Review of fuel cells to grid interface: Configurations, technical challenges and trends

Abstract

With the development of clean energy technologies, the integration studies of electrical grids and fuel cells have increased significantly in research and practical implementations because of increasing power demand, reduction of fossil fuels and environmental problems. Therefore, a detailed survey study is needed in this area. In this paper, a comprehensive review of grid-connected fuel cell systems is presented, and it is purposed to provide an extensive aspect on the status of fuel cell technologies to the researchers and scientists dealing with the grid connection. For this purpose, more than 190 research publications related to this specific field have been examined and a reference list has been attached. First of all, the main objective of this paper is to encompass the grid-connected fuel cell systems with the parts of configuration structures, technical challenges and actual trends. In the configuration part, the paper is focused on the fuel cell types, grid connection, energy conversion devices and interfacing components. Besides, power electronic converters are expressed in detail and categorized according to the operating principles in the paper. In the scope of technical challenges, power quality problems are investigated in terms of the interfacing elements between fuel cells and the grid. In the continuation, energy management/control issues from a fuel cell to the grid are given. Additionally, trend issues such as diagnosis, integration and optimization are addressed for fuel cell connected hybrid energy generation systems.