Centralised and decentralised data communication scheme for voltage regulation in DC Microgrids

Abstract

Voltage regulation is one of the main control issues in DC Microgrids (MGs). To achieve voltage regulation in MGs, exchange information between distributed generation units (DG) is inevitable. There are two types of data exchange proposed and discussed, centralised and decentralised data communication schemes. Many papers in the literature did not give attention to the type of data communication infrastructure that will have a significant impact on both centralised and decentralised schemes. This paper proposes centralised and decentralised data communication scheme and their impact on voltage regulation in DC MGs. The dynamic performance of a DC MG with loads fluctuations, operating with the proposed technique, is evaluated through simulation analyses, realized in MATLAB. Both the proposed centralised and decentralised methods are able to maintain the voltage within acceptable limit during loads fluctuations; however the centralised method is around five times faster than the decentralised method. The results show the superiority of the proposed method for the DC MGs operations during load demands fluctuations, loads varieties, communication delays and structures.