Spatial modeling and dynamics of a PV-powered fuel cell generator for renewable energy application

Photovoltaic systems alongside energy storage systems are a recognized distributed generation (DG) technology deployed in stand-alone and grid connected system for urban and rural applications. Installing DG at or near a customer load can eliminate the need to upgrade existing transmission/distribution networks to handle the extra power requirement. Since these distributed energy systems are inertia-less and possess large time constants (response times), there are significant interactions between them. Photovoltaic systems have been employed in driving different types of load. Understanding the system operation and matching of the system components for a particular PV system and load type are important factors in system design. The PV generator is a non-linear and time dependent power supply with output that varies with insolation (hourly and daily). The performance of a 0.75 kW fractional hp motor powered by 550 W, PV generator was analyzed for steady state operation. This paper provides an analysis of the steady-state performance and dynamics of the photovoltaic fuel cell generator (PVFC) for localized renewable energy application. The results obtained for the dynamic and steady state characteristics are presented and discussed.