Autonomous power management of series-cascaded and hybrid microgrids

Microgrids with power electronics interfaced Distributed Generation units are gaining high popularity due to its zero emission characteristics. Control and coordination of these generation units are the most crucial factors that will determine the effective utilisation and flexibility of microgrids. Conventional microgrid structure with droop controlled parallel distributed generation units are being replaced by the series-cascaded structure due to its reduced conversion stages and inherent harmonic sharing capability. This research work first aims to develop a microgrid architecture integrating dispatchable and non-dispatchable distributed generation units in a series-cascaded manner. Existing control strategies for cascaded microgrids focus on dispatchable type generation only. However, adequate power sharing and voltage regulation of a microgrid containing mixed dispatchable and non-dispatchable cascaded generation units demand new control approaches to achieve operational performance and reliability comparable to the conventional parallel-topology microgrid. To ensure maximum utilisation of non-dispatchable units a novel microgrid architecture formed by a dispatchable master unit followed by a set of non-dispatchable slave photovoltaic units in a series-cascaded manner is developed. A fully decentralised control scheme is proposed, which achieves autonomous power balancing and voltage regulation, ensures full utilisation of non-dispatchable generation units, and allows surplus power curtailment under light load conditions. Further, this research work aims to extend the series topological arrangement to form a hybrid microgrid, where low voltage converters are cascaded as a string unit to achieve rated output voltage, and these strings are then paralleled to obtain higher redundancy and power rating. The extension of the arrangement to a hybrid microgrid requires the development of new control strategies, since existing schemes cannot be applied in their original form. As of now hybrid microgrids are controlled using either distributed or centralised schemes to achieve accurate power sharing among the distributed generation units at the cost of complex communication infrastructure. Therefore, a new control scheme is proposed for the hybrid microgrid which aims to achieve accurate power sharing among the paralleled units while maintaining adequate synchronisation among the cascaded converters without any communication link. Fundamental concepts as well as mathematical and simulation models of the existing and proposed control schemes are presented. All the proposed control strategies are validated through extensive simulation results and the series-cascaded microgrid control is validated through matching simulation and experimental results

A reactive power-voltage control strategy of an AC microgrid based on adaptive virtual impedance

As an effective carrier of distributed generation, a microgrid is an effective way to ensure that distributed power can be reasonably utilized. However, due to the property of line impedance and other factors in a microgrid, reactive power supplied by distributed generation units cannot be shared rationally. To efficiently improve reactive power sharing, this paper proposes a reactive power-voltage control strategy based on adaptive virtual impedance. This method changes the voltage reference value by adding an adaptive term based on the traditional virtual impedance. Meanwhile, a voltage recovery mechanism was used to compensate the decline of distributed generation (DG) output voltage in the process. MATLAB/Simulink simulations and experimental results show that the proposed controller can effectively improve the steady state performance of the active and reactive power sharing. Finally, the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed control strategy were verified

A Fast Power Calculation Algorithm for Three-Phase Droop-Controlled-Inverters Using Combined SOGI Filters and Considering Nonlinear Loads

The power calculation is an indispensable element in droop-controlled inverters because the bandwidth of the measured power has a direct impact on the controller performance. This paper proposes a fast and accurate power calculation algorithm based on the combined Second Order Generalized Integrator (SOGI) filters in stationary coordinates for a three-phase system, which takes into consideration the use of nonlinear loads. The power calculation scheme is formed by the two-stage SOGI filters that are employed for obtaining the active and reactive powers required to perform a droop-based inverter operation, respectively. From the two-stage structure, the first SOGI is used as a band-pass filter (BPF) for filtering harmonics and obtaining the fundamental current of the nonlinear load; The second SOGI is used as a low-pass filter (LPF) for extracting the DC-component, which corresponds with the average power. A small-signal model of a two droop-controlled inverters system is built to obtain the dynamical response and stability margin of the system. And compared it with the dynamical behaviour of a standard droop-control method. Next, the proposed power calculation system is designed in order to achieve the same ripple amplitude voltage as that obtained with the standard droop-control method by adjusting the bandwidth gains. Through simulation and hardware in the loop (HIL) validation, the proposed approach presents a faster and more accurate performance when sharing nonlinear loads, and also drives the inverters’ output voltage with lower distortion.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

HIERARCHICAL CONTROL OF AC MICROGRIDS

Microgrids are a group of localized electrical resources mainly using renewable resources as a main source of power, which can operate independently or in collaboration with utility grid. When connection of a microgrid is concerned, switching from an islanding to grid-connected mode is always a difficult task for a microgrid mainly due to transients and mismatching in synchronization. Hierarchical control structure of a microgrid eradicates this issue by separating the control structure in multiple levels. This thesis explains different levels of hierarchical control strategies, which constitute primary control, secondary and tertiary control. The primary control is based on droop control including output virtual impedance, secondary control performs restoration of voltage and frequency performed by primary and tertiary control maintain the power flow between the micro grid and external utility. In first step, this thesis covers the technical overview of traditional control methods of power converters and then the latter part consists of detailed description of all three levels of hierarchical control with synchronization and power flow analysis. Various types of primary controls, like with and without communication, and improvements to droop control are discussed and compared. In the end, concepts explained in previous chapters, are done in practice and simulated results are discussed.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Control strategy of grid connected power converter based on virtual flux approach

A la portada consta el nom del programa interuniversitari: Joint Doctoral Programme in Electric Energy Systems [by the] Universidad de Málaga, Universidad de Sevilla, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Erriko Unibertsitatea i Universitat Politècnica de CatalunyaDistributed Generation (DG) provides an alternative to the Centralized Generation (CG) by means of generating electricity near to the end user of power with the employment of small-scale technologies to produce electricity, mainly using Renewable Energy Sources (RES). The prospects of renewable energy integration during the next years are still very optimistic. This PhD dissertation is made to provide an alternative control framework for the grid connected power converter by adopting the virtual flux concept in the control layer. This dissertation can be divided into three main topics. The 1st topic presents the voltage sensorless control system for the grid-connected power converter. The control system presented is done without depending on AC-voltage measurement where the grid synchronization is based on the Virtual Flux (VF) estimation. In this regard, the Frequency Locked Loop (FLL) is used in conjunction with the estimation scheme to make the system fully adaptive to the frequency changes. This voltage sensorless application is useful for reducing cost and complexity of the control hardware. It is also can be utilized in case of limited reliability or availability of voltage measurements at the intended point of synchronization to the grid. Considering that most previous studies are based on the VF estimation for the case of power converter connected to the grid through the L-filter or LC-filter, this dissertation is focused on the power converter connected to the grid through the LCL filter. The Proportional Resonant (PR) current controller is adopted in the inner loop control of the power electronics-based converter to test the performance of such system. Another control method based on VF synchronization that permits to control the active and reactive power delivery in a remote point of the grid is also presented in this dissertation. This is due to the fact that the VF is implemented that the voltage in a remote point of the line can be estimated. As it will be shown in simulations and experiments, the proposed control scheme provides a good tracking and dynamic performance under step changes in the reference power. The fast synchronization and the smooth reference tracking achieved in transient conditions have demonstrated the effectiveness of the Dual Second Order Generalized Integrator controlled as Quadrature Signal Generator (DSOGI-QSG) and also the current controller used in the proposed system. In addition to the power control itself, this study could also benefit the frequency and the voltage regulation methods in distributed generation applications as for instance in microgrid. Considering the fact that the grid connected power converter can be controlled as a virtual synchronous generator where the flux is a variable to be used for controlling its operation, this dissertation also presents a Virtual Synchronous Flux Controller (VSFC) as a new control framework of the grid connected power converter. In this regard, a new control strategy in the inner loop control of the power converter will be proposed. The main components of the outer loop control of VSFC are based on the active and reactive power control. The results presented show that the VSFC works well to control the active and reactive power without considering any synchronization system. The inner loop control is able to work as it is required, and the measurement flux is able to track the reference flux without any significant delays. All the work presented in this dissertation are supported by mathematical and simulation analysis. In order to endorse the conclusions achieved, a complete experimental validations have been conducted before wrapping this dissertation with a conclusion and recommendation for future enhancement of the control strategies that have been presented.Postprint (published version

Grid forming converters in renewable energy sources dominated power grid : control strategy, stability, application, and challenges

The renewable energy sources (RESs) dominated power grid is an envisaged infrastructure of the future power system, where the commonly used grid following (GFL) control for grid-tied converters suffers from lacking grid support capability, low stability, etc. Recently, emerging grid forming (GFM) control methods have been proposed to improve the dynamic performance and stability of grid-tied converters. This paper reviews existing GFM control methods for the grid-tied converters and compares them in terms of control structure, grid support capability, fault current limiting, and stability. Considering the impact of fault current limiting strategies, a comprehensive transient stability analysis is provided. In addition, this paper explores the typical applications of GFM converters, such as AC microgrid and offshore wind farm high-voltage direct current (OWF-HVDC) integration systems. Finally, the challenges to the GFM converters in future applications are discussed

On Enhancing Microgrid Control and the Optimal Design of a Modular Solid-State Transformer with Grid-Forming Inverter

abstract: This dissertation covers three primary topics and relates them in context. High frequency transformer design, microgrid modeling and control, and converter design as it pertains to the other topics are each investigated, establishing a summary of the state-of-the-art at the intersection of the three as a baseline. The culminating work produced by the confluence of these topics is a novel modular solid-state transformer (SST) design, featuring an array of dual active bridge (DAB) converters, each of which contains an optimized high-frequency transformer, and an array of grid-forming inverters (GFI) suitable for centralized control in a microgrid environment. While no hardware was produced for this design, detailed modeling and simulation has been completed, and results are contextualized by rigorous analysis and comparison with results from published literature. The main contributions to each topic are best presented by topic area. For transformers, contributions include collation and presentation of the best-known methods of minimum loss high-frequency transformer design and analysis, descriptions of the implementation of these methods into a unified design script as well as access to an example of such a script, and the derivation and presentation of novel tools for analysis of multi-winding and multi-frequency transformers. For microgrid modeling and control, contributions include the modeling and simulation validation of the GFI and SST designs via state space modeling in a multi-scale simulation framework, as well as demonstration of stable and effective participation of these models in a centralized control scheme under phase imbalance. For converters, the SST design, analysis, and simulation are the primary contributions, though several novel derivations and analysis tools are also presented for the asymmetric half bridge and DAB.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 201

DC & Hybrid Micro-Grids

This book is a printed version of the papers published in the Special Issue “DC & Hybrid Microgrids” of Applied Sciences. This Special Issue, co-organized by the University of Pisa, Italy and Østfold University College in Norway, has collected nine papers and the editorial, from 28 submitted, with authors from Asia, North America and Europe. The published articles provide an overview of the most recent research advances in direct current (DC) and hybrid microgrids, exploiting the opportunities offered by the use of renewable energy sources, battery energy storage systems, power converters, innovative control and energy management strategies