Evaluation of Energy Management for Stand-Alone Fuel Cell and Photovoltaic Hybrid System Model

Abstract

During times of peak load and when the weather is not sunny, the power produced from solar panels may become insufficient to meet consumer demand. This paper aims to present a hybrid system that uses photovoltaic cells (PV) and fuel cells (FC) to generate suitable electric power to steadily meet load demand. The hybrid system is designed to coordinate two renewable energy sources with regard to changing the rate of temperature and the sun”s radiation to continuously provide the needed energy to consumers. Since the power generated from the solar panels is used most of the time, while the fuel cell comes into operation when the solar energy is not sufficient to meet the demand for electrical energy, the Perturb and Observe system was used to monitor the maximum power generated from the solar panels. In the case of excess energy production from the solar panels, the energy is stored and used to produce hydrogen gas to feed the fuel cell. A fuel cell can be a huge source of energy production during peak load time. This system demonstrates the possibility of energy management using the hybrid system to provide power to many sectors, such as vehicles, ships, and residential consumers during the day and night on a constant basis. MATLAB /Simulink tools were used to simulate this system.