Simulation of a Solar Power System with Fuel Cell backup Source for Hybrid Power System Application

The demand for electrical power is increasing day by day throughout the world. In such a situation conventional sources of power may not meet the need. The importance of renewable power sources is considered as the alternative suitable energy sources nowadays. This paper deals with the simulation of the solar power system which is the main source and that has a fuel cell backup power source. Therefore, no charge storage device is interfaced. The proposed method has four major parts: solar cell as the main supply, fuel cell as a backup source, the control device for switching power from the main source to backup source and vice versa and the final part is a load. The load is energized by the solar energy directly through the control device. When the solar power is insufficient concerning the demand, then the load gets power from the fuel cell through the control device. However, if the solar power becomes sufficient to provide power to the load, the control device changes over the source from fuel to solar cell. The outcome of the simulation shows that the load always gets an uninterrupted power supply. The complete simulation has been accomplished using MATLAB Simulink environment (Math Works, Inc. USA).