aspects in recent years. In such systems, optimum sizing is the main issue for having a cost-effective system. This paper evaluates the performance of different artificial intelligence (AI) techniques for optimum sizing of a PV/wind/FC hybrid system to continuously satisfy the load demand with the minimal total annual cost. For this aim, the sizing problem is formulated and four well-known heuristic algorithms, namely, particle swarm optimization (PSO), tabu search (TS), simulated annealing (SA), and harmony search (HS), are applied to the system and the results are compared in terms of the total annual cost. It can be seen that not only average results produced by PSO are more promising than those of the other algorithms but also PSO has the most robustness. As another investigation, the sizing is also performed for a PV/wind/battery hybrid system and the results are compared with those of the PV/wind/FC system.     

Wind hybrid electrical supply system: behaviour simulation and sizing optimization

Using a global approach, a wind hybrid system operation is simulated and the evolution of several parameters is analysed, such as the wasted energy, the fuel consumption and the role of the wind turbine subsystem in the global production. This analysis shows that all the energies which take part in the system operation are more dependent on the wind turbine size than on the battery storage capacity. A storage of 2 or 3 days is sufficient, because an increase in storage beyond these values does not have a notable impact on the performance of the wind hybrid system. Finally, a cost study is performed to determine the optimal configuration of the system conducive to the lowest cost of electricity production. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimal energy management system for stand-alone wind turbine/photovoltaic/hydrogen/battery hybrid system with supervisory control based on fuzzy logic

This paper presents a novel hourly energy management system (EMS) for a stand-alone hybrid renewable energy system (HRES). The HRES is composed of a wind turbine (WT) and photovoltaic (PV) solar panels as primary energy sources, and two energy storage systems (ESS), which are a hydrogen subsystem and a battery. The WT and PV panels are made to work at maximum power point, whereas the battery and the hydrogen subsystem, which is composed of fuel cell (FC), electrolyzer and hydrogen storage tank, act as support and storage system. The EMS uses a fuzzy logic control to satisfy the energy demanded by the load and maintain the state-of-charge (SOC) of the battery and the hydrogen tank level between certain target margins, while trying to optimize the utilization cost and lifetime of the ESS. Commercial available components and an expected life of the HRES of 25 years were considered in this study. Simulation results show that the proposed control meets the objectives established for the EMS of the HRES, and achieves a total cost saving of 13% over other simpler EMS based on control states presented in this paper.     

风电场含退役动力电池的混合储能系统容量优化配置

针对退役电池在风电场平抑功率波动场景的应用,提出一种考虑退役电池时间尺度的混合储能系统容量配置方法。首先分析退役电池和新电池储能的优势,并介绍储能系统的成本构成;然后建立以全寿命周期经济性最优、考虑退役动力电池充放电时间尺度的混合储能容量配置模型,线性化后可调用求解器求解获取储能容量配置结果;最后用风电场实际数据进行分析,验证容量配置方法的有效性,并分析风电场不同储能配置时长政策要求、退役动力电池不同时间尺度以及不同控制策略下的混合储能容量配置结果。     

An improved energy management strategy for FC/UC hybrid electric vehicles propelled by motor-wheels

The hybridization of the fuel-cell electric-vehicle (FCEV) by a second energy source has the advantage of improving the system's dynamic response and efficiency. Indeed, an ultra-capacitor (UC) system used as an energy storage device fulfills the FC slowest dynamics during fast power transitions and recovers the braking energy. In FC/UC hybrid vehicles, the search for a suitable power management approach is one of the main objectives. In this paper, an improved control strategy managing the active power distribution between the two energy sources is proposed. The UC reference power is calculated through the DC link voltage regulation. For the FC power demand, an algorithm with five operating modes is developed. This algorithm, depending on the UC state of charge (SOC) and the vehicle speed level, minimizes the FC power demand transitions and therefore ameliorates its durability. The traction power is provided using two permanent magnetic synchronous motor-wheels to free more space in the vehicle. The models of the FC/UC vehicle system parts and the control strategy are developed using MATLAB software. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed energy management strategy.     

Optimal sizing study of hybrid wind/PV/diesel power generation unit

In this paper, a methodology of sizing optimization of a stand-alone hybrid wind/PV/diesel energy system is presented. This approach makes use of a deterministic algorithm to suggest, among a list of commercially available system devices, the optimal number and type of units ensuring that the total cost of the system is minimized while guaranteeing the availability of the energy. The collection of 6 months of data of wind speed, solar radiation and ambient temperature recorded for every hour of the day were used. The mathematical modeling of the main elements of the hybrid wind/PV/diesel system is exposed showing the more relevant sizing variables. A deterministic algorithm is used to minimize the total cost of the system while guaranteeing the satisfaction of the load demand. A comparison between the total cost of the hybrid wind/PV/diesel energy system with batteries and the hybrid wind/PV/diesel energy system without batteries is presented.The reached results demonstrate the practical utility of the used sizing methodology and show the influence of the battery storage on the total cost of the hybrid system.     

Hybrid optimization algorithm for modeling and management of micro grid connected system

In this paper, a hybrid optimization algorithm is proposed for modeling and managing the micro grid (MG) system. The management of distributed energy sources with MG is a multi-objective problem which consists of wind turbine (WT), photovoltaic (PV) array, fuel cell (FC), micro turbine (MT) and diesel generator (DG). Because, perfect economic model of energy source of the MG units are needed to describe the operating cost of the output power generated, the objective of the hybrid model is to minimize the fuel cost of the MG sources such as FC, MT and DG. The problem formulation takes into consideration the optimal configuration of the MG at a minimum fuel cost, operation and maintenance costs as well as emissions reduction. Here, the hybrid algorithm is obtained as artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm, which is used in two stages. The first stage of the ABC gets the optimal MG configuration at a minimum fuel cost for the required load demand. From the minimized fuel cost functions, the operation and maintenance cost as well as the emission is reduced using the second stage of the ABC. The proposed method is implemented in the Matlab/Simulink platform and its effectiveness is analyzed by comparing with existing techniques. The comparison demonstrates the superiority of the proposed approach and confirms its potential to solve the problem.     

Modeling,control and simulation of a PV/FC/UC based hybrid power generation system for stand-alone applications

Different energy sources and converters need to be integrated to meet sustained load demands while accommodating various natural conditions. This paper focuses on the integration of photovoltaic (PV), fuel cell (FC) and ultra-capacitor (UC) systems for sustained power generation. In the proposed system, during adequate insolation, the PV system feeds the electrolyzer to produce hydrogen for future use and transfers energy to the load side if possible. Whenever the PV system cannot completely meet load demands, the FC system provides power to meet the remaining load. If the rate of load demand increases the outside limits of FC capability, the UC bank meets the load demand above that which is provided by PV and FC systems. The main contribution of this work is the hybridization of alternate energy sources with FC systems using long and short-term storage strategies with appropriate power controllers and control strategies to build an autonomous system, with a pragmatic design and dynamic model proposed for a PV/FC/UC hybrid power generation system. The model is developed and applied in the MATLAB^®, Simulink^® and SimPowerSystems^® environment, based on the mathematical and electrical models developed for the proposed system.