Estimation of the state-of-charge of gel lead-acid batteries and application to the control of a stand-alone wind-solar test-bed with hydrogen support

In hybrid renewable energy systems, batteries act as a DC bus to provide constant voltage and to smooth out commutations between the generating devices. These batteries are usually of a lead-acid type and operate under harsh variable conditions due to fluctuations of both solar radiation and wind speed. Precise knowledge of the state-of-charge of the batteries, and hence of their available energy, play a key role in effecting efficient control and energy management of the installation. The present study had a twofold aim. One objective was to adjust and validate a method based on coulomb counting to estimate the state-of-charge (SOC) of a gelled lead-acid battery which is the DC bus of a hybrid wind-solar system with hydrogen storage. Other works evaluate SOC models based on several parameters, however, the present proposal based on experimental measurements involves only a few parameters. The second objective was to modify the installation's control algorithm to use the battery's calculated SOC as control parameter instead of its voltage. The results of a test-bed system, showing how the system evolved under real operating conditions, constitute a proof-of-concept of the validity of the method.

► We use a lead-acid gelled battery as the DC bus of a test-bed wind-solar system. ► The test-bed is a stand-alone hybrid wind-solar system with hydrogen support. ► A coulomb counting method is proposed for estimating the battery state-of-charge, SOC. ► An SOC-based control algorithm is implemented for the electrolyzer's operation. ► Experimental results validated the applied method and algorithm.