Energy management optimization of a hybrid power production unit based renewable energies

Hybrid power production units seem to be an interesting alternative for supplying isolated sites. This study proposes a new supervision strategy in order to ensure an optimized energy management of the hybrid system. The considered hybrid unit includes a wind generator (WG), a fuel cell (FC), an electrolyzer (EL) and a supercapacitor (SC). An overall power supervision approach was designed to guarantee the power flow management between the energy sources and the storage elements. The aim of the control system is to provide a permanent supply to the isolated site by adapting production to consumption according to the storage level. A mathematical analysis of the hybrid system using models implemented in Matlab/Simulink software was developed. Simulation results illustrate the performance of the control strategy for an optimal management of the hybrid power production unit under different scenarios of power generation and load demand. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.