Performance Analysis of PV-Fuel cell hybrid system in small scale DC system

Abstract

Reduction of greenhouse gases without hampering economic growth has become a matter of great concern in present scenario. Most of the energy extraction techniques extensively depend on fossil fuels and so the researchers are engaged in finding an alternate eco-friendly economic path since last few decades. Although renewable sources are environment-friendly but major challenge with these is lower energy density and costly extraction process. Among several renewable resources, solar PV and fuel cell are two promising way for meeting up energy demand. Photovoltaic system operating under variable weather condition provide a reasonable output if operated at maximum power point. This operating point is the global maxima of the P-V curve operating under dynamic weather conditions. On the other hand, fuel cell also plays a vital role particularly for small scale DC applications. Fuel cell converts chemical energy to electricity unlike IC engine which utilizes combustion causing emission of greenhouse gases. In present study, a hybrid PV-fuel system is developed in MATLAB/Simulink environment and the results are analyzed.