Resilience-oriented optimization of a green hydrogen backup system with an integrated electric vehicle charging network using the hippopotamus optimization algorithm in semi-urban areas of Pakistan

This study presents a resilience-oriented hybrid microgrid framework to enhance sustainability and energy autonomy in semi-urban regions of Pakistan. The proposed system integrates photovoltaic (PV) generation, wind turbines (WTs), hydrogen energy storage (HESS), battery energy storage (BESS), and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) enabled electric vehicles (EVs) under a unified control strategy. A novel Hippopotamus Optimization Algorithm (HOA)–based Energy Management System (EMS) is developed to solve a nonlinear, multi-objective optimization problem that minimizes total system cost and loss of power supply probability (LPSP) while maximizing system stability and storage efficiency. The HOA-based EMS demonstrates 24 % faster convergence, 17 % higher optimization accuracy, and 19 % lower LPSP than Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO), confirming its robustness for complex energy dispatch problems. A realistic case study for a gated residential community of 5,000 households with 15 % EV adoption in Islamabad is analyzed. Among three optimized configurations, the PV–WT–BESS system achieves the lowest net present cost (NPC), corresponding to a total life-cycle system cost of approximately $214.5 million over the project lifetime, reducing system cost by 51–54 % compared with hydrogen- or V2G-based alternatives, while the PV–WT–HESS–EV system enhances storage utilization by 22 % and resilience by 18.4 %. The proposed HOA-based EMS establishes a computationally efficient and data-validated framework for developing cost-effective, low-carbon, and resilient off-grid microgrids in emerging economies.