Optimal Power Flow in an Islanded Renewable Microgrid Using Artificial Gorilla Troops Optimizer

Abstract

The microgrid is a local power provider with advanced control tools. The capacity of energy resources is not so high in a microgrid and cannot be treated as a slack bus. Hence, the power flow problem must be solved regardless of the presence of a slack bus. Power flow analysis plays a vitally important role in the design, planning, and operation of electricity networks. Unlike traditional load flow methods, optimal load flow can be a practical supporting tool for the operator to overcome problems in the planning, operation, and control of power systems at transmission and distribution levels. Conventional load flow methods cannot be used in island mode. In this paper, the Gorilla Troop Optimizer (GTO) method is employed to optimize the load flow method for renewable microgrids in the island mode. A hybrid objective function is also proposed to minimize the absolute value of the mean voltage phase error and the voltage amplitude, as well as to minimize the total absolute value of the mismatch of the active and reactive power. The simulation results of the studied system show that the proposed objective function can be used to improve various indicators. Moreover, the results convey that the GTO method has provided better performance than other optimization methods.