Tutorial: Advances in Microgrids Control and Management

Activity: Talks and presentationsConference presentations

Description

The microgrid (MG) concept provides a quite appealing solution for overcoming the challenges of integrating renewable energy sources (RESs) and distributed generators (DGs) into power grids. MGs are small electrical distribution systems that interconnect multiple customers, DGs, and storage systems. MGs are known as the main building block of the future smart grids. However, in order to allow seamless deployment of these small-scale systems, the relevant dynamic stability and control and management challenges must be well addressed.
Compared to conventional power systems with synchronous generators (SGs), MGs with DGs/RESs have either small or no inertia, which is the main source of stability. With growing penetration level of DGs/RESs, the negative impact of low inertia and damping effect on the MG dynamic performance and stability increases. This makes serious challenges in control design and operation and highlights the importance of these systems. Understanding the dynamics and using appropriate analytic methodologies are significant issues for MG stability analysis and control synthesis. Despite the small scale of an MG, it has many of the complexities of a large-scale conventional power system.
MGs propose new high-level control strategies and management rules when operating. Since ancillary services are expected to be different in such a grid, high-level management rules must also be adjusted. Current efforts are mostly being made into the design of more effective control strategies and special protection schemes in different control levels that ensure stable, reliable, secure, and economical operation of MGs in either grid-connected or islanded operation mode. Similar to conventional power grids, the MG has a hierarchical control structure with different operation layers. The hierarchical control structures of MGs are responsible for providing proper load sharing and DG coordination, voltage/frequency regulation, MG resynchronization with the main grid, operating cost optimization, energy management, and power flow control between the MG, neighborhood grids, and the main grid.
Advances in the MG control improve the MG potential to be integrated into the conventional electrical systems in a higher capacity. This improvement not only covers their internal control performance and connection/disconnection procedures in order to limit the negative dynamic impacts in the host network and other connected MGs but also includes the grid support functionalities to enhance the global operation of distribution networks. MG control techniques and management system make possible a new global planning strategy of power systems leading to a local economic optimization of electric energy with satisfied generation/load balancing and technical operation constraints (ancillary services) while participating in energy and service exchanges with the surrounding stakeholders.
This tutorial provides a comprehensive coverage of MG dynamics understanding, stability analysis, control synthesis, energy management and realization.

Period20 Feb 201821 Feb 2018
Event titleAdvances in Microgrids Control and Management: 19th IEEE International Conference on Industrial
Event typeWorkshop
LocationLyon, FranceShow on map
Degree of RecognitionInternational