THE MICRO-GRID CONCEPT

THE MICRO-GRID
A Micro-grid can be simply defined as an ARCHITECTURE:
aggregation of electrical generation, storages and Micro Source Controller
loads. The generators in the Micro-grid may be  regulate power flow on a feeder as loads
microturbines, fuel cells, reciprocating engines, on that feeder change their operating
or any of a number of alternate power sources. A points
Micro-grid may take the form of shopping center,  regulate the voltage at the interface of
industrial park or college campus. To the utility, a each microsource as loads on the system
Micro-grid is an electrical load that can be change
controlled in magnitude. The load could be
 Insure that each microsource rapidly picks
constant, or the load could increase at night when
up its share of the load when the system
electricity is cheaper, or the load could be held at
islands.
zero during times of system stress
 It responds in milliseconds and uses
A Micro-grid combined with power electronic
locally measured voltages and currents to
interface is a completely self-sufficient network,
control the microsource during all system
with preferably autonomous control,
or grid events.
communication and protection. It is capable of
Energy Manager
providing capacity support to the transmission
grid while in grid-connected mode, and with  The Energy Manager provides for system
capacity in excess of coincident peak demand. operation of the Micro-grid through
So, the Micro grids comprise low voltage LV dispatch of power And voltage set points
distribution systems with integration of Diverse to each Microsource Controller.

Energy Resources DER such as photovoltaic,  Insure that the necessary heat and

wind, bio-mass, bio fuel and fuel cell together electrical loads are met by the
microsources
with Distributed storage DS like flywheels,
 Insure that the Micro-grid satisfies
energy capacitors and batteries and Controllable
operational contracts with the bulk power
Loads that behave as a coordinated entity
provider Minimize emissions and/or
networked by employing advanced power
system losses, maximize the operational
electronic conversion and control capabilities
efficiency of the microsources
Protection
The protection coordinator must respond
to both system and Micro Grid faults. For

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 a fault on the grid, the desired response of the Micro-grid from the grid as rapidly
may be to isolate the critical load portion as is necessary to protect these loads.

TYPICAL MICRO GRID:

a single phase high frequency micro grid is shown as a solution for better utilization of micro grid. 1-Φ
500 Hz buses are used to combine renewable sources with loads and grid. Proposed system utilizes an
active filter called unified power quality conditioner .Also a unified power flow conditioner is used to
control the power flow from/to grid. Both unified power quality conditioner and unified power flow
conditioner consist of series and shunt active filters that use instantaneous ‘p-q’ theory to calculate
compensating voltage and current, which then are synthesized using pulse width modulation in voltage
source inverter(VSI).

Fig1. Typical micro grid

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 static switch will open, isolating the sensitive
loads from the power grid. If it is assumed
that there is sufficient generation to meet the
loads demands. When the micro grids are grid
connected power from the local generation
can be directed to feeder D.Static switch is
closed and utility grid is active.

OPERATING MODES OF
MICRO-GRID: 22

Operating modes of Micro-grid are:

1. Single master operation (SMO). 16

2. Multi master operation (MMO).

3. Grid connected operation

4. Stand alone or Islanded mode of

operation.

Basic Micro-grid architecture is shown below.

This consists of a group of radial feeders,
which could be part of a distribution system
or a buildings electrical system. There is
single Point of connection to the utility called
as point of common coupling. Some feeders
(feeders A-C) have sensitive loads, which
require common generation. The non-critical
load feeders do not have any local generation.
In our example this is feeder Feeders A-C can
island from the grid using static switch which
Fig2. Grid Connected Operation
can separate in less the cycle. In this case, In case of island mode utility grid is not
there are four micro sources at nodes 8, 11, 16 supplying power. Static switch is open. Feeder A,
and 22 which control the operation using only B, C is being supplied by micro sources and
feeder D is dead.
local voltages and currents measurements.
5.1 Single Master Operation (Smo).
There is a problem with utility supply. The
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 • Most of the micro sources connected to • Problem of power quality management
the network with a P-Q control type and a
• Micro source issues
single VSI inverter is associated with the
storage device- the master which provides • Communication among MG components.
frequency reference
• For multi customer system have to be well
5.2 Multi Master Operation (Mmo). organized concerning contractual issues.

• There are several inverters operating as

VSI with a predefined frequency/active
power and voltage/reactive power droop.
Other P-Q controlled inverters may also
co-exist.

5.3 Grid Connected Operation

• Micro grid(MG) connected parallel to
main grid – to either draw or supply
power to grid.

• Should not actively regulate voltage at

6.2 Inverter Modes Control
PCC.

• Harmonics and DC current injected to

grid should be below required levels.

• Should satisfy all of its load requirements

and contractual obligations with grid.

5.4 Stand Alone Or Islanded Mode Of

Operation.
• Disconnected from main grid due to
abnormal conditions in grid or due to
planned switching.
6.3 Primary Energy Source Control
• Problem of voltage and frequency
management.

• Problem of balance between supply and

demand
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 6.5 Autonomous Control

6.4 Reverse Droop Control

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 events, no matter whether the larger grid
is up or down.

 Scalability: Micro-grids can simply grow

through the additional installation of
 generators, storage, and loads. Such an
extension usually requires an incremental
new planning of the Micro-grid and can
be performed in a parallel and modular
manner in order to scale up to higher
power production and consumption
7. EXPECTED MICRO-GRID levels.

FEATURES  Efficiency: Centralized as well as

distributed Micro-grid supervisory
 Autonomy: Micro-grids include controller structures can optimize the
generation, storage, and loads, and can utilization of generators, manages
operate autonomously in grid-connected charging and discharging energy storage
and islanded mode. In the first case, a units, and manages consumption. in this
Micro-grid can independently optimize its way energy management goals can be
own power production and consumption profoundly optimized, for example in
under the consideration of system economic as well as environmental
economics such as buy or sell decisions. respects.
In islanded mode the system is capable of  Peer-to-peer model: Micro-grids can
balancing generation and load and can support a true peer-to-peer model for
keep system voltage and frequency in operation, control, and energy trade. In
defined limits with adequate controls. addition, interactive energy transactions
with the centralized utility grid are also
 Stability: Independent local control of possible with this model. The proposed
generators, batteries, and loads of Micro- concept does not dictate the size, scale,
grids are based on frequency droops and and number of peers and the growth rate
voltage levels at the terminal of each of the Micro-grid.
device. This means that a Micro-grid can
operate in a stable manner during nominal
operating conditions and during transient

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 larger than
The ratings expected for Micro-grids.
Because a Micro-grid exploits low voltage, use of
waste heat, and the flexibility of power
electronics, its practical size may be limited to a
few MVA (even Though IEEE draft standard
P1547 specifies an upper limit of 10MVA). In a
large complex, loads could be divided into many
controllable units e.g., among buildings or
industrial sites. Each unit
Could be supplied by one or more Micro-grids
connected through a distribution system. The
advantages of this system are that the Micro-grid
structure insures greater stability and
controllability,

8. INTERCONNECTED MICRO- Allows for a distributed command and control

system, and provides redundancy to insure
GRIDS
greater power supply reliability for the power
park.
Local interconnection standards vary
9. COMPARISON:
considerably from one bulk power provider to the
next. A national standard, ANSI standard P1547 • Inverter mode ,primary energy source and

(Draft) Standard for Distributed Resources multi agent based control approaches

Interconnected with Electric Power Systems is guarantee that voltage and frequency will

being drafted by the IEEE working group. This not vary much from nominal value hence

standard rests on certain assumptions about the suitable to drive quality sensitive loads

contribution of DER to power quality and

• Pure droop reverse droop and autonomous
System reliability. The standard applies at the
control are suitable for loads which can
point where a Micro-grid connects to the grid and
tolerate fluctuations
is related to the aggregate DER rating within the
• Choice also depend on micro source,
Micro-grid. In other words, the rules applied ownership and storage
to a Micro-grid containing many small DER
devices would be the same as for one large
DER.However, the applicability of P1547 is
limited to a DER rating of 10 MVA, which is
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 Conventional Grid verses Micro-grid

Performance Traditional grid power Micro-grid

Measures

At most location in US
Well designed Micro-grid projects with good fuel cost or
delivered grid power
Cost availability can be under 10 cents per KWh so some are
effectively cost between 6
less costly than grid power in some locations.
and 15 cents per KWh

Delivered grid power is

Micro-grid with CHP can be 70% to 90% efficient.
Fuel 30% to 50% efficient
Without CHP Micro-grid may be less efficient than grid
Efficiency depending on the mix of
power.
power plant used.
Grid power is on average Micro-grid with bulk system as backup achieves higher
99.97%reliable.No single reliability than the bulk system alone and usually at lower
Reliability DG technology without cost than upgrading the bulk system reliability.
redundancy Micro-grid alone is not a reliable as traditional power
Can beat this figure. without use of costly redundancy.
Modern natural gas Fuel cells and renewable energy systems used in DG
combine cycle power plants have little or no emission and pollute much less that most
Emissions
pollute less than fuel grid sources. Natural gas DG sources pollute less than
oil/diesel DG engine units. coal fired traditional grid generation.
Damage to a few measure
transmission lines can cause Severe damage to a Micro-grid affects only thousands of
Security
regional blackouts affecting customers or less.
millions of customers.
It is difficult to built new
Micro-grid can be a solution to overloaded and
Construction lines and substations due to
constrained T&D systems. But they also have their own
constraints NIMBY (“not in my
pollution, noise and zoning issues.
backyard syndrome”).

Table1. Conventional Grid verses Micro-grid

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 the utility grid and run in “island”mode if
required.Distributed generation ,
especially solar and wind power collected
across different small generation
locations, is gaining considerable
importance and their deployment is
perceived asvital in achieving carbon

10. ENVIRONMENTAL reduction goals .

8. The gains of increased conversion
ASPECTS
efficiency are threefold. First, fuel costs
1. Micro-grid encourages the use of the will be reduced both because individual
renewable energy sources. fuel purchases will decrease And
2. Large land use impacts are avoided. constrained overall demand will drive
3. CO2 Emissions are reduced. down fuel prices. Second, carbon
4. Growing environmental awareness and emissions will be reduced.
government directives have set the stage 9. Third, the environmental problem of
for an increase in the fraction of disposing of large power plant waste heat
electricity supplied using renewable Into the environment will diminish.
sources .
5. Renewable generation could appear in
Micro-grids,especially those
interconnected though power electronic
devices, such PV systems or some wind
turbines.
6. Biofueled micro turbines are also a
possibility. Environmentally, fuel cells
and most renewable sources are a major
improvement over conventional
combustion engines.
7. A Micro-grid is located in a
geographically limited area. Its generation
and load, as well as load balance, are
controlled by reliable electronic
components, and it can disconnect from

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 7. Micro-grids are able to operate with
diverse mixture of generators.
8. Micro-grid supports a true peer-to-peer
model for operation, control and energy
trade

11. ADVANTAGES OF MICRO-

GRID 12. DISADVANTAGES
1. Micro-grid includes generation ,storage 1. Electrical energy needs to be stored in
and loads and can operate autonomously battery banks thus requiring more space
in grid connected islanded mode and maintenance.
2. In peak load periods it prevents the utility 2. Resynchronization with utility grid is
failure by reducing the load on the grid difficult.
3. Micro-grid can operate in stable manner 3. Micro-grid protection is one of the most
during nominal operating conditions and important challenges facing the
during transient events. implementation of Micro-grids.
4. Micro-grids are completely compatible
with existing utility grid.
5. It supports the growth of existing system
in an economical and environmentally
friendly way.
6. Micro-grids are more efficient because of
it can optimise the utilisation of
generators, manage charging and
discharging storage units, manage the
power consumption.
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