An Orthogonal Current Component based PQ Control Strategy for a NSC used in a PEMFC Microgrid

Expanding the scope of renewable energy (RE) use is key to achieve the goal of zero carbon. Hydrogen is seen as the clean energy of the future since it is a non-polluted fuel and an excellent energy storage carrier for renewables. To simulate the operation of a hydrogen based power-generating system integrated with a Microgrid topology applications are appropriate for both heavy and light load conditions. However, this integration causes major technical problems like increased harmonics and fluctuations in voltage and currents of the system. It has become extremely difficult to maintain system stability during a time of fluctuating demands and unclear power supply. This turned into a huge challenge. The integration of a fuel cell (FC) system with a grid-connected microgrid topologies system is proposed in this paper. This study developed a dynamic proton exchange membrane (PEMFC) 20KW FC stack model. A nine-switch converter (NSC) is integrated with the FC and loaded into the grid. The report describes a grid-connected microgrid system powered by PEMFC. To link the FC with the demand to the conventional grid, the system employs NSC. The NSC is handled by two separate control structures. One for grid-side power management and another for demand-side power management to provide continuous power to the local demand independent of grid-side outages. The grid-side control logic is based on a PQ control approach that uses orthogonal components to control the grid. This method provides for separate regulation of active and reactive power. To retain constant voltage and frequency at the load terminals, the load-side control structure employs an independent voltage control mechanism. The entire system was tested with the OPAL-RT 4510 real-time simulator, and the results are discussed in this article.