Energy management of hybrid fuel cell and renewable energy based systems - A review

• Published in: International journal of hydrogen energy 2024-04
• Main Authors: Sadeghian, Omid, Shotorbani, Amin Mohammadpour, Ghassemzadeh, Saeid, Mohammadi-Ivatloo, Behnam
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Combined heat and power (CHP); Energy storage systems; Fuel cell (FC); Hybrid energy systems; Hydrogen storage; Renewable energy sources
• ISSN: 0360-3199; 1879-3487
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2024.03.134

The use of fuel cells (FCs) for combined power/heat generation is a promising solution to mitigate energy/environmental issues and to manage the uncertainty associated with renewable sources’ power generation. This work systematically reviews the previous works regarding the integration of FC with different hybrid renewable/storage systems to meet the load combinations (electric/thermal and electric/thermal/cooling load combinations) of different energy sectors (including residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, and agricultural sectors) under uncertainties and environmental effects. Both stand-alone and grid-connected operation modes under different kinds of renewable sources and storage systems of different types are reviewed. Additionally, the pros/cons of the previous works and the key findings of this review work are discussed. The literature indicates that the high investment cost of FCs can be justified by integrating them with renewable/storage systems to reduce the levelized cost of energy (LCOE), loss of power supply probability (LPSP), and payback period for the investment cost, and also to increase the renewable fraction, particularly for remote and/or combined loads. The reported LCOE is within 0.0462–1.0864 $/kWh, LPSP is within 0–20%, the payback period is more than 6 years on average, and the renewable fraction is within 26.77%–100% based on the related case study. •Providing a technical review on fuel cell-based hybrid renewable energy systems.•Fuel cell integrated with residential, commercial, and industrial energy sectors.•Discussing stand-alone and grid-connected test/real systems with uncertainties.•Outlining the role of energy storage and distributed generation in FC-based systems.•Discussing the emission reduction effect of FC-based hybrid systems.