Hybrid Energy Systems: Synergy Margin and Control Co‐Design

ABSTRACT Extraordinary properties emerge from subsystems' interactions. Hybrid energy systems (HESs) are a promising concept that could change the renewable energy landscape. By co‐designing generation, storage, and conversion technologies, HESs can provide new electrical power services, increase grid stability and control authority, and generate energy and/or nonenergy products such as electricity, hydrogen, ammonia, heat, digital data, or fresh water. This article discusses some conditions the co‐design of HESs should follow to optimize the combined system (synergy), avoiding deterioration (dysfunction). It introduces some technoeconomic synergy conditions, develops a synergy margin, and analyses several case studies, exploring also the control co‐design methodology to optimize synergistically the hybrid system. New electrical power services and a variety of products such as hydrogen, ammonia, heat, digital data or fresh water emerge from the synergetic co‐design of energy generation, storage and conversion systems. This article introduces a Synergy Margin and explores the Control Co‐Design methodology to optimize them.