Impacts of interconnection of SOFC to a radial distribution system

Abstract

Due to the varied advantages like cleanliness, portability and suitability for electricity and heat generation the popularity of the fuel cell systems has been accentuated and much research is being done to diminish their drawbacks when used as distributed resources. This paper presents the modeling of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and a dc-ac inverter interfaced to a radial distribution system. The interconnecting link between the SOFC and grid is a PWM inverter.Simulation results show a difference in the total harmonic distortion at both the PCC and feeder loads when different controllers are used. It is observed that the PI controller gives improved harmonics due to better instantaneous current control, wave-shaping and fixed inverter switching frequency.