Modeling and Analyzing of Inverters for Controlling Voltage and Frequency in an Islanded Microgrid

Recently, the growth of inverter-based generations (IBGs) like solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind turbine generators in the form of microgrids (MGs) has been increasing. However, control of voltage and frequency becomes a challenging task for MGs especially when they operate in an islanded mode, due to the inherent low-inertia feature of IBGs compared to a grid-tied mode where there is a grid support. This thesis deals with modeling and analyzing of inverters capable of controlling voltage and frequency through external conventional droop control for the islanded operation of MG. In this thesis, a state space model is developed for a voltage source inverter with droop control. Moreover, non-linear models for the inverters in single and parallel cases with droop control are developed and the results are verified in different load scenarios. The results show a good performance of the projected control, both in the isolated operation of an inverter supplying a load, and in the parallel operation of isolated inverters, where there is power sharing to properly feed the load. MATLAB/Simulink environment is used for the work

A review of microgrid development in the United States – A decade of progress on policies, demonstrations, controls, and software tools

Microgrids have become increasingly popular in the United States. Supported by favorable federal and local policies, microgrid projects can provide greater energy stability and resilience within a project site or community. This paper reviews major federal, state, and utility-level policies driving microgrid development in the United States. Representative U.S. demonstration projects are selected and their technical characteristics and non-technical features are introduced. The paper discusses trends in the technology development of microgrid systems as well as microgrid control methods and interactions within the electricity market. Software tools for microgrid design, planning, and performance analysis are illustrated with each tool's core capability. Finally, the paper summarizes the successes and lessons learned during the recent expansion of the U.S. microgrid industry that may serve as a reference for other countries developing their own microgrid industries

Development of a Converter-Based Testing Platform and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) Emulator for Microgrid Controller Function Evaluation

The microgrid has attracted increasing research attention in the last two decades. Due to the development of renewable energy resources and power electronics technologies, the future microgrid will trend to be smarter and more complicated. The microgrid controller performs a critical role in the microgrid operation, which will also become more and more sophisticated to support the future microgrid. Before final field deployment and test, the evaluation and testing of the controller is an indispensable step in the controller development, which requires a proper testing platform. However, existing simulation-based platforms have issues with potential numerical oscillation and may require huge computation resources for complex microgrid controllers. Meanwhile, field test-based controller evaluation is limited to the test conditions. Existing digital simulation-based platforms and field test-based platforms have limitations for microgrid controller testing. To provide a practical and flexible controller evaluation, a converter-based microgrid hardware testbed is designed and implemented considering the actual microgrid architecture and topology information. Compared with the digital simulation-based platforms, the developed microgrid testing platform can provide a more practical testing environment. Compared to the direct field test, the developed platform is more flexible to emulate different microgrids. As one of the key components, a converter-based battery energy storage system (BESS) emulator is proposed to complete the developed testing platform based on the testing requirements of microgrid controller functions. Meanwhile, the microgrid controller testing under different microgrid conditions is also considered. Two controllers for the microgrid with dynamic boundaries are tested to demonstrate the capability of the developed platform as well as the BESS emulator. Different testing cases are designed and tested to evaluate the controller performance under different microgrid conditions