Tropical climate is characterized by hot temperatures throughout the year. In areas subject to this climate, air conditioning represents an important share of total energy consumption. In some tropical islands, there is no electric grid; in these cases, electricity is often provided by diesel generators. In this study, in order to decarbonize electricity and cooling production and to improve autonomy in a standalone application, a microgrid producing combined cooling and electrical power was proposed. The presented system was composed of photovoltaic panels, a battery, an electrolyzer, a hydrogen tank, a fuel cell, power converters, a heat pump, electrical loads, and an adsorption cooling system. Electricity production and storage were provided by photovoltaic panels and a hydrogen storage system, respectively, while cooling production and storage were achieved using a heat pump and an adsorption cooling system, respectively. The standalone application presented was a single house located in Tahiti, French Polynesia. In this paper, the system as a whole is presented. Then, the interaction between each element is described, and a model of the system is presented. Thirdly, the energy and power management required in order to meet electrical and thermal needs are presented. Then, the results of the control strategy are presented. The results showed that the adsorption cooling system provided 53% of the cooling demand. The use of the adsorption cooling system reduced the needed photovoltaic panel area, the use of the electrolyzer, and the use of the fuel cell by more than 60%, and reduced energy losses by 7% (compared to a classic heat pump) for air conditioning.

Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs) are seen as an alternative for heavy-duty transportation electrification. Powered by a green hydrogen source, they can provide high efficiency and low carbon emissions compared to traditional fuels. However, to be competitive, these systems require high reliability when operated in real-life conditions, as well as safe and efficient operating management. In order to achieve these goals, the X-in-the-loop (also called model-based design) methodology is well suited. It has been largely adopted for PEMFC system development and optimisation, as they are complex multi-component systems. In this paper, a systematic analysis of the scientific literature is conducted to review the methodology implementation for the design and improvement of the PEMFC systems. It exposes a precise definition of each development step in the methodology. The analysis shows that it can be employed in different ways, depending on the subsystems considered and the objectives sought. Finally, gaps in the literature and technical challenges for fuel cell systems that should be addressed are identified.

In order to decarbonize electricity production in insular tropical regions, hydrogen as an energy vector appears to be a promising solution. But some issues have to be dealt with, like the overall yield of the hydrogen chain. Moreover, thermo-chemical systems can produce cooling by thermal recovery. In this paper, we study a system composed by an electrolyzer, a hydrogen fuel cell, a Li-ion battery pack and a thermochemical reactor coupled with a conventional ammonia heat pump. In this system, the waste-heat from the electrolyzer and the fuel cell are used to desorb a thermochemical reactor for a differed production of cooling. A Mixed Integer Linear Program is used to optimize the energy management, taking into account the electrical and thermal load demand and the aging of the electrolyzer, the fuel cell and the battery. Results show that the system is able to provide the electrical and thermal needs of the load and the use of the thermochemical cooling system improves the fuel cell and the electrolyzer efficiency by 11 % and 15 % respectively compared to a system without thermochemical storage.

Les systèmes énergétiques à hydrogène, électrolyseurs et piles à combustible permettent de convertir et stocker l’excédent de production électrique en provenance des énergies renouvelables puis la production d’électricité de manière décarbonée. En fonctionnement, ces systèmes génèrent de la chaleur. Les systèmes de refroidissement thermochimiques permettent de valoriser la chaleur pour produire et stocker l'énergie sous forme de froid.Dans le cadre du projet RECIF, un système expérimental composé d’un électrolyseur, d’un réservoir d’hydrogène, d’une pile à combustible, de batterie, d’une pompe à chaleur et d'un système thermochimique, fonctionnant de manière autonome a été développé et cette thèse a pour but de modéliser le système, proposer des algorithmes de gestion d’énergie pour alimenter les besoins électriques et thermiques d’une charge dans le cadre d’un micro-réseau isolé et optimiser les performances du système.