A Hybrid Photovoltaic-Fuel Cell for Grid Integration with Jaya-Based Maximum Power Point Tracking: Experimental Performance Evaluation

Abstract

This paper deals the grid integration of photovoltaic (PV), fuel cell, and ultra-capacitor with maximum power point tracking (MPPT). The voltage oriented control for the grid-integrated inverter is proposed to regulate dc link voltage. Here, the fuel cell is employed as the main renewable energy source and PV as an auxiliary source with ultra-capacitor, which compensates power variation. An integrated CUK converter is proposed for peak power extraction from PV modules. The Jaya-based MPPT method is employed to achieve fast PV tracking ability with zero deviation around maximum power point (MPP) and has accelerated searched performance in equated with particle swarm optimization (PSO) and artificial bee colony (ABC) techniques. The hybrid PV-fuel cell with ultra-capacitor as energy storage works effectively under varying operating conditions. Compared to other energy storing devices, ultra-capacitor provides a fast dynamic response by absorbing/delivering power fluctuations. The hybrid PV-fuel storage control methodologies are experimentally validated using dSPACE (DS1104) board that provides optimal power extraction with stable power affirmation for a standalone/grid-connected system.