IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v254y2025ics0960148125014235.html

A robust safe reinforcement learning-based operation method for hybrid electric-hydrogen energy system risk-based dispatch considering dynamic efficiency characteristics of electrolysers

Author

Listed:
  • Feng, Jianbing
  • Ren, Zhouyang
  • Li, Wenyuan

Abstract

Hybrid electric-hydrogen energy systems hold transformative potential in achieving significant green energy transitions by leveraging complementary storage and flexibility. To safeguard operation against the variability of large-scale renewable generation, this paper formulates a risk-based dispatch for such systems that explicitly models the dynamic efficiency of electrolyzers. We propose a robust Soft Actor-Critic algorithm grounded in deep reinforcement learning to solve the resulting nonconvex, nonlinear, stochastic scheduling problem online, without resorting to simplifying approximations. A robust constrained Markov decision process framework is developed, which interprets constraint violations as an exploratory cost and uses the conditional value at risk of that cost to enforce a risk-averse policy. A novel second-order Bellman operator efficiently estimates this risk metric, while a primal-dual optimization scheme ensures maximum-entropy learning under safety constraints. Case studies on modified IEEE-118 and South Carolina 500-bus systems demonstrate that our approach converges 35.5 % faster and maintains superior constraint satisfaction compared to state-of-the-art deep reinforcement learning methods. Against traditional optimization-based methods, it reduces expected overloads by 21.9 %, peak overloads by 43.8 %, and improves overall computational efficiency by 99.994 %.

Suggested Citation

  • Feng, Jianbing & Ren, Zhouyang & Li, Wenyuan, 2025. "A robust safe reinforcement learning-based operation method for hybrid electric-hydrogen energy system risk-based dispatch considering dynamic efficiency characteristics of electrolysers," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:254:y:2025:i:c:s0960148125014235
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2025.123761
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148125014235
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2025.123761?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xing, Xuetao & Lin, Jin & Song, Yonghua & Hu, Qiang & Zhou, You & Mu, Shujun, 2018. "Optimization of hydrogen yield of a high-temperature electrolysis system with coordinated temperature and feed factors at various loading conditions: A model-based study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 368-385.
    2. Zhang, Shulei & Jia, Runda & Pan, Hengxin & Cao, Yankai, 2023. "A safe reinforcement learning-based charging strategy for electric vehicles in residential microgrid," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 348(C).
    3. Zhang, Guozhou & Hu, Weihao & Cao, Di & Zhou, Dao & Huang, Qi & Chen, Zhe & Blaabjerg, Frede, 2023. "Coordinated active and reactive power dynamic dispatch strategy for wind farms to minimize levelized production cost considering system uncertainty: A soft actor-critic approach," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    4. Kou, Peng & Liang, Deliang & Wang, Chen & Wu, Zihao & Gao, Lin, 2020. "Safe deep reinforcement learning-based constrained optimal control scheme for active distribution networks," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    5. Yuan, Zhi & Li, Ji, 2024. "Photovoltaic-penetrated power distribution networks’ resiliency-oriented day-ahead scheduling equipped with power-to-hydrogen systems: A risk-driven decision framework," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    6. Prabawa, Panggah & Choi, Dae-Hyun, 2024. "Safe deep reinforcement learning-assisted two-stage energy management for active power distribution networks with hydrogen fueling stations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 375(C).
    7. Zhou, Siyu & Han, Yang & Zalhaf, Amr S. & Lehtonen, Matti & Darwish, Mohamed M.F. & Mahmoud, Karar, 2024. "Risk-averse bi-level planning model for maximizing renewable energy hosting capacity via empowering seasonal hydrogen storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 361(C).
    8. Xia, Weiyi & Ren, Zhouyang & Qin, Huiling & Dong, ZhaoYang, 2024. "A coordinated operation method for networked hydrogen-power-transportation system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).
    9. Shi, Tao & Xu, Chang & Dong, Wenhao & Zhou, Hangyu & Bokhari, Awais & Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír & Han, Ning, 2023. "Research on energy management of hydrogen electric coupling system based on deep reinforcement learning," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    10. Liang, Tao & Chai, Lulu & Cao, Xin & Tan, Jianxin & Jing, Yanwei & Lv, Liangnian, 2024. "Real-time optimization of large-scale hydrogen production systems using off-grid renewable energy: Scheduling strategy based on deep reinforcement learning," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    11. Yang, Zhixue & Ren, Zhouyang & Li, Hui & Sun, Zhiyuan & Feng, Jianbing & Xia, Weiyi, 2024. "A multi-stage stochastic dispatching method for electricity‑hydrogen integrated energy systems driven by model and data," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 371(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xie, Hongbin & Zhang, Haoran & Song, Ge & Zhang, Jingyuan & Fu, Hongdi & Zhang, Liyu & Chen, Nianru & Song, Xuan, 2026. "Enhancing resilience of electric vehicle charging management in hydrogen–electric coupled distribution networks: A risk-characterization multi-agent reinforcement learning approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 404(C).
    2. Prabawa, Panggah & Choi, Dae-Hyun, 2024. "Safe deep reinforcement learning-assisted two-stage energy management for active power distribution networks with hydrogen fueling stations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 375(C).
    3. Xia, Weiyi & Ren, Zhouyang & Li, Hui & Pan, Zhen, 2024. "A data-driven probabilistic evaluation method of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles hosting capacity for integrated hydrogen-electricity network," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 376(PB).
    4. Kaabinejadian, Amirreza & Pozarlik, Artur & Acar, Canan, 2025. "A systematic review of predictive, optimization, and smart control strategies for hydrogen-based building heating systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 379(C).
    5. Dongsen Li & Kang Qian & Yiyue Xu & Jiangshan Zhou & Zhangfan Wang & Yufei Peng & Qiang Xing, 2025. "A Multi-Time Scale Optimal Scheduling Strategy for the Electro-Hydrogen Coupling System Based on the Modified TCN-PPO," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-22, April.
    6. Yu, Peipei & Zhang, Hongcai & Song, Yonghua & Wang, Zhenyi & Dong, Huiyu & Ji, Liang, 2025. "Safe reinforcement learning for power system control: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    7. Panagiotis Michailidis & Iakovos Michailidis & Elias Kosmatopoulos, 2025. "Reinforcement Learning for Electric Vehicle Charging Management: Theory and Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-50, October.
    8. Shen, Yi & Zhai, Junyi & Kang, Zhongjian & Zhao, Bei & Gao, Xianhui & Li, Zhengmao, 2025. "Distributionally robust chance-constrained energy management for island DC microgrid with offshore wind power hydrogen production," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 316(C).
    9. Gu, Bo & Li, Fangxing & Mao, Chengxiong & Wang, Dan & Fan, Hua & Liu, Bin & Li, Wenhao, 2025. "A Bilevel robust coordination model for community integrated energy system with access to HFCEVs and EVs," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 390(C).
    10. Oh, Seok Hwa & Yoon, Yong Tae & Kim, Seung Wan, 2020. "Online reconfiguration scheme of self-sufficient distribution network based on a reinforcement learning approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    11. Wang, Yi & Qiu, Dawei & Sun, Mingyang & Strbac, Goran & Gao, Zhiwei, 2023. "Secure energy management of multi-energy microgrid: A physical-informed safe reinforcement learning approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    12. Wang, Shunchao, 2025. "Optimal sizing of Power-to-Ammonia plants: A stochastic two-stage mixed-integer programming approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 318(C).
    13. Lan, Penghang & Chen, She & Li, Qihang & Li, Kelin & Wang, Feng & Zhao, Yaoxun, 2024. "Intelligent hydrogen-ammonia combined energy storage system with deep reinforcement learning," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(PB).
    14. Zhang, Tianhao & Dong, Zhe & Huang, Xiaojin, 2024. "Multi-objective optimization of thermal power and outlet steam temperature for a nuclear steam supply system with deep reinforcement learning," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 286(C).
    15. Nasir, M. & Bansal, R.C. & Saloumi, M., 2025. "Reinforcement learning algorithms in AC, DC, and hybrid microgrids applications: A comprehensive review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 401(PC).
    16. Lin Jiang & Canbin Wang & Wei Qiu & Hui Xiao & Wenshan Hu, 2025. "A Flexible Interconnected Distribution Network Power Supply Restoration Method Based on E-SOP," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-17, February.
    17. Tian, Zhaoming & Cao, Xiaoyu & Zeng, Bo & Guan, Xiaohong, 2025. "Adaptive infinite-horizon control of hybrid EV/FCEV charging hubs: A large-model based deep reinforcement learning approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 390(C).
    18. Ge, Pingxu & Tang, Daogui & Yuan, Yuji & Guerrero, Josep M. & Zio, Enrico, 2025. "A hierarchical multi-objective co-optimization framework for sizing and energy management of coupled hydrogen-electricity energy storage systems at ports," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 384(C).
    19. Keyong Hu & Qingqing Yang & Lei Lu & Yu Zhang & Shuifa Sun & Ben Wang, 2025. "Two-Stage Distributionally Robust Optimal Scheduling for Integrated Energy Systems Considering Uncertainties in Renewable Generation and Loads," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-30, April.
    20. Zhang, Yiwen & Lin, Rui & Mei, Zhen & Lyu, Minghao & Jiang, Huaiguang & Xue, Ying & Zhang, Jun & Gao, David Wenzhong, 2024. "Interior-point policy optimization based multi-agent deep reinforcement learning method for secure home energy management under various uncertainties," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 376(PA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:254:y:2025:i:c:s0960148125014235. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.