Hybrid Solar/ PEM Fuel Cell/ and Water Electrolyzer Energy System for All-Electric Ship

Because of the growing environmental effects of ship pollution and the ever-tightening preventive laws, the use of all-electric ship propulsion technology for greener marine transport is gaining popularity. Being a technology with great potential, this paper proposes an all-electric hybrid ship propulsion system with zero-emission consisting of solar photo-voltaic (PV), proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell, and water electrolyzer. The solar PV is the main energy source during the day while the fuel cell is the main energy source at night and when the solar PV output is low. Meanwhile, the electrolyzer absolves the regenerative braking energy of the ship and the excess power from the solar PV. An energy management scheme is put in place to ensure load-generation balance and enhance system efficiency and reliability. Owing to the inherent nonlinearities of the energy sources, a nonlinear control strategy is utilized to ensure that the system is operating according to the energy management scheme at all conditions. Finally, the system is simulated and analyzed in MATLAB/Simulink.