Power fluctuations suppression of stand-alone hybrid generation combining solar photovoltaic/wind turbine and fuel cell systems

In this paper a hybrid energy system combining variable speed wind turbine, solar photovoltaic and fuel cell generation systems is presented to supply continuous power to residential power applications as stand-alone loads. The wind and photovoltaic systems are used as main energy sources while the fuel cell is used as secondary or back-up energy source. Three individual dc-dc boost converters are used to control the power flow to the load. A simple and cost effective control with dc-dc converters is used for maximum power point tracking and hence maximum power extracting from the wind turbine and the solar photovoltaic systems. The hybrid system is sized to power a typical 2 kW/150 V dc load as telecommunication power plants or ac residential power applications in isolated islands continuously throughout the year. The results show that even when the sun and wind are not available; the system is reliable and available and it can supply high-quality power to the load. The simulation results which proved the accuracy of the proposed controllers are given to demonstrate the availability of the proposed system in this paper. Also, a complete description of the management and control system is presented. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.