Supervisory energy management for hybrid fuel cell and battery systems

Executive summary

The move toward resilient, low-emission energy infrastructure is driving adoption of fuel cells, battery energy storage, high-power DC conversion, and advanced inverters. Each delivers value on its own, but a successful deployment needs a platform that coordinates all of them, their communications protocols, and their operating objectives.

This paper outlines how Horner Automation controllers serve as the supervisory Energy Management System (EMS) for a hybrid architecture made up of hydrogen fuel cell generation, multiple bidirectional DC/DC converters, a battery energy storage system (BESS), grid-interactive inverters, and facility electrical infrastructure.

Process Solutions (PSC) provides the control integration layer that lets these independent technologies work as one energy solution: communications integration, supervisory control, visualization, data acquisition, alarm management, and energy optimization. Where fuel cell modules follow the StasHH standard, that integration starts from a defined CAN interface rather than a one-off protocol. The result is a scalable, vendor-independent platform that gives operators centralized visibility and control of critical power assets.

Industry challenges

Distributed energy systems usually combine equipment from several manufacturers, each with its own controller architecture, communications protocol, operating philosophy, monitoring interface, and alarm system. Without a unified supervisory platform, facilities run into the same problems again and again.

As systems grow larger and more complex, centralized coordination becomes more important. The Horner controller fills that role by collecting data from all equipment, coordinating power flow strategy, managing alarms, logging history, providing operator visualization, and supporting remote monitoring and diagnostics. See the system architecture.

PSC integration scope

PSC is the systems integration partner that implements the Horner platform and coordinates communications between energy assets. A typical scope includes:

PSC does not manufacture or supply the fuel cell, battery, converter, or inverter equipment. Our role is the Horner-based automation platform that lets these independent technologies operate as a unified system.

Subsystem integration

What the Horner EMS monitors and coordinates at each layer of the system.

Standards: StasHH and J1939

Fuel cell integration used to mean a custom protocol for every module. The StasHH standard (Standard-Sized Heavy-duty Hydrogen), developed under the EU Clean Hydrogen Partnership, changes that. It defines a common physical envelope for heavy-duty fuel cell modules, where the connections sit, and the digital interface an external controller uses to talk to them.

The communication protocol runs on CAN bus and reuses messages from SAE J1939, the protocol already in wide use across heavy-duty equipment. That matters for a supervisory platform: the same controller and the same network can talk to the fuel cell, the converters, and the rest of the plant.

What the standard defines

Where the Horner controller fits

The standard assumes a controlling system above the modules. In vehicles that is the vehicle control unit; in a stationary plant it is the supervisory EMS. In this architecture the Horner controller plays that role. It tracks which modules are alive and what state each one is in, issues the power request, watches for derating, collects faults, and coordinates the modules with the battery, the converters, and the facility load.

Because the interface is defined rather than invented per project, adding or replacing a module does not mean rewriting the integration. That is the practical form of vendor independence.

Two caveats worth planning for. StasHH was written for heavy-duty mobility, so stationary and hybrid installations adapt it rather than adopt it wholesale. And coverage stops at the module boundary: J1939 messages for DC/DC converters, for example, have no current setpoint, so converter control still needs vendor-specific handling behind the supervisory layer.

Energy management and HMI

The Horner platform runs custom energy management logic built around each project’s objectives. Typical functions:

Benefits and why Horner

Horner Automation brings the capabilities distributed energy applications need:

• Integrated PLC and HMI in one unit
• Flexible communications support
• Industrial reliability
• Scalable architecture
• Remote access
• Data logging and trending
• Simplified system maintenance

Conclusion

Industrial energy infrastructure increasingly depends on integrating diverse technologies into cohesive systems. Fuel cells, battery storage, DC/DC converters, and inverters each add value, but getting the most from them takes intelligent coordination, centralized monitoring, and solid supervisory control.

PSC delivers that with Horner Automation: controls integration, communications architecture, visualization, alarm management, data acquisition, and energy management in one platform. The result is a scalable, maintainable, vendor-independent EMS that meets today’s requirements and leaves room for tomorrow’s expansion.