Battery cycle life balancing in a microgrid through flexible distribution of energy and storage resources

In this paper, a microgrid consisting of four fuel cell-battery hybrid Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) is devised for an industrial crusher–conveyor load. Each fuel cell was accompanied by a Li-ion battery to provide energy storage support under islanded condition of the microgrid since the fuel cells typically have poor transient response characteristics. After carrying out extensive modeling and analysis in MATLAB®, the battery utilization was found to vary significantly based on the DER's ‘electrical’ placement within the microgrid. This paper presents, under such conditions, a variety of battery life balancing solutions through the use of the new framework of Flexible Distribution of EneRgy and Storage Resources (FDERS). It is based on an in-situ reconfiguration approach through ‘virtual’ reactances that help in changing the ‘electrical’ position of each DER without physically displacing any component in the system. Several possible approaches toward balancing the battery utilization are compared in this paper taking advantage of the flexibility that FDERS offers. It was observed that the estimated battery life is dependent on factors such as cycling sequence, pattern, and occurrence. •A microgrid consisting of small-rated fuel cell-battery hybrid DERs was modeled.•Battery utilization was found to vary significantly due to its ‘electrical’ placement.•Solutions for balancing battery lifetimes based on FDERS were introduced.•Solutions were based on implementing ‘virtual’ reactances without physical changes.•Results showed that battery lifetime can be balanced and extended by 76%.