Abstract
The paper proposes an improved primary regulation method for inverter-interfaced generating units in islanded microgrids. The considered approach employs an off-line minimum losses optimal power flow (OPF) to devise the primary frequency regulation curve’s set-points while satisfying the power balance, frequency and current constraints. In this way, generators will reach an optimized operating point corresponding to a given and unique power flow distribution presenting the minimum power losses. The proposed approach can be particularly interesting for diesel-based islanded microgrids that face, constantly, the issue of reducing their dependency from fossil fuels and of enhancing their generation and distribution efficiency. The Glow-worm Swarm Optimization (GSO) algorithm is selected as a key heuristic tool for solving the optimization problem. The main program is carried out in Matlab environment. A case study with a parametric analysis is implemented and all results are assessed and compared with the conventional droop control method to show the effectiveness of the proposed method as well as the improved reliability of the system.
Highlights
In the last years, thanks to the development of new devices and new technologies and the wide use of information and communications technology (ICT) in power systems, microgrids have become an effective solution for providing electricity at small scale using various distributed energy sources and energy storage systems
This type of control is executed as a primary control to regulate frequency and voltage in a microgrid and to devise the power sharing between the distributed generator (DG) involved in the regulation
The results show the dependency between the droop coefficient value and the system operating point and how the proposed regulation method can be used to reduce the power losses in the microgrid
Summary
Thanks to the development of new devices and new technologies and the wide use of information and communications technology (ICT) in power systems, microgrids have become an effective solution for providing electricity at small scale using various distributed energy sources and energy storage systems. Linear (or conventional) droop control is based on the use of a constant droop coefficient for each distributed generator (DG) This type of control is executed as a primary control to regulate frequency and voltage in a microgrid and to devise the power sharing between the DGs involved in the regulation. Results are just focused on the sharing of power to attain minimum operational cost without considering frequency limitations Another dynamic droop control method is applied in [21] to regulate the frequency in presence of wind generators and solve stability problems. In this case, an efficient droop control allows extracting the maximum available power from wind turbines regardless of the wind speed.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
