Effect of hysteresis band control strategy on energy efficiency and durability of solar-hydrogen storage based microgrid in partial cloudy condition

Abstract Varying solar radiation during the partial cloudy condition may lead to the frequent switch ON/OFF events of the electrolyzer and fuel cell components in microgrid. The transient operation can ultimately lead to early degradation of these components leading to additional replacement costs. Present work is focused on the analysis of various operating modes on the operational characteristics of hydrogen storage based microgrid system during partial cloudy condition. Different operating modes for the electrolyzer and fuel cell are defined such as rated, variable power and hysteresis band control (HBC) for comparative study of system performance. Present study proposes a strategy in which the FC is operated at maximum efficiency power based on HBC. It was found that proposed HBC strategy significantly reduces the number of switch ON/OFF events of the fuel cell system and operational cost ≈ by 25% and 40%, respectively in microg r id as compared to conventional HBC.