J. Mod. Power Syst.

Clean Energy (2014) 2(3):256–263

DOI 10.1007/s40565-014-0074-y

Design and application of microgrid operation control

system based on IEC 61850
Wen LU (&), Yangdong ZHAO, Weixing LI,
Hongwei DU

Abstract We consider the microgrid operation control its users, bringing bad influence to power quality, system
technology including design of microgrid operation control protection and system operation. Integrating DG, load,
system, MG control device and control strategy. We pay energy storage and control devices into a microgrid system
much attention on microgrid operation control device and presenting this system to power grid as a single and
which is core control device. In order to solve the contra- controlled unit can respond to centralized-control signals and
diction of quick speed about microgrid operation mode coordinate the contradiction between power grid and DG
shift and slow speed about the management system, three- well. But at home there have been no uniform standards for
layers control architecture based on IEC61850 is designed microgrid communication yet, which increased the difficulty
and adaptive control strategy is used on MG operation in accessing the microgrid to power distribution network for
control system. The system has been applied in a distrib- the operation of the microgrid to be controlled [2, 3].
uted generation/energy storage power station. The actual Currently, the two main ways of microgrid control are
operation shows that the system can be effectively and peer-to-peer control and master-slave control [4–7]. The
flexibly connected to distribution network. technology of peer-to-peer control has high requirement for
coordination control of DG and is still confined to the
Keywords Distributed generator, Microgrid, Self- laboratory; master-slave control has high requirement for
adaptive operation control, V/f control, IEC61850 communication, demanding not only reliability but also
real-time performance, and considerably relies on com-
puter system and communication, and its timeliness needs
1 Introduction to be demonstrated [8, 9]. Master-slave control is further
divided into two-layer control or three-layer control, which
Distributed generator (DG) has the characteristics of are used by most pilot projects at home and abroad and lay
flexible position and dispersion, which adapts to dispersive emphasis on coordinating the operation of DG and load
power demand and resource distribution [1]. However, within microgrid [10]. Ref. [11] presents a decentralized
simple grid-connected operation of large amounts of dis- control method which makes use of the local information
tributed supplies that are dispersive, in various forms and of DG within microgrid. This control method can solve the
with different properties will have impact on power grid and problems of distributed generator and load within micro-
grid of being dispersive, but it is unable to take full
CrossCheck date: 12 September 2014 advantage of the generation complementarities of DG
Received: 1 July 2014 / Accepted: 26 August 2014 / Published online:
within microgrid. Ref. [14] presents a master-slave control
25 September 2014 strategy from a microgrid energy management perspective.
Ó The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at It relies too heavily on communication and doesn’t con-
Springerlink.com sider control methods in particular conditions. Ref. [15]
W. LU, W. LI, School of Electrical Engineering and
presents power management methods and controller design
Automation, Harbin Institute of Technology University, Harbin
150001, China details within microgrid according to output characteristics
(&) e-mail: [email protected] of different types of DG, but mentions nothing about access
W. LU, Y. ZHAO, H. DU, State Grid Electric Research Institute, control method of microgrid.
Nanjing 211000, China

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Design and application of microgrid operation 257

Distribution Network
Management System
Fiber Optic

Ethernet
Remote MAin
Communication
Station of
Line
Distributed
Generation RS485
Access Control Communicatio
n Line
Layer(Station Level) Switch Signal

Fiber Optic
Line

IEC61850-8-1

Ethernet

Switches

Micro-grid Operation Control

Micro-grid Communication Control Device
Device

Switches

Ethernet

GOOSE
Coordination Control Micro-grid
Layer(Bay Level) IEC61850-9-1 Power Quality Clock
Protective Meter Synchronizer
Device Monitoring

Distrib
Energy ution
Storag Fan Photov
Device Layer Load Transf
e oltaic
(Device Layer) ormation

Fig. 1 Three layers control structure based on IEC 6I850

On account of the impact of microgrid connection to This system contains the access control layer, the coor-
power distribution network operation and the difficulty in dination control layer and the device layer, uniformly
carrying out uniform standards for microgrid communica- modeled as per standard IEC 61850, which respectively
tion in a short time, as well as to meet the requirement of correspond to station level, bay level and process level in
future digitalized power system, this paper designs a mi- IEC 61850. Various DG body equipments and microgrid
crogrid operation control system which is based on IEC controller communication adopt uniform communication
61850 using three-layer control mode. In this system, a protocols conforming to the frame system of IEC 61850.
self-adaptation control strategy is used for controlling mi- Device layer contains photovoltaic power generation, fan,
crogrid operation, and microgrid operation mode can be energy storage battery and other equipments such as rele-
quickly switched. This control system can be applied in the vant measurement and control terminals, on-line monitoring
microgrid system that has access to power distribution devices, etc. Generally, energy storage provides the refer-
network and solve the problem of low permeability of ence voltage of the microgrid. As to some power-generation
renewable energy sources. It can also be applied to the equipments that do not support IEC61850, they can get
microgrid system that operates in an off-grid manner and access to coordination control layer via merging unit, thus
solve the problems of back-up power important load and the device layer can be modeled as per IEC 61850.
difficulty in providing power for remote rural areas. The equipments of coordination control layer mainly
refers to microgrid operation controller, mainly in charge of
sending corresponding control commands to the device
2 Architecture design of microgrid operation control layer and delivering execution information of the microgrid
system to the station layer. The interoperability and interchange-
ability of the devices will be obtained on bay level for easy
Microgrid access control system adopts three-layer interoperability. Microgrid operation controller sends
control mode based on IEC 61850, as shown in Fig. 1. GOOSE messages to intelligent switches. GOOSE messages

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258 Wen LU et al.

can at once be sent when the switching value shifts or be sent module are included. Data management module takes
occasionally when the switching value does not shift. charge of collecting, storing and managing status data and
The access control layer corresponds to the microgrid history information data of each part. Strategy control
access control system. It gets microgrid information through module works out the specific controlled quantity of each
the coordination control layer, gets power distribution net- actuating equipment according to the working condition of
work information from the distribution network manage- the current microgrid and main grid. Communication
ment system and can realize microgrid operation monitoring management module includes access control management
and control. The information exchange between the coor- and equipment control management. Access control man-
dination control layer and the access control layer adopts the agement takes charge of information exchange between the
manufacturing messages specification (MMS) mapping access control master station and the coordination control
defined in IEC 61850-8-1, and supports control services layer, and accomplishes coordination control of the sub-
such as ‘‘GetMSVCBValues/ SetMSVCBValue’’. system of microgrid. Device control management sends
Microgrid control system has been completely consis- controlled quantity down to the actuators of DG, and also
tent with IEC 61580 on bay level and station level, but the collects status messages of the device layer.
device layer still can not realize IEC 61850 in full sense,
though it is compatible with IEC 61850.
4 Self-adaptive control strategy

3 Realization of microgrid operation controller The operation modes of microgrid varies with different
operation conditions. In order to ensure a smooth operation
Microgrid operation controller is the core device of of the microgrid and its flexible access to power distribu-
microgrid operation control system. In this equipment, the tion network, it is necessary to quickly control the micro-
control strategy is realized. source output and smoothly switch the operation mode. In
the case of microgrid three-layer control, the above men-
3.1 Platform design tioned condition can be realized by means of self-adaptive
control.
In order to achieve high reliability and control rapidity
of the microgrid, microgrid operation controller adopts an 4.1 Microgrid operation mode
embedded real-time design. The hardware platform of
microgrid operation controller adopts PCM821 embedded Generally, micro grid has four basic operation modes:
structure design. Its dominant frequency is 800 MHz. It has normal grid-connected operation mode, the mode of tran-
8 self-adaptive internet accesses, 18 serial ports, 8 paths in, sition from grid-connected operation to isolated-grid
4 paths out and 1 memory interface of document object operation, isolated-grid operation mode and grid-recon-
model (DOM). It supports clock synchronization of IEEE nected mode. Each mode has several sub-modes. The
1588 V2.0 and IRIG-B, the RS-232/485/422 mode and the relationship between different modes is shown in Fig. 3.
network communication that is based on TCP/IP protocol
family, and fully satisfies the needs of massive calculation 4.1.1 Normal grid-connected operation mode
and Ethernet communication.
The software platform adopts Linux real-time operating Grid-connected operation mode has 4 sub-modes
system. including constant power, variable power, considering
peak-load shifting and optimized operation. In normal grid-
3.2 Software design connected operation, microgrid controller firstly makes
generation plans of each DG and charge-discharge plans of
The program adopts a modular design. Each program energy storage devices according to the generation predi-
module can operate on one machine or more as needed. cation result and load predication result of each DG and the
Data can be exchanged via network communication charged state of energy storage units and as required by
between modules. various sub-modes.

3.3 Function module 4.1.2 Transition from grid-connected operation

to isolated-grid operation
The internal relationship of microgrid operation control
modules is shown in Fig. 2. Data management module, This mode has two sub-modes: planned off-grid and
strategy control module and communication management unplanned off-grid. Planned off-grid means that the

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Design and application of microgrid operation 259

Main Program of Operation

Data Management
Control Strategy Algorithms Shared Memory Micro-grid Shared Memory Internal Bus Information
Module
Operation Control Database

Memory
Shared
Communication
Management
Module

Internal Bus
Communication Coordination Control Module
Internal Bus

Internal Bus

Internal Bus

Internal Bus

Internal Bus

Internal Bus

Internal Bus

Internal Bus
Internal Bus
Port N*485/ Port 485/
Port N*485/BMS Port N*485/ Port N*485/Fan Port N*485/
Photovoltaic Load Data Port N*485/ Telecommand/
Control PCS Control Data Receiving/ Distribution
Data Receiving/ Receiving/ Meteorological Telecontrol Access
Cammand Cammand Control Transformati
Control Control Data Control Control
Sending/ Sending/ Command on Data
Command Command Receiving Module
Receiving Receiving Sending Receiving
Sending Sending

Fig. 2 Model of microgrid control

Transition from Grid-

connected Operation to
Isolated-grid Operation

Grid-connected Isolated-grid
Operation Operation

Grid-
reconnection
Basic Load
Peak-load

Optimized

Recovery
Operation

Peak-load
Constant

Variable

Shifting

Shifting

Fault
Supply
Power

Power

Power

Fig. 3 Control mode of microgrid operation

microgrid controller actively comes to be off-grid accord- 4.1.3 Isolated-grid operation mode
ing to the command of the access control layer. Unplanned
off-grid means that the microgrid passively becomes off- In isolated-grid operation mode, the microgrid achieves
grid due to emergency situations or faults. self-energy balance according to its generation and load

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260 Wen LU et al.

Main Grid point, unlimiting power and considering peak-load

Access Control Layer (second/minute in order shifting of distribution network load on the basis of the
of magnitude) current working conditions of the microgrid and the
I nformation main grid, so as to form a control strategy and send it
Control strategy to the coordination control layer. Coordination control
Coordination Control Layer layer decomposes the control strategy into control
(millisecond/second in order of magnitude) signals to devices according to the measured values
C ontrol signal and the quantity of state sent by the device layer, and
measurement/event
sends these signals to the device layer. The actuators
Distributed
Device layer (millisecond in order Generator / of the device layer ultimately complete the process of
of magnitude) Microgrid control.
2) Communication interrupt condition. As mentioned, the
Fig. 4 Three grades control process
design of this control system does not rely too much
on communication system. If there is a communication
fault between the main station and the coordination
state. This mode has three sub-modes: ensuring basic load
control layer, the access control layer will transfer the
generator, considering peak-load shifting, and fault
control strategy function to the coordination control
recovery.
layer, which leads to two-layer control. When there is
a communication fault between the coordination
4.1.4 Grid-reconnected mode
control layer and some device layer DG, the device
layer can still make DG control strategies on the basis
After receiving the command of its parent grid, the
of the measured values and the quantity of state.
micro grid adjusts the voltage amplitude and frequency and
3) Island running. When a fault occurs in the power
reconnects to the power grid.
distribution grid, the microgrid can not remain online
The operation mode of the micro grid varies with
operation. When the main station commands the micro
operation condition, and is switched on the basis of certain
grid to be off-grid, the microgrid has to operate
control strategies when the operation condition changes.
independently in order to ensure reliability.
 Active off-grid running. As for the condition of active
4.2 Self-adaptive control method
command, the control process is simpler. After
receiving the off-grid control instruction, the coordi-
Three-layer control structure corresponds to three-layer
nation control layer sends a message to the load
control process, as shown in Fig. 4. The control of each
control equipments that the unimportant load may be
layer is relatively independent, and takes different response
cut off and the energy storage devices maintain energy
speed according to different response request. Normally,
balance, according to the generation power and the
the event responding time of the main station layer is
load power within the micro grid. Then the coordina-
mostly several seconds or minutes, the regulation of the
tion control layer will convert the control mode of the
coordination control layer is mostly required to be com-
master controller from PQ control mode to V/f control
pleted in a second, and the response of the device layer is
mode and trip off the grid-connection switch, thus
required to be completed in several milliseconds.
smoothly switches into the off-grid operation mode.
In order to achieve a quick response of the control
` Passive Off-grid running. One case is that the coor-
system, the program uses a message mechanism and each
dination control layer obtains the information of grid-
control layer uses the set algorithm of state control to
connected switch shift at the earliest time. Firstly cut
control the state according to the current quantity of state.
off the unimportant load or start the energy storage
When the upper or lower layer changes, delivery is done
devices on the basis of energy balance, so as to
via the message mechanism, and the control layer will
maintain energy balance, and at the same time convert
process the information according to the priority of the
the control mode of the master controller from PQ
information so as to avoid any delay of task processing
control mode to V/f control mode so as to complete
caused by waiting. The conditions of normal operation,
mode shift. Another case is that the master controller
communication interrupt and island will be respectively
at first detected a fault and starts the islanding
analyzed below.
protection. The control mode of the master controller
1) Normal operation state. In normal operation state, the is converted from PQ control to V/f control mode. At
access control layer adopts certain control schemes the same time, the communication controller sends this
such as setting constant power at the grid connection message as the highest priority to the coordination

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Design and application of microgrid operation 261

(kW)
80
Transfor
mer 10/
0.4Kv 60

CB1 40
Bus
Fan
PV
20 Load
Energy storage
Power Power
Load 15+j5 Load20+j 0 (h)
KVA 5 KVA 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23

-20

-40

Fig. 6 One typical day of the micro source and load power

Energy Photovoltaic Wind Power shown in Fig. 5. On the one hand, they supply power to the
Storage 80kw/ Power Generation Artificial
Generation village load. On the other hand, they are connected to the
128kwh Load
2X25kw 2X30kw
public power distribution network through a 400 V/10 kV
Fig. 5 Village mode for microgrid distribution transformation. The operation is coordinated
under the unified management of microgrid control
system.
control layer, and then takes emergency control After the system has been put into operation, the access
measures according to the adaptive control schemes control system automatically selects corresponding control
for anticipated incidents, so as to complete mode strategy according to the state of the power grid. The
switch. In the above-mentioned two cases, information process of self-adaptation control under the three condi-
will be sent to the control layer after the completion of tions of normal optimized operation, communication
mode shift, and the access control layer will adopt a interrupt and voltage limit fault will be analyzed below.
global control strategy according to the islanding
condition. 5.1 Normal optimized operation

The adaptability of state control strategy splendidly Fig. 6 shows the changes of the output and the load of
accommodates various unexpected accidents or faults of each micro-source in normal optimized operation. From
the power distribution grid. The access control layer, the this figure we can see that the complementation of the
coordination control layer and the device layer of the mi- output of wind and light can smooth fluctuations in the
crogrid take different response speed, which excellently output of wind and light on the one hand; on the other
accommodates the rapidity of the mode shift of microgrid hand, when the load increases and the output of wind and
operation and the low response speed of the superior dis- light is insufficient, the rapid release of the stored energy
patching system. balances with the over high load of the power distribution
network over the period, thus achieves the effect of peak-
load shifting.
5 Application case In this operation process, the access control system of
the station level sends out microgrid output plans for the
The system is applied in the demonstration project of next day based on the load prediction and the working state
distributed generation/energy storage and microgrid oper- of the power grid the day before, and makes real-time
ation control of Yudaokou Village, Yudaokou Township, revisions in the day execution. Generally the revision is
Weichang County, Chengde City. The project includes a made every ten minutes. The microgrid controller of the
subsystem of 60 kW photovoltaic power generation, a bay level decomposes the output task to each micro source
subsystem of 90 kW wind power generation, a subsystem according to the generation prediction of DG and the
of 80 kW/128 kWh energy storage, and the village load as generation plan of the main station, and coordinates the

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262 Wen LU et al.

operation of each micro source in real time. The regulation There are still some aspects deserving further in-depth
period is over ten seconds. study.
1) In order to satisfy the safety and reliability require-
5.2 Communication interrupt condition
ment of the power distribution network and the
constraints of power quality, it is necessary to do
In a communication interrupt condition, the microgrid
more research on the maximum capacity and optimal
actively comes to be off-grid and operates independently.
proportion of the accessible distributed generation,
The energy storage provide reference voltage. V/f control
load and energy storage in the distribution network.
mode is adopted and the output is regulated in order to
2) In order to make the microgrid control more accurate
provide a power balance within the microgrid system. The
and the fluctuation impact to the power grid smaller, it
each micro-source output can still realize smooth switch by
is necessary to do more research on precise prediction
adopting the control strategy of adjustment ratio Droop via
of distributed generators.
inverter.
This process is completed through two-layer control by
each micro source of the coordination layer and the device
layer under the condition of communication interrupt of the Acknowledgement This work is supported by National High
Technology Research and Development Program of China (863
station level. Program) (No. 2011AA05A117).

5.3 Voltage limit fault Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, dis-
tribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original
If a voltage limit fault occurs in the microgrid, the author(s) and the source are credited.
protection will act rapidly. The fault source will be cut off
after tens of milliseconds, emergency control will be exe-
cuted, at the same time information will be sent to the main
station of access control layer. If the device layer passively
receives the commands of the station level and the coor- References
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Wen LU received the M.Sc degree in Electrical Engineering from

Harbin Institute of Technology University (HIT). He is now a D.Eng.
candidate in HIT University and a Senior Engineer in State Grid
Electric Research Institute. His research interests include distribution
system operation and distributed generation system operation.

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