Integrated power flowand voltage regulation of stand-alone PV-fuel cell system with supercapacitors

The output of the solar cell is fluctuating due to intermittency of solar irradiation. Hybridizing the solar photovoltaic (PV) system with other sources and appropriate storage devices is essential to generate electricity continuously. This paper presents the control strategies for a PV-fuel cell hybrid power system with supercapacitor bank for isolated load applications. Supercapacitor bank is controlled using a bidirectional DC/DC converter so as to regulate voltage at a DC link and to keep the system stable under transient load variations. The H-bridge inverter is controlled to regulate voltage and frequency across the load. The PV system is controlled to extract maximum power using the maximum power point tracking algorithm. This paper aims to provide a single-phase supply with constant voltage and frequency to the consumers with proper power sharing among different sources. The hybrid system is realized in Matlab/Simulink environment.