Decentralized energy management of DC microgrids with PV, wind, BES, and fuel cell

Abstract

Amidst the evolving energy landscape, there are an increasing demand for sustainability. With the global embrace of renewable sources such as wind and solar power, the urgency for innovative energy management solutions intensifies. This paper presents an energy management system tailored for a decentralized DC Micro-grid catering to a 10 kW DC load. The microgrid combining diverse renewable energy sources incorporating solar panels, wind turbines, battery energy storage systems (BESS), and a fuel cell serving as an emergency backup solution. The control strategy deployed for efficient operation is a PI cascade control approach. However, to optimize the performance of the controller, the parameter gains of the PI controller are enhanced using a metaheuristic algorithm, specifically the Genetic Algorithm (GA). The proposed system aims to garantuate a reliable and stable power supply to the DC load while maximizing the utilization of renewable energy sources, minimization hydrogen consumption and decreasing reliance on classical grid source. The effectiveness of the proposed energy management system is validated across simulation studies using MATLAB Simulink under various operating scenarios. These scenarios comprise serval environmental conditions, load profiles, and renewable energy availability. The simulation results demonstrate the capability of the system to efficiently manage power flow and enhance overall system performance in decentralized DC microgrid environments.