Energy Management of a Hybrid Tidal Turbine-Hydrogen Micro-Grid: Losses Minimization Strategy

This paper presents the modeling and energy management system (EMS) of a hybrid marine-hydrogen power generation system. The proposed system aims to convert the static nature of the tidal energy into an active system by using a hydrogen energy storage system. The system of the tidal energy converter (TEC) considers the fixed pitch direct drive technology while the hydrogen system consists of 1.0 MW (megawatt) proton exchange membrane electrolyzer. A MATLAB/Simulink based model has been developed for studying and evaluating the effectiveness of the proposed EMS. The developed model depends on scaling up a 50 W proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer model to 1 MW scale by adapting the model parameters for providing the same key performance indicators (KPIs). The EMS aims to convert all the TEC generated energy into hydrogen with considering the efficient and safe operation of the different system components. Thus, the loss minimization (efficiency maximization) of the tidal turbine generator is integrated as one of the EMS goals to evaluate its effect on hydrogen production. The generator of the TEC is controlled by two different strategies for estimating the surplus hydrogen that could be produced. The strategies are the maximum torque/ampere and the loss minimization.