Fuel cell power plant with real and reactive power modes

A fuel cell power plant, comprising:

• a cell stack assembly including a plurality of fuel cells configured to generate electricity based on an electrochemical reaction;
• a capacitor;
• a plurality of inverters;
• and
• at least one controller that is configured to control the plurality of inverters in a first mode and a second mode,
• the first mode including the cell stack assembly associated with a first one of the inverters, the cell stack assembly and the first one of the inverters providing real power to a load external to the fuel cell power plant, wherein the first mode includes the capacitor associated with at least one of the plurality of inverters, and wherein the first mode further includes the capacitor providing supplemental power output from the fuel cell power plant to the load when there is an increase in a load demand on the fuel cell power plant, and
• the second mode including at least a second one of the inverters associated with the capacitor, the second one of the inverters and the capacitor selectively providing reactive power to a grid external to the fuel cell power plant and selectively receiving reactive power from the grid, wherein the reactive power of the second mode is the only power output from the fuel cell power plant that is external to the fuel cell power plant in the second mode, wherein the capacitor and the second one of the inverters are the only source of the reactive power supplied by the fuel cell power plant to the grid external to the fuel cell power plant in the second mode, wherein the capacitor is charged by the reactive power received from the grid in the second mode, wherein the second mode includes at least one of the inverters and the cell stack assembly configured for providing power to at least one other component of the fuel cell power plant, and wherein the controller controls at least one switch to isolate power output of the cell stack assembly from the reactive power output of the second mode.