Hydrogen-based Microgrid: Development of Medium Level Controls in a Multilevel Algorithm Framework

In renewable-based microgrids, intermittency caused by some energy sources highlights the important role of energy storage systems. Nowadays, hydrogen and thermal energy storage are expected to play key roles in grid-scale applications, for facilitating effective penetration of clean energy sources. This paper, through a multilevel control framework for the energy management of a renewable and reversible solid oxide based microgrid, develops medium level controls accounting for the dynamic behaviour of storage systems. The storage systems considered are a hydrogen storage tank and a thermal energy storage based on phase change material technology. In particular, the proposed algorithm is helpful in the microgrid design phase as well as for clearly assessing high-level energy management strategies, since dynamic and transient behaviours of tanks during both charging and discharging phases are validated. In this way, top-level energy management strategies can be further refined and optimized in addition to a techno-economic design being pursued, primarily through shrinking the initial sizes of storages and thereby achieving significantly lower initial capital costs. For the analyzed microgrid, its feasibility is demonstrated by reducing by as much as 40% the size of the hydrogen tank and by up to 20% the energy capacity of the thermal storage. Finally, the proposed medium level control in a multilevel algorithm framework for a hydrogen-based microgrid is also seen to be fruitful for avoiding waste energy, which can be beneficial against the background of distributed energy systems acting in virtual power plants.