Control of grid-connected fuel cell power plant for transient stability enhancement

This paper describes a dynamic model of a SOFC fuel cell, which can be used in transient stability studies. The model is applied to a distributed utility grid that uses a fuel cell and a gas turbine as distributed generators (DGs). Transient stability of the system is investigated for different DGs power outputs using a software developed based on the commercial Power System ToolBox and SIMULINK in MATLAB. A method for interfacing the fuel cell to the grid is presented. Transient stability is enhanced through a control design of the firing angle of the fuel cell inverter.