Power conditioning for a wind–hydrogen energy system

• Published in: Journal of power sources Vol. 155; no. 2; pp. 478 - 486
• Main Authors: De Battista, Hernán, Mantz, Ricardo Julián, Garelli, Fabricio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier B.V 01.04.2006; Elsevier Sequoia
• Subjects: Alternative fuels. Production and utilization; Applied sciences; Electrolysis; Energy; Exact sciences and technology; Fuels; Hydrogen; Natural energy; Power limiting; Sliding mode control; Wind energy; Power limiting; Wind energy; Electrolysis; Hydrogen; Sliding mode control; Renewable energy; Control system; Wind generator; Performance; Algorithm; Cost lowering; Hydrogen production
• ISSN: 0378-7753; 1873-2755
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2005.05.005

In addition to the efforts to reduce the costs of renewable energy technologies and electrolyzers, the development of suitable controllers are needed for cost-competitive electricity production by renewable-hydrogen power plants. In this paper, a novel control is proposed for a wind-electrolysis system, which match the wind power output to the electrolyzer power requirements, thus gaining in system performance. It basically consists in continuously shaping the power reference of a conventional maximum power point tracking algorithm. Thus, high aerodynamic power conversion efficiency is achieved fulfilling at the same time the electrolyzer specifications. This control strategy is developed using concepts of the reference conditioning technique and of the sliding mode control theory. The proposed control algorithm is extremely simple, easy to implement and robust to parameter uncertainties.