Energy Management of an Off-Grid Hybrid Power Plant with Multiple Energy Storage Systems

Laura Tribioli, Raffaello Cozzolino, Luca Evangelisti and Gino Bella
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Laura Tribioli: Department of Engineering, Niccolò Cusano University, via Don Carlo Gnocchi 3, 00166 Rome, Italy
Raffaello Cozzolino: Department of Engineering, Niccolò Cusano University, via Don Carlo Gnocchi 3, 00166 Rome, Italy
Luca Evangelisti: Department of Engineering, Niccolò Cusano University, via Don Carlo Gnocchi 3, 00166 Rome, Italy
Gino Bella: Department of Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, via Orazio Raimondo 18, 00173 Rome, Italy

Energies, 2016, vol. 9, issue 8, 1-21

Abstract: In this paper, an off-grid hybrid power plant with multiple storage systems for an artificial island is designed and two possible strategies for the management of the stored energy are proposed. Renewable power sources (wind/solar technologies) are used as primary power suppliers. A lead-acid battery pack (BAT) and a reversible polymer electrolyte fuel cell are employed to fulfill the power demand and to absorb extra power. The reversible fuel cell allows reducing costs and occupied space and the fuel cell can be fed by the pure hydrogen produced by means of its reversible operation as an electrolyzer. A diesel engine is employed as backup system. While HOMER Pro ® has been employed for a full-factorial-based optimization of the sizes of the renewable sources and the BAT, Matlab/Simulink ® has been later used for simulating the plant operation and compare two possible power management control strategies. For the reversible fuel cell sizing, a sensitivity analysis has been carried out varying stack and hydrogen tank sizes. The final choice for plant configuration and power management control strategy has been made on the basis of a comparative analysis of the results, aimed at minimizing fossil fuel consumption and CO 2 emissions, battery aging rate and at maximizing the power plant overall efficiency. The obtained results demonstrate the possibility of realizing a renewable power plant, able to match the needs of electrical power in a remote area, by achieving a good integration of different energy sources and facing the intermittent nature of renewable power sources, with very low use of fossil fuels.

Keywords: hybrid power plant; power management; stand-alone; wind; solar; reversible fuel cell; battery aging (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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