Unit sizing of stand-alone hybrid wind/PV/fuel cell power generation systems

Abstract

An economic evaluation of a hybrid wind/photovoltaic/fuel cell generation system for a typical home in the Pacific Northwest is performed. In this configuration the combination of a fuel cell stack, an electrolyzer, and a hydrogen storage tank is used for the energy storage system. This system is compared to a traditional hybrid energy system with battery storage. A computer program has been developed to size system components in order to match the load of the site in the most cost effective way. A cost of electricity and an overall system cost are also calculated for each configuration. The study was performed using a graphical user interface programmed in MATLAB.