Microgrid-Based Wind and Solar Power Generation on Moon and Mars

Abstract

This letter proposes a DC microgrid for sustainable power generation on the Mars/Moon for a human inhabitation base. The proposed microgrid includes: (i) A wind turbine (WT) system with a dual rotor generator (DRG) whose output is rectified using a passive rectification state and connected to the microgrid common DC bus with a fixed voltage using a DC-DC converter. (ii) Solar panels that use Passive Emitter and Rear Cell (PERC) material suitable for in-space application whose data are available to the authors; the solar panels are connected to the DC bus using a DC-DC converter. (iii) Battery energy storage system (BESS) that uses a modified lithium-ion material that is space-tested and connects to the DC bus via a bidirectional DC-DC converter. The microgrid feeds three loads, a constant DC load, a 3-phase AC load, and a Mars Rover charger station. A maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller is proposed for the WT and solar system while a supervisory controller is developed that manages the power flow strategy from the sources to the loads based on the BESS state of charge (SoC). The letter discusses conditions of the Mars/Moon, the challenges for sustained power generation and provides simulation results for the steady-state and transients analyses.