Augmentation of electrolyzer control by SFCL for isolated power system stabilization using bee colony optimization

Abstract

Recently, the hybrid diesel generations and renewable energy sources which consist of wind turbine generators and fuel cells equipped with electrolyzers (EZ) have been proposed for isolated power systems. In this hybrid system, the EZ can be controlled to rapidly absorb the fluctuating power output from wind generators in addition to the hydrogen production for fuel cells. Nevertheless, under the occurrence of the severe faults in the system, the EZ may fail to absorb the transient power fluctuation which may result in the system instability. To enhance the control effect of EZ, this paper applies the resistive type superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) for stabilization of an isolated power system with hybrid wind/fuel cell and EZ/diesel generations. The bee colony optimization is automatically applied to achieve the optimal resistance value of SFCL and power controller parameters of EZ based on the minimization of power fluctuation. Simulation study confirms that the SFCL not only suppresses the transient power fluctuation considerably, but also augments the EZ control performance robustly against severe faults, high load demands, and various wind power patterns. © 2012 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l.