4.7 Article

Optimizing a microgrid photovoltaic-fuel cell energy system at the highest renewable fraction

Journal

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY
Volume 47, Issue 28, Pages 13710-13731

Publisher

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2022.02.108

Keywords

Renewable energy system; Photovoltaic system; Fuel cell; Renewable fraction; Self-consumption; Self-sufficiency

Funding

  1. Polish Ministry of Science [16.16.210.476]

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This study examined the usage of fuel cells for energy storage in microgrid energy systems. The findings show that using fuel cells powered by hydrogen generated by renewable energy systems can significantly increase self-consumption and self-sufficiency.
The current research examined the usage of fuel cells as an energy storage unit to increase renewable energy self-consumption in microgrid energy system applications. The studied model is comprised of photovoltaic modules and a fuel cell that serves as the energy storage unit. The study was conducted in 2020, utilizing real-time weather and electrical load data with a one-minute temporal resolution. The daily average energy consumption for the analyzed household was 10.1 kWh, with a peak power output of 5.3 kW, and the yearly energy consumption was 3755 kWh. The investigated photovoltaic system has a capacity of 2.7 kWp (6 modules at 0.45 kWp/module), and the fuel cell capacity is in the range of 0-3 kW in order to obtain optimal integration with the photovoltaic system to get maximum renewable energy fraction utilization. The findings indicate that using fuel cells powered by hydrogen generated by renewable energy systems can significantly increase self-consumption and self-sufficiency. The annual results showed that the use of 2.5 kW fuel cells can increase renewable fraction utilization from 0.622 to 0.918 with a 2.5 kW fuel cell, and energy self-consumption can reach 3338.2 kWh/ year, an increase of 98.4%, and energy self-sufficiency can reach 3218.8 kWh/year, an increase of 94.41%. The results obtained demonstrate that the proposed photovoltaic fuel cell energy system provides a viable option to run semi-autonomous or fully autonomous applications in a self-sustaining medium at a percentage of 95%. Furthermore, the economic aspect is analysed for the optimal system configuration.(c) 2022 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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