Green hydrogen production via renewable energy sources, i.e., wind and photovoltaic , is a critical cornerstone for global decarbonization. The stochastic nature of RES poses significant operational challenges for an electrolyzer, including frequent power fluctuations, high ramp rates, start–stop events, and accelerated degradation. These factors reduce electrolyzer lifespan and hydrogen production, often requiring oversized battery banks, consequently increasing the levelized cost of hydrogen. Existing research addresses these challenges in isolation, but a single strategy that simultaneously ensures proactive power stabilization, lifetime protection, and reduced battery dependency remains insufficiently addressed. This paper proposes a forecast-driven, multilayered intelligent energy management strategy for an islanded DC microgrid incorporating wind–PV–battery systems for hydrogen production. In the first layer, wind and solar power are forecasted using a hybrid CNN–LSTM model to proactively schedule the operating trajectory of the electrolyzer. In the second layer, real-time deviations between forecasted and actual renewable power are mitigated through controlled electrolyzer ramp-rate regulation, while both the electrolyzer and battery operate under hard operational constraints. In the third layer, under severe operating conditions, battery SOC constraints are treated as soft limits, thereby avoiding forced electrolyzer shutdowns. This hierarchical priority ensures that electrolyzer power smoothness is preserved first through ramp-rate control, then through battery support, and only as a last resort through SOC relaxation. A small-capacity battery is strategically deployed as a short-term buffer and energy imbalance indicator. Electrolyzer degradation is explicitly modeled using ramp-rate-based, cycling-based, and time-dependent metrics. The ramp rate and SOC limits are dynamically optimized using a novel metaheuristic golden jackal optimization framework. The proposed method is validated through simulation studies using the real data from the ZhongTian green hydrogen project, China. Results demonstrate improved electrolyzer power stability, reduced start–stop cycling, extended electrolyzer lifetime, enhanced hydrogen production, reduced battery capacity requirement, and LCOH.
Rizwan et al. (Mon,) studied this question.