Energy Management Strategy for a Bioethanol Isolated Hybrid System: Simulations and Experiments

Renewable energy sources have significant advantages both from the environmental and the economic point of view. Additionally, renewable energy sources can contribute significantly to the development of isolated areas that currently have no connection to the electricity supply network. In order to make efficient use of these energy sources, it is necessary to develop appropriate energy management strategies. This work presents an energy management strategy for an isolated hybrid renewable energy system with hydrogen production from bioethanol reforming. The system is based on wind-solar energy, batteries and a bioethanol reformer, which produces hydrogen to feed a fuel cell system. Bioethanol can contribute to the development of isolated areas with surplus agricultural production, which can be used to produce bioethanol. The energy management strategy takes the form of a state machine and tries to maximize autonomy time while minimizing recharging time. The proposed rule-based strategy has been validated both by simulation and experimentally in a scale laboratory station. Both tests have shown the viability of the proposed strategy complying with the specifications imposed and a good agreement between experimental and simulation results.