Optimal Energy Management for Grid-Connected Microgrid Applications

In this paper, optimal energy management in a grid-connected microgrid including a three-phase load of a small group of houses, a PV system, a proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) stack, a battery energy storage system (BESS), and an energy management system (EMS) is considered. A classical proportional-integral (PI) control strategy for BESS is applied. Optimization of the operating schedules of the PEMFC stack and the BESS was performed using a MATLAB solver. In this way, the load on the PEMFC is minimized and the system's life time is extended. The presented approach is promising. Validation of the results using simulation of the microgrid operation in MATLAB (Simulink and SimPowerSystems toolboxes) is possible.