Design & Analysis of a PV-Fuel Cell-Based Standalone DC Microgrid in Tripura

Hybrid renewable energy systems are key alternatives in reducing fuel usage for electricity generation, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions and leads to a clean, reliable, and uninterruptible energy supply. The implementation, interoperability with the existing grid, or independent deployment of renewable energy sources (RES) has yielded into the concept of the Microgrid and the Smart grid. This paper deals with the design and analysis of a PV-Fuel cell build standalone DC Microgrid (DCMG) in Tripura, India’s north-eastern province. Among available choices on fuel cells, the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are the most suitable in independent systems owing to their compactness, fast initiation with minimum delays, higher productivity & lower emissions. MATLAB/Simulink platform has been used to design & analyze the prototype of DC Microgrid. The proposed system is tested under dynamic input constraints viz. variable irradiance, temperature. The input data has been collected for a specific location in Tripura. A comparative study between Perturb & Observe method & Artificial Neural Network (ANN) algorithm for MPPT control has also been presented. The test system simulation proves the suitability of the ANN based MPPT control over the former. The scope of solar power plants in Tripura has also been discussed here.