ICIEA 2026 Special Session

SS12: Advanced Power Electronics for Hydrogen Systems and Microgrid Integration

Organized by:

Organizer 1: Abhishek Kumar

Email: akeee@ieee.org; abhi@zju.edu.cn

Affiliation: Zhejiang University, China

Organizer 2: Bikash Sah

Email: bikash.sah@uni-siegen.de

Affiliation: University of Siegen, Germany

Organizer 3: Prashant Surana

Email: prashant.surana@hre.iitr.ac.in

Affiliation: Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India

Summary of session:

Hydrogen is fast becoming a pivotal energy vector for deep decarbonization. Power electronic converters are central to both generation (electrolysers) and utilisation (fuel cells), with stringent demands on efficiency, dynamics, reliability, and grid/microgrid code compliance. This Special Session will convene advances in topologies, wide-bandgap (WBG) device utilisation, control, diagnostics, and digital twins that enable high-performance, safe, and grid-supportive hydrogen systems-from stack-level conditioning to plant- and network-level orchestration. The session aligns with ICIEA 2026's focus on “Power Electronics” and “Energy and Environment”, welcoming works that bridge converter hardware with microgrid energy management, protection, and interoperability.

Scope and Topics (include but are not limited to)

• State-of-the-art and novel topologies for electrolyser and fuel-cell converters (unidirectional/bidirectional DC/DC, multi-port, modular MVDC interfaces).
• WBG (GaN/SiC) power stages and co-design for cost/size reduction and peak efficiency at partial loads; EMI and reliability considerations.
• Intelligent control and diagnostics: model-predictive, adaptive and data-driven control; passivity/K–K compliant diagnostics, SOA-aware derating for stacks.
• Hydrogen as storage in microgrids: DC/AC coupling, black-start, islanded/transition control, grid-forming/following strategies, ancillary services.
• Hybrid storage integration (battery–hydrogen–supercap) and supervisory energy management for RES coupling and grid services.
• Hardware-in-the-loop and testbeds for converter–electrolyser/fuel-cell evaluation; accelerated lifetime and safety testing.
• Modelling and digital twins for stacks, balance-of-plant, and converter–grid interaction; compliance with Industry 4.0/5.0 standards and data pipelines.

Background and Justification:

Hydrogen is a pivotal energy vector for deep decarbonisation. Electrolyser and fuel-cell interfaces place stringent demands on power electronics: ultra-high efficiency across wide loads, grid/microgrid code compliance, low ripple to protect stacks, fast RES-following dynamics, and robust protection. Recent GaN/SiC devices, modular MVDC, and grid-forming control enable higher density, lower BoP loss, and ancillary services. As hydrogen becomes a long-duration storage option in DC/AC microgrids, the coordinated design of converters, energy management, and protection is essential. Gaps persist: topologies co-optimised with stack physics/BoP; validated islanded-to-grid transitions and black-start; EMI–reliability trade-offs at partial load; reproducible HIL/testbeds; and digital twins/data pipelines for certification and lifecycle optimisation.

This special session consolidates advances in power electronics, hydrogen, and microgrids into deployable practice. It will (i) bridge device-to-system-linking topology and gate-drive choices to stack life, partial-load efficiency, and grid-support (FRT, inertia, harmonics); (ii) accelerate WBG adoption with cost/EMI/thermal-reliability-balanced prototypes for modular, multi-port, MVDC interfaces; (iii) operationalise H₂ storage via grid-forming/following, black-start, and seamless transitions; (iv) standardise evaluation using HIL, passivity/K–K-consistent diagnostics, and digital twins. The outcome aligns with ICDCM's DC focus and delivers hardware-validated methods, datasets, and a path to scale.