Smart Grid

Operation and Control of AC Microgrid-II

Prof. Narayana Prasad Padhy
Electrical Engineering Department

1
 Table of Contents

➢ Introduction.

➢ Need for Microgrid Control.

➢ Hierarchical Controls.

➢ Intelligent Control Techniques.

➢ Overview of AC Microgrid controls.

2
 Introduction

Voltage

Active Key control variables

Frequency
power In Microgrid

Reactive
power
3
 Need for Microgrid Control
➢ Voltage and frequency regulation under ➢ Uninterrupted supply to critical
any operating condition. loads such as schools, hospitals, and
other essential services.
➢ Active and reactive power control to
achieve proper power-sharing under grid ➢ Capability of black start in case of
connected as well as in the islanded grid failure.
mode of operation.
➢ Optimized operating cost of
➢ A seamless transition from grid production and power exchanges
connected to an islanded mode and vice with the utility grid.
versa.

➢ Participation in energy market with

optimized production of micro-sources.
4
Hierarchical Control

Source Bevrani et al, 2017.

5
 Hierarchical control
For each MG, there is a
central controller (MGCC)
that interfaces between the The DMS/DNO has
distribution management responsibility to
system (DMS) or distribution manage
network operator (DNO) and the operation of
the MG. medium-voltage (MV)
and low-voltage (LV)
areas in which
more than one MG
may exist.

General scheme for Microgrid control

Source Bevrani et al, 2017.

6
Balance Between Market and Local Needs
Market
Local needs
participation

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 Local Hierarchical Control
Local control

• The local control includes fundamental control hardware,

comprises DGs internal voltage and current control loops.

• Maintains DGs stability by measuring and controlling the local

signals.

• Basically works in the decentralized fashion

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 Local Hierarchical Control
➢ The main usage of local controllers is to
control DGs to operate in normal operation.
➢ The local controllers for a DG that operates
as a voltage controlled voltage source
converter (VSC), where the voltage
reference is provided by the conventional
droop controllers.
➢ This controller feeds the current signal as a
feedforward term via a transfer function
(e.g., virtual impedance that is introduced
Local control loops in a typical VSC
later).
based DG
➢ The proportional–integral (PI) controllers
are widely used to the design of the
control loops in the local control level. Source Bevrani et al, 2017.

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 Droop Control- Local Hierarchical Control

➢ For example, a 5% droop means that a 5%

deviation in nominal frequency causes 100%
change in output power.

Droop characteristics for inverter-based

➢ The interconnected generating units with
DGs with inductive line impedance: V–Q
different droop characteristics can jointly track droop.
the load change to restore the nominal system
f-𝑓0 = −𝑘𝑝 (P−𝑃0 )
frequency.
∆𝑓
𝑘𝑝 (Hz/pu(MW)=
∆𝑃
∆𝑓 ∆𝑃1 𝑘𝑝2
∆𝑃𝑖 = =
𝑘𝑝𝑖 ∆𝑃2 𝑘𝑝1
Source Bevrani et al, 2017.

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 Droop Control- Local Hierarchical Control

➢ Two generating units are operating at a unique

nominal frequency with different output powers.
Any change in the network load causes the units to
decrease their speed, and the governors increase
the outputs until they reach a new common Droop characteristics for inverter-based
operating frequency. DGs with inductive line impedance: V–Q
droop.
➢ The amount of produced power by each f-𝑓0 = −𝑘𝑝 (P−𝑃0 )
generating unit to compensate the network load
change depends on the unit’s droop characteristic. ∆𝑓
𝑘𝑝 (Hz/pu(MW)=
∆𝑃
∆𝑓 ∆𝑃1 𝑘𝑝2
∆𝑃𝑖 = =
𝑘𝑝𝑖 ∆𝑃2 𝑘𝑝1
Source Bevrani et al, 2017.

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 Droop Control- Local Hierarchical Control

V-𝑉0 = −𝑘𝑞 (Q −𝑄0 )

Inductive
(Conventional)
𝑘𝑞 (Volt/pu(Mvar))= ∆𝑓 Grid Droop Equations
∆𝑃

Droop characteristics for inverter-based V-𝑉0 = 𝑘𝑞 (Q −𝑄0 )

DGs with inductive line impedance: V–Q Resistive/Low Voltage
droop. f-𝑓0 = −𝑘𝑝 (P−𝑃0 ) Grid Droop Equations

Source Bevrani et al, 2017.

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 Droop Control Drawbacks
A small mismatching in the grid impedance estimation could result in
an inefficient power sharing among the droop-controlled DGs.

It is unsuitable for nonlinear and single-phase loads as the harmonic

current sharing is not taken into account.

Poor voltage regulation of critical loads with the application of reactive

power.

Sahoo et al, 2017.

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 Improved Droop Methods

➢ Virtual Impedance Method

➢ Adaptive Droop Control

➢ Angle Droop Control

➢ Virtual Frame Transformation

➢ Virtual Inertia Based Droop Control

Sahoo et al, 2017.

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 Virtual Impedance Based Droop Control
➢ The performance of a drooped control system in a MG is highly dependent
on the grid impedance parameters (R ∕ X index), especially in the general
case where the grid is both inductive and resistive.

A power converter with virtual output

impedance loop.
Source Bevrani et al, 2017.

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 Virtual Impedance Based Droop Control
➢ Using a large inductor between the power converter and the AC
bus to make an inductive line impedance is one of the solution for
improving the power sharing in droop control.

➢ A simple but effective solution is that updating the power converter

control loop by virtually emulating the effect of an inductive
element in the link impedance.

➢ This concept is known as virtual impedance and has been

successfully implemented for regulating the power sharing among
parallelized inverters and limiting over currents under grid
disturbances. Source Bevrani et al, 2017.

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 Improved Droop Methods
➢ Adaptive Droop Control

• A modified voltage droop is proposed which improves voltage regulation by eliminating

the connecting impedances between VSC and point of voltage control.
• In this method, the voltage drop across the connecting impedances between VSC and
common AC bus are included in the conventional Q-V droop control.

➢ Angle Droop Control

• Angle droop control has significantly low-frequency deviation compared to the

frequency droop control.
• The phase angle measurements of the output voltage of the VSC can be used from
low bandwidth GPS-based communication techniques.
Sahoo et al, 2017.

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 Improved Droop Methods

➢ Virtual Frame Transformation

• Virtual frame transformation approach uses a linear orthogonal transformation matrix to

refer the active and reactive power flow equations to a new reference frame.

➢ Virtual Inertia Based Droop Control

• The purpose of adding inertia to the system is to avoid unwanted triggering of circuit
breakers due to under frequency and over frequency relay mal-operation.

Sahoo et al, 2017.

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 Secondary Hierarchical Control
➢ The secondary control provides power sharing as a communication-based
method for parallel configuration of DGs and compensates the voltage and
frequency deviations caused by the load variation and local control operation.

➢ Secondary controls as second layer control loops complement the task of inner
control loops to improve the power quality inside MGs and to enhance the
system performance.

➢ They are closely working with local and central control groups.

➢ Secondary control operates on a slower time scale compared to the local

control.
Sahoo et al, 2017.

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 Central Hierarchical Control
➢ The central/emergency control level facilitates MG supervision activities,
and its role is particularly important in the islanded operation mode.

➢ It operates as an MG energy management system (EMS) and monitors the

MG’s local and secondary controllers.

➢ It is also responsible for islanding detection and connection/disconnection

to/from the main grid, as well as emergency control and overall protection
schemes.

➢ It is Centralized (communication based control).

Source Bevrani et al, 2017.

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Secondary, Central /Emergency Control - Distributed Types
1. Multi-agent based Techniques

• The primary element of the multi-agent system (MAS) based

techniques is an agent which can be a physical or a virtual entity
situated in an environment and capable of autonomously
reacting to changes in that environment.

• A multi-agent system has two or more agents; with its

intelligence being characterized by its reaction to the
environment, pro-activeness (goal-oriented action), and social
ability (communication between agents).
Sahoo et al, 2017.
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Secondary, Central /Emergency Control - Distributed Types
2. Model Predictive Control Techniques
• Model predictive control (MPC) technique is a futuristic approach where an
optimization problem is solved based on demand and generation forecasts
and prediction of dependent variables are carried out. It is advantageous
as it solves multivariable optimization problems using forecasts with feed-
back mechanism and handling power system constraints as well.

3. Consensus-based Control Techniques

• In consensus based distributed control, a distribution optimization problem

is solved to arrive at a converged solution for all DER units.
Sahoo et al, 2017.
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 Secondary, Central /Emergency Control
- Centralized Approach
• In the centralized approach, the microgrid central controller (MGCC)
provides power setpoints to local controllers (LC).

• The LC includes the controller at micro-source and load. Here, bidirectional

communication between MGCC and LC is necessary for a reliable and
efficient operation of the MG. However, a single point of failure can disrupt
electricity service.

• The primary benefit of the centralized control strategy is online

optimization of input parameters like operating set points, constraints,
network parameters, and forecasting information.
Sahoo et al, 2017.

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 Global Hierarchical Control

• Global control manages the power flow between the given MG, other
interconnecting MGs and the main grid.

• The global control receives power references from the distribution management
system (DMS) and processes the error between the actual and reference values.

• It facilitates an economically optimal operation.

Source Bevrani et al, 2017.

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 Global Hierarchical Control

• It is the slowest control in the hierarchy. The compensators are used to process
the error between the active and reactive power injected to the utility with their
corresponding references.

• It is centralized control.

• This level is working in the distribution network area, outside the MGs.

Source Bevrani et al, 2017.

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 Intelligent Control Techniques
➢ Intelligent techniques-based control has a wide research scope in the power
system applications with power electronics.
❑ Fuzzy Controllers (FC)
❑ Adaptive Neural Network (ANN)
❑ Genetic Algorithm (GA)
❑ Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO)

❑ Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS)

❑ Multiagent Based Controllers.

Sahoo et al, 2017.

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 Overview of AC Microgrid Control
➢ Appropriate control should be employed depending on the system
parameters and the prevalent operating conditions.

➢ A hierarchical control strategy provides better load sharing, with improved

frequency and voltage regulation.

➢ Unbalanced microgrid system employing nonlinear loads can achieve

accurate load sharing by appropriate control strategy such as high-
frequency signal injection; harmonic current sharing, an addition of proper
and adaptive output impedance (between DER and main grid bus).

Sahoo et al, 2017.

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 Overview of AC Microgrid Control

➢ Communication-less control strategies such as droop control are

independent of the geographical distance between the DGs and its
loads. However, they are less reliable due to the absence of
interaction between DGs.

➢ Decentralized control techniques are gaining popularity due to

reduced risk of single point failure of control unlike centralized
control strategy; with cooperative and intelligent control; and multi-
agent based methods.

Sahoo et al, 2017.

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 References
• Hassan Bevrani, Bruno Francois and Toshifumi Ise, Microgrid Dynamics and Control, John
Wiley & Sons, 2017 edition.
• S. K. Sahoo, A. K. Sinha and N. K. Kishore, "Control Techniques in AC, DC, and Hybrid AC-DC
Microgrid: A Review," in IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics,
vol. PP, no. 99, pp. 1-1.

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Thank You

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