This paper presents a hybrid energy system (HES) integrating a fuel cell (FC) and a supercapacitor (SC), each connected to a common DC-bus via dual active bridge (DAB) converters. A two-layer control strategy is implemented, where the inner loop employs peak current control with feedforward compensation, while the outer supervisory layer is governed by the proposed energy management system (EMS). The EMS monitors DC-bus voltage, load current, and computes rate of change of current, activating the SC DAB during transients, overloads, or undervoltage conditions based on predefined thresholds. Simulation results in MATLAB/Simulink confirm effective voltage regulation and dynamic current sharing under variable load scenarios. The proposed scheme enables seamless source coordination with minimal computational overhead.

This paper proposes a simplified parallel differential power processing (PDPP) architecture for photovoltaic (PV) systems that reduces hardware complexity by eliminating one dual active bridge (DAB) converter and one intermediate bus capacitor from the previously introduced PV2VB PDPP two-string architecture. In the reference PV2VB PDPP architecture, each PV string is interfaced with its own string-level converter (SLC), comprising a DAB and a bridgeless (BL) converter, for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) and differential power exchange via a shared virtual bus. The proposed topology maintains the use of bridgeless converters for each PV string but replaces the two DAB stages with a single dual-bridge DAB converter, which connects one intermediate bus on one side and the virtual bus on the other. This approach maintains isolation and bidirectional power flow, while significantly reducing the number of magnetic components, switches, and control loops. Simulation results demonstrate that the system can reach and sustain steady-state operation of the virtual bus under various mismatch conditions, validating the effectiveness of the proposed architecture in ensuring power balance and enabling string-level MPPT. The results suggest that the proposed scheme preserves the key benefits of the PV2VB PDPP framework, while simultaneously reducing overall system cost.

This paper presents a simulation-based case study of a hybrid energy hub located at The Green Village (TGV), a living lab for sustainable innovations in Delft, The Netherlands. The energy hub integrates photovoltaic (PV) generation, battery storage, hydrogen production, seasonal storage, and usage to provide a fully electrified one-person residence, serving as a realistic testbed for the integration of renewable energy. A model of the hub is developed in Simulink/Matlab using historical operational data to simulate system behaviour under various edge case scenarios and system configurations. The model enables the evaluation of system-level interactions, operational strategies, and the impact of design choices on energy efficiency, self-sufficiency, and hydrogen integration. The simulation results show the sensitivity of the system performance to component sizing and EMS settings. This study provides valuable insights into the control and optimisation of The Green Village’s energy hub and its integrated energy systems, contributing to the practical deployment of resilient and sustainable energy hubs in the built environment.

The objective of this paper is to implement experimentally a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technique on the Solantro DC-PODX Platform under different operating conditions. The MPPT technique operates in two modes. The perturb and observation (P&O) MPPT algorithm functions in a local MPPT mode when PV cells receive uniform irradiance. When the PV array is likely to be partially shaded, a global MPPT (GMPPT) subroutine is called to optimize the PV system operation through finding the absolute peak. The method holds two main features, i.e., i) detecting the occurrence of partial shading on a PV panel using the measurement of the sub-strings voltage and ii) fast and reliable tracking of the true maximum power point. The experimental results confirm that the performance of the PV inverter is considerably enhanced as the partial shading condition (PSC) can be properly detected. In addition, the true peak of the PV array under different PSCs can be reliably tracked, yielding a more efficient PV energy harvest.