Optimizing Hydrogen Systems and Demand Response for Enhanced Integration of RES and EVs in Smart Grids

Global interest in maximizing the hosting capacity (HC) of renewable energy sources (RES) while avoiding high energy curtailment has lately grown in smart grids (SGs). This trend has been associated with the empowerment of hydrogen systems (HS) and demand response (DR). In this regard, this article proposes a new approach to optimally synergize HS and DR for elevated integration of intermittent RES in SGs. The proposed approach is predicated on a coordinated management scheme for various SG control devices, including: a complete HS (hydrogen tank, water electrolyzer, and fuel cell), hydrogen load DR, RES energy curtailment, DSTATCOM functionality of the RES inverters, storage charging rates, and electrical DR. Additionally, the flexibility of electric vehicles (EVs) with G2V/V2G functionalities has been considered to support RES and HS expansion. The proposed approach is formulated as a multi-objective optimization model that aims to optimize two competing objective functions, i.e., total costs and HC capacity of RESs. The simulation results reveal the superiority of the proposed approach which resulted in a notable HC increase of up to 17.24%, accompanied by a significant cost reduction. The proposed approach is also applied to define the optimal number of HS to maximize RES capacity.