Performance Analysis of a Variable-speed Wind and Fuel Cell-based Hybrid Distributed Generation System in Grid-connected Mode of Operation

Abstract

This article presents the performance study of a variable-speed wind and solid oxide fuel cell-based hybrid distributed generation system, along with the energy storage devices in the grid connected mode of operation. The developed model has a salient feature of utilizing fluctuating output power of wind systems to produce hydrogen and also to charge the ultra capacitor. The presented model in the article also uses the stored energy in the ultra capacitor to compensate for the slow response time of the fuel cell. The distributed generation systems and energy storage devices considered in this study are integrated at common distributed generation links to form the hybrid system. The hybrid system is interfaced to the grid through the three-phase voltage source inverter in this article. The detailed modeling of the individual components of the hybrid distributed generation system, along with the necessary power electronic converter control schemes, are presented. The simulation results reported in this article show the effective performance of the hybrid model to produce reliable, low-cost electricity and hydrogen from the variable wind generation system.

Keywords:

• distributed generation
• solid oxide fuel cell
• wind power generation system
• ultra capacitor
• electrolyzer
• permanent magnet synchronous generator
• hybrid system
• hydrogen storage
• grid interfaced
• power electronics interface

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Santhosha Kumar Ayyappa

Santhosha Kumar Ayyappa received his M.Tech. from the National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK) in the year 2010. Currently he is pursuing his Ph.D. research work in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at NITK Surathkal. His areas of research interests are DG, fuel cells, hybrid systems, and microgrids.

Dattatreya Narayan Gaonkar

Dattatreya Narayan Gaonkar received his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India, in 2008. He was a visiting scholar at the University of Saskatchewan Canada, and he is working as an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, National Institute of Teclmology Kamataka Surathkal, India. He has published many articles in international journals/conferences and is a senior member of the IEEE. His main research interests are in the areas of power system operation and control, DG, and power electronics.