Parametric studies on a stand-alone polygeneration microgrid with battery storage

Polygeneration Microgrids (PMG) can be configured to deliver multiple outputs such as, electricity, heat, cold, fuel (hydrogen) and clean water. In an earlier paper the authors presented an analysis of a PMG consisting of solar photovoltaic field, fuel cell, solid state hydrogen storage and electrolyzer using commercial software HOMER. Keeping in mind the fact that battery storage is preferred for stand-alone microgrids, in this paper, the influence of battery storage on the performance of a PMG is presented. An added advantage of solid state hydrogen storage – fuel cell system is the availability heat released during adsorption of metal hydride in addition to that rejected by the fuel cell. A comparison of battery alone versus battery + fuel cell is made.