Review of primary voltage and frequency control methods for inverter-based islanded microgrids with distributed generation (original) (raw)

An overview of control approaches of inverter-based microgrids in islanding mode of operation

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2017

Increased penetration of distributed generation (DG) into the power systems has created fundamental challenges from the viewpoints of control and reliable operation of systems. Microgrids (an aggregation of DG units, loads, and storage elements) with proper control strategies can be a good solution for removing or facilitating these challenges. The introduction of inverter-based microgrid in a distribution network has facilitated the utilization of renewable energy resources, distributed generations, and storage resources; furthermore, it has improved power quality and reduced losses, thus improving the efficiency and the reliability of the system. As most DG units are connected via a power electronic interface to the grid, special control strategies have been developed for inverter interfaces of DG units in islanded microgrids. This paper presents an overview of advanced control methods for microgrids, especially the islanded and inverter-based. Moreover, various control methods are compared and categorized in terms of their respective features. It also summarizes microgrid control objectives with their most problematic solutions as well as their potential advantages and/or disadvantages. Finally, some suggestions are put forward for the future research.

A Review of Distributed Secondary Control Architectures in Islanded-Inverter-Based Microgrids

Energies

The increasing energy demand, the shortage of energy resources, and the environmental challenges faced by conventional power-generation systems are some of the ongoing challenges faced by modern power systems. Therefore, many efforts have been made by the scientific community to develop comprehensive solutions to overcome these issues. For instance, current technological advances have allowed the integration of distributed generators into the power systems, promoting the use of microgrids to overcome these issues. However, the use of renewable distributed generators have introduced new challenges to the traditional control system schemes. To overcome these challenges, a hierarchical control approach has been proposed for distributed renewable sources. In other words, the control scheme have been divided into three hierarchical levels, primary, secondary, and tertiary, to overcome the new challenges present in modern power systems. Due to extensiveness of this topic, this overview is...

Secondary Load-Frequency Control for MicroGrids in Islanded Operation

The objective of this paper is to present novel control strategies for MicroGrid operation, especially in islanded mode. The control strategies involve mainly the coordination of secondary load-frequency control by a MicroGrid Central Controller that heads a hierarchical control system able to assure stable and secure operation when the islanding of the MicroGrid occurs and in load-following situations in islanded mode.

A Novel Approach to Control the Frequency and Voltage of Microgrids in Islanding Operation

International Journal of Engineering and Technology, 2012

In this paper, electrical parameters of a microgrid containing distributed generation wind and fuel cell units are controlled in islanding mode operation. Islanding operation refers to isolation of a part of power system including distributed generation from the grid having continuous and independent operation. This has negative impacts on the isolated network including voltage and frequency dependence on load. These impacts and their solutions are studied in this paper. A proper controller using power electronics converters has been proposed. In order to verify the validity of the proposed control approach, it has been implemented and simulated on a 13-bus IEEE distribution power system containing a combination of distributed generation wind and fuel cell units.

Novel Centralized Secondary Control for Islanded Microgrids

IET Renewable Power Generation, 2020

Electric power systems have undergone substantial changes in their operation. The higher penetration of renewable resources, demand response capability, and generators operating via droop control at the distribution level are the main features resulting in the microgrid concept. Microgrids must operate connected or islanded from the main grid, ensuring reliability and quality in the supply of energy in both operating scenarios. In this sense, the secondary control becomes essential in the system's resilience, since it is responsible for restoring the frequency and voltage within acceptable values. This study proposes a unified frequency and voltage secondary controls for microgrids operating in islanded mode. For this sake, a modification in the load flow algorithm considering a Jacobian matrix takes place, enabling a sensitivity analysis to give the adjustments in the set point of generators. The help of the Levenberg-Marquardt method improves the convergence in the modified load flow. All generators are continuously considered in this process, regarding their capabilities and relative control sensitivities concerning the operation point restoration. The proposed methodology is validated in a modified IEEE-37 node test feeder, showing the efficacy of the centralised secondary control under different scenarios of renewable generation penetration and load levels.

A Survey on Microgrid Control Techniques in Islanded Mode

Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Traditional power networks with generation in upstream and consumption in the downstream were controlled with centralized controls like SCADA. However, in order to facilitate the penetration of distributed generation, the concept of microgrid was popularized. A microgrid can operate both in grid-connected and in islanded modes. One of the challenges in the microgrid environment is to provide both voltage control and maintain the system frequency while ensuring the stability of the network. This paper is a literature survey focused on different microgrid control techniques with different levels of communication especially in islanded operation.

Centralised secondary control for islanded microgrids

IET Renewable Power Generation, 2020

Electric power systems have undergone substantial changes in their operation. The higher penetration of renewable resources, demand response capability, and generators operating via droop control at the distribution level are the main features resulting in the microgrid concept. Microgrids must operate connected or islanded from the main grid, ensuring reliability and quality in the supply of energy in both operating scenarios. In this sense, the secondary control becomes essential in the system's resilience, since it is responsible for restoring the frequency and voltage within acceptable values. This study proposes a unified frequency and voltage secondary controls for microgrids operating in islanded mode. For this sake, a modification in the load flow algorithm considering a Jacobian matrix takes place, enabling a sensitivity analysis to give the adjustments in the set point of generators. The help of the Levenberg-Marquardt method improves the convergence in the modified load flow. All generators are continuously considered in this process, regarding their capabilities and relative control sensitivities concerning the operation point restoration. The proposed methodology is validated in a modified IEEE-37 node test feeder, showing the efficacy of the centralised secondary control under different scenarios of renewable generation penetration and load levels.

Distributed voltage and frequency synchronisation control scheme for islanded inverterā€based microgrid

IET Smart Grid, 2018

This study presents a fully distributed control paradigm for secondary control of islanded AC microgrid (MG). The proposed method addresses both voltage and frequency restoration for inverter-based distributed generators (DGs). The MG system has droop controlled DG units with predominantly inductive transmission lines and different communication topologies. The restoration scheme is fully distributed in nature, and the DGs need to communicate with their neighbours using a sparse communication network. The proposed control scheme is efficient to provide quick restoration of the voltage and frequency whilst accurate power-sharing is achieved despite disturbances. Further, convergence and stability analysis of the proposed control scheme is presented. The proposed algorithm avoids the need for a central controller and complex communication structure thereby reducing the computational burden and the risk of single-point-failure. The performance of the proposed control scheme has been verified considering variations in load and communication topologies and link delay by pursuing an extensive simulation study in MATLAB/SimPowerSystem toolbox. The proposed control scheme supports plug-and-play demand and scalability of MG network. The proposed control scheme is also compared with the neighbourhood tracking error based distributed control scheme and observed that the former exhibit faster convergence and accurate performance despite disturbances in MG network.

Survey on microgrids: Unplanned islanding and related inverter control techniques

Renewable Energy, 2011

Nowadays, the importance of electrical generation based on renewable energies is increasing, due to its low emissions of greenhouse gases. At the same time, Distributed Generation and Microgrids (MG) are becoming an important research line because of their peculiar characteristics. MGs are composed of small power sources which can be renewable, placed near customer sites. Moreover, they have the inherent property of islanding: the disconnection of either the MG from the main grid or a portion of a MG from the rest of the MG. There are two kinds of islanding: intentional or planned (for maintenance purposes), and unintentional or unplanned. The latter is mainly due to disturbances and it is used to avoid damages in sources and loads. It is the most critical case because it must be detected as soon as possible to activate all the control systems which allow continuing the energy production and distribution despite the disconnection. In islanding, it is crucial to ensure the power and the electrical signal quality. In grid-connected mode, the inverters use the electrical signal of the main grid as reference. Once in islanding, the main grid reference is lost and new control techniques for the inverters are needed in order to obtain the correct values of voltage magnitude and frequency in the MG. The main objective of this paper is to make a survey on MGs focussed on two important features: unplanned islanding and control of inverters in that scenario. The idea is to present the basic architectures and regulation techniques of MGs and to study the islanding behaviour, mainly the different detection techniques and the inverters' control once islanded.

Load Sharing by Decentralized Control in an Islanded Inverter-based Microgrid using Frequency Tracking

Microgrids have been defined as an efficient and practical concept to cover flaws in traditional power system related to system expansion and renewable energy utilization. By increasing demand energy, the need to generate more electric power is raised. However, the distance between generation centers and consumption centers causes more energy loss in power system and power system expansion is considered costly and to some extent infeasible. In addition, nowadays using renewable energies such as wind energy is inevitable, as a result using power electronic mediums is necessary. Microgrids are mostly preferable because of the ability to perform in islanded mode. In order to have stable-islanded Microgrid, electric loads inside the network should be shared on Voltage Source Converters respect to their nominal capacity. Droop control has been known as a method to share loads in decentralized way, although it has shortcomings. In this paper by introducing novel method named Frequency Tracking and applying that on droop control system, electric loads inside an islanded Microgrid are shared on generation units properly with fast and acceptable dynamics and droop control system is modified. Simulation results in PSCAD are confirmation of proposed system to have stable islanded Microgrid.