Hybrid fuel cell strategies for clean power generation

A hybrid system consists of a combination of two or more power generation technologies to make best use of their operating characteristics and to obtain efficiencies higher than that could be obtained from a single power source. Since fuel cells directly convert fuel and an oxidant into electricity through an electrochemical process, they produce very low emissions and have higher operating efficiencies. Hence combining fuel cells with other sources, the efficiency of the combined system can be further increased. In this paper, different types of fuel cell hybrid systems and their applications are presented. They are classified based on the need for improving the efficiency or extending the duration of the available power to the load as a back-up power.