Optimizing hybrid power system at highest sustainability

Abstract The current research investigated the utilization of fuel cells as an energy storage unit in microgrid energy system applications in an effort to enhance self-consumption of renewable energy. The prototype evaluation is constructed of solar photovoltaic and fuel cell energy storage units. The study utilizes experimental weather and electrical load data for household obtained at 1-min temporal resolution. The daily average energy consumption for the evaluated household was 10.3 kWh, with a peak power output of 5.4 kW and an annual energy consumption of 3757 kWh. The Solar System under investigation has a capacity of 3.6 kWp, while the fuel cell system has a capacity of 0–3 kW, allowing for effective integration with the photovoltaic system and a maximum renewable energy fraction. The research indicates that by installing fuel cells powered by hydrogen generated from renewable energy sources, self-consumption and self-sufficiency significantly increase. The annual energy flow demonstrated that the implementation of 2.5 kW fuel cells improved renewable fraction utilization from 0.622 to 0.918, while increasing energy self-consumption by 98.4% to 3338.2 kWh/year and self-sufficiency by 94.41% to 3218.8 kWh/year.