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 DISTRIBUTED GENERATION

r The increase in demand for electric power has led to the

development of distributed generation (DG) which can
complement the central power by providing additional
capacity to the users.

r These are small generating units which can be located at the

consumer end or anywhere within the distribution system.
r DG can be beneficial to the consumers as well as the utility.

r Consumers are interested in DG due to the various benefits

associated with it: cost saving during peak demand charges,
higher power quality and increased energy efficiency.

r The utilities can also benefit as it generally eliminates the cost

needed for laying new transmission/distribution lines.
r Distributed generation employs alternate resources such as

1. Wind energy systems

2. Solar photovoltaic systems

3. Fuel cells

4. Micro-turbines
 |UEL CELL

r Fuel cell technology is a relatively new energy

energy--saving
technology that has the potential to compete with the
conventional existing generation facilities.
facilities.

r Among the various DG technologies available, fuel cells are

being considered as a potential source of electricity because
they have no geographic limitations and can be placed
anywhere on a distribution system.
system.
r Fuel cells have numerous benefits which make them superior
compared to the other technologies.

r Benefits include

1.High efficiency

2. High power quality and service reliability

3. Few or no moving parts which leads to low noise,

4. Fuel flexibility, modularity and

5. Low maintenance.
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r A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that converts the
chemical energy of the fuel (hydrogen) into electrical energy.
energy.

r It is centered on a chemical reaction between the fuel and the

oxidant (generally oxygen) to produce electricity where water
and heat are byproducts.
byproducts.

r This conversion of the fuel into energy takes place without

combustion.
r Generally, efficiency of the fuel cells ranges from 40-60% and
can be improved to 80-90% in cogeneration applications.

r The waste heat produced by the lower temperature cells is

undesirable since it cannot be used for any application and
thus limits the efficiency of the system.

r The higher temperature fuel cells have higher efficiency since

the heat produced can be used for heating purposes.
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r The structure and the functioning of a fuel cell is similar to that of a
battery except that the fuel can be continuously fed into the cell.

r The cell consists of two electrodes, anode (negative electrode) and

cathode (positive electrode) separated by an electrolyte.

r Fuel is fed into the anode where electrochemical oxidation takes

place and the oxidant is fed into the cathode where electrochemical
reduction takes place to produce electric current and water is the
primary product of the cell reaction.
r

  







 





 
 
 



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r The hydrogen which enters the anode side is broken into
hydrogen ions and electrons with the help of the catalyst.

r In case of lower temperature cells like the PEMFC and the

PAFC, the hydrogen ions move through the electrolyte and the
electrons flow through the external circuit.

r The oxygen which enters through the cathode side combines

with these hydrogen ions and electrons to form water as shown
in the above figure.
r As this water is removed, more ions are passed through the
electrolyte to continue the reaction which results in further
power production.

r In the SOFC, it is not the hydrogen ions which move through

the electrolyte, but the oxygen radicals.

r In case of MCFC, carbon dioxide combines with the oxygen

and electrons to form carbonate ions, which are transmitted
through the electrolyte.



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r Fuel cells are classified based on the type of electrolyte used.

r The various types of fuel cells in the increasing order of their

operating temperature are:

1. Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC-175 F)

2. Phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC-400 F)

3. Molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC-1250 F)

4. Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC-1800 F)

r Each of these fuel cell types differ in the electrolyte and fuel
used, operating temperature and pressure, construction
materials, power density and efficiency.

r Table 2.1 gives a basic summary of the characteristics and

requirements of the fuel cell types mentioned above.

r The most important component of a fuel cell is the fuel

processor and the reformer since hydrogen is not readily
available.
Characteristics of | el Cell Types
 |
r The SOFC is a high
high--temperature operating fuel cell which has
high potential in stationary applications.
applications.

r The efficiency of SOFC is in the range of 45-

45-50
50%
% and when
integrated with a gas turbine, it reaches a high efficiency of
70--75
70 75%%.

r It is a solid-
solid-state device that uses an oxide ion-
ion-conducting non-
non-
porous ceramic material as an electrolyte.
electrolyte.
r Since the electrolyte is a solid, the cells do not have to be
constructed in the plate-
plate-like configuration typical of other fuel
cell types.
types.

r Corrosion is less compared to MCFC and no water

management problems as in PEMFCs due to the solid
electrolyte..
electrolyte

r High--temperature operation allows SOFCs to reform fuels

High
internally, which enables the use of a variety of fuels and
reduces the cost associated with adding a reformer to the
system..
system
r A typical fuel cell produces a voltage from 0.6 V to 0.7 V at
full rated load.
load.

r Voltage decreases as current increases, due to several factors:

factors:

1. Activation loss

2. Ohmic loss (voltage drop due to resistance of the cell

components and interconnects)

3. Mass transport loss (depletion of reactants at catalyst sites

under high loads, causing rapid loss of voltage)
r To deliver the desired amount of energy, the fuel cells
can be combined in series and parallel circuits,
circuits, where
series yields higher voltage
voltage,, and parallel allows a
higher current to be supplied.
supplied. Such a design is called
a K
 
 .
.

r Further, the cell surface area can be increased, to

allow stronger current from each cell.
cell.
Úolt--amp characteristics of | el Cell
Úolt
r Operating voltage (Vfc)
Vfc) of the fuel cell at a current (I) is
obtained by applying the Nernst¶s equation and taking the
losses into account is shown in Equation
 
 

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r Power : Fuel cells are very useful as power sources in remote
locations, such as spacecraft, remote weather stations, large
parks, rural locations, and in certain military applications.
applications.

r A fuel cell system running on hydrogen can be compact and

lightweight, and have no major moving parts.
parts. Because fuel
cells have no moving parts and do not involve combustion, in

ideal conditions they can achieve up to 99.

99.9999
9999%% reliability
reliability..
r Cogeneration : Micro combined heat and power (MicroCHP
MicroCHP))
systems such as home fuel cells and cogeneration for office
buildings and factories are in mass production phase.
phase.

r The system generates constant electric power (selling excess

power back to the grid when it is not consumed), and at the
same time produces hot air and water from the waste heat.
heat.
MicroCHP is usually less than 5 kWe for a home fuel cell or
small business.
business.
 r  

 
r Providing power for base stations or cell sites

r Off--grid power supply

Off

r Distributed generation

r Emergency power systems are a type of fuel cell system,

which may include lighting, generators and other apparatus, to
provide backup resources in a crisis or when regular systems
fail.. They find uses in a wide variety of settings from
fail
residential homes to hospitals
hospitals,, scientific laboratories, data
centers,, telecommunication equipment and modern naval
centers
ships..
ships
r Base load power plants

r Electric and hybrid vehicles.

vehicles.

r Notebook computers for applications where AC charging may

not be available for weeks at a time.
time.

r Portable charging docks for small electronics (e

(e..g. a belt clip
that charges your cell phone or PDA
PDA)).

r Smartphones with high power consumption due to large

displays and additional features like GPS might be equipped
with micro fuel cells.
cells.

r Small heating appliances.

appliances.
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