Fuel cell system as a part of the smart grid

This paper presents the technical requirements for PEM fuel cell systems to participate as power generation in the Smart Grid. In order to illustrate this, two plants with identical fuel cells are integrated into different system configurations and operated with different management strategies. The aim of this study is to determine the maximum available power of the fuel cell systems for the Smart Grid. In particular, the reliability of the power output of the two fuel cells after long idle phases has a significant dependency on the operation management. This was verified in the context of measurements over a one year period. The main focus of this paper is the optimal operation of the fuel cell system supported by an online diagnosis tool for operation point optimization.