PV Fluctuation Balancing Using Hydrogen Storage – a Smoothing Method for Integration of PV Generation into the Utility Grid

This paper presents a method for using hydrogen storage to assist in integration of large scale photovoltaic (PV) generation system into the utility grid. An algorithm based on the simple exponential smoothing is used to suppress short term power fluctuations in PV generation. To facilitate economic dispatch by the system operator, the output of the exponential smoothing is held constant for a given dispatch interval. The more stable, step-wise constant power then acts as the power reference to be sent to the utility grid. The resulting power ripple (from the smoothing) and power error (from the step-wise forecast) is then absorbed by the hydrogen storage such that any PV power above the scheduled grid power curve is used to produce hydrogen using an electrolyzer and any power deficit is produced by a fuel cell. Simulation studies based on realistic irradiance data conducted in SIMULINK/SIMPOWER verifies the effectiveness of the developed method.