Microgrids and Resilience: A Review

Abstract

The occurrence of large-scale disturbances is increasing at an alarming rate throughout the world. As a consequence of this trend, a primary concern of today’s power system is to enhance its resilience against low-probability, high-impact events. In this regard, microgrids, as the smart grid’s building blocks, offer promising approaches toward achieving higher levels of distribution system resilience by accommodating and integrating various distributed energy resources. Accordingly, microgrid-based techniques have been the focus of a growing body of research seeking a more resilient power system. These methods mainly rely on the stand-alone operation of microgrids to supply loads locally in case of extreme events. The objective of this paper is to present an updated comprehensive review of the literature on two main categories of microgrid-based resilience enhancement approaches in distribution systems: 1) optimal microgrid formation and 2) optimal microgrid scheduling and energy management. Distinctive from other review papers, this article systematically surveys the research studies under multiple well-sectionalized features, such as various technologies, techniques, models, constraints, and concepts for each of the above two categories. These features include but are not limited to networked microgrids, demand response programs and electric vehicles scheduling, multi-energy microgrids, dynamic optimization schemes, control schemes, communication resilience, hybrid microgrids, and mobile energy resources. Additionally, a comprehensive introduction to resilience definitions and assessment methods, microgrid components, architectures, and control schemes, as well as, sources of uncertainty is provided.