Placement of Combined Heat, Power and Hydrogen Production Fuel Cell Power Plants in a Distribution Network

This paper presents a new Fuzzy Adaptive Modified Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (FAMPSO) for the placement of Fuel Cell Power Plants (FCPPs) in distribution systems. FCPPs, as Distributed Generation (DG) units, can be considered as Combined sources of Heat, Power, and Hydrogen (CHPH). CHPH operation of FCPPs can improve overall system efficiency, as well as produce hydrogen which can be stored for the future use of FCPPs or can be sold for profit. The objective functions investigated are minimizing the operating costs of electrical energy generation of distribution substations and FCPPs, minimizing the voltage deviation and minimizing the total emission. In this regard, this paper just considers the placement of CHPH FCPPs while investment cost of devices is not considered. Considering the fact that the objectives are different, non-commensurable and nonlinear, it is difficult to solve the problem using conventional approaches that may optimize a single objective. Moreover, the placement of FCPPs in distribution systems is a mixed integer problem. Therefore, this paper uses the FAMPSO algorithm to overcome these problems. For solving the proposed multi-objective problem, this paper utilizes the Pareto Optimality idea to obtain a set of solution in the multi-objective problem instead of only one. Also, a fuzzy system is used to tune parameters of FAMPSO algorithm such as inertia weight. The efficacy of the proposed approach is validated on a 69-bus distribution system. OPEN ACCESS Energies 2012, 5 791