Thermal energy management of a CHP hybrid of wind and a grid-parallel PEM fuel cell power plant

This paper focuses on the management of recovered thermal energy of a hybrid wind energy and grid-parallel PEM fuel cell power plant (FCPP) with the object of achieving optimal cost. The fluctuating nature of wind energy (WE) has a different effect on the system operational cost and constraints. Besides, FCPPs are capable of producing both electrical and thermal energy. Combining WE and FCPP in a hybrid structure for CHP system yields lower operational cost than that of individual units. An economic approach is presented which includes the operational cost, thermal recovery, power trade with the local grid, and selling of surplus thermal energy. Multiple operational strategies are developed using this approach. The strategies are then evaluated by estimating the hourly generated power, the amount of recovered thermal energy while satisfying the thermal and electrical load requirements. An evolutionary programming-based technique is used to solve for the optimal operational strategy. Results are encouraging and indicate viability of the proposed approach.