Objectives In view of the effects of life decay on fuel cell efficiency and power system performance, an adaptive equivalent hydrogen consumption minimization strategy is proposed that considers the life decay of fuel cells.

Methods First, based on the relationship between fuel cell efficiency and degradation rate, a fuel cell degradation factor is introduced to design an energy management objective function that considers efficiency degradation. The influence factors of fuel cell degradation are then analyzed, and a power distribution optimization system that considers both economy and durability is constructed. Finally, the optimization performance of the proposed strategy in the whole life cycle of the fuel cell is verified by comparison experiments under three typical scenarios: slight degradation, semi-degradation and severe degradation.

Results Compared with the original strategy, the proposed strategy can reduce fuel cell degradation by up to 12.4% and ship voyage cost by 4.97% during the whole life cycle of the fuel cell.

Conclusion This method can effectively improve the economy and durability of marine hybrid power systems.