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At least 235 records · Page 13

Microgrids, Infrastructure Resilience, and Advanced Controls Launchpad (MIRACL) Factsheet

Funded by DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Wind Energy Technologies Office, the Microgrids, Infrastructure Resilience, and Advanced Controls Launchpad (MIRACL) project is part of the distributed wind portfolio of investments aimed at enabling wind technology to be an affordable, accessible, and compatible distributed energy resource (DER). A key component of the MIRACL project is collaboration, not only among DOE’s National Labs, but also with the electric utility, wind, microgrid, and DER industries to advance state-of-the-art technology.

wind, Microgrids, Infrastructure, Resilience, MIRA↗

Demonstration of a Novel Technology to Manage Electricity Demand in Grid-Independent Military Microgrids

This research was conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in collaboration with the S&C Electric Inc. through funding provided by the ESTCP. The project demonstrates use of cybersecure Automated Demand Response (ADR) technology to effectively manage microgrid loads during grid-independent, also known as "islanded," operation. When military microgrids become isolated from the main electrical grid, they are required to balance electricity supply and demand locally. Given that local generation may be constrained, the prevailing strategy involves shedding all but the most critical loads by tripping smart circuit breakers, which then necessitate manual resetting. This approach is generally implemented at the building level, which means that the buildings with mission-critical activities are exempt from load management and remain fully powered, whereas those deemed non-critical can experience a complete loss of service. In this research we developed a method that allows building automation systems to selectively control their assets in response to load shedding request from a microgrid controller, avoiding total loss of service in contrast to the conventional control approach. A commercial OpenADR client server by GridFabric is used for communication between the microgrid controller and the building management system (BMS). The microgrid controller monitors both generation capacity and various assets within the microgrid and issues a demand reduction request when necessary. This request is communicated to the OpenADR server via Modbus. Upon receiving the request, the OpenADR server forwards it to the BMS utilizing the OpenADR protocol. The BMS is pre-configured with various levels of load reduction strategies based on the controllable assets available, allowing for a nuanced approach to demand reduction. Both lab and field tests were performed that considered load shedding needed to achieve closed transition into island mode and to accommodate changing loads and power source availability while islanded. A commercial microgrid controller was used for these tests with normal programming within the expected constraints of the system capabilities. That is, the solution did not require any specialized modification to the code base of the controller. Given the latency of the round-trip communication path between the microgrid controller and the various devices involved with the load shed processes, there are certain scenarios for which the demonstrated solution are appropriate and some which are not. The methods described in this report can be used for load shedding/restoration during transitions between islanded and grid-tied modes of operation, as well as accommodating normal variations in load and the need to remove a power source from operation for maintenance. These methods should not be used for scenarios that require load shedding within a second or two such as sudden and unanticipated significant load increases or loss of power sources through equipment faults.

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Modeling of a Networked Community Microgrid with High Solar Penetration Considering Control Dynamics of Inverter-Based Resources

Microgrids help facilitate the integration of renewable energy in distribution-level grids and increase the resilience of the electric grid to extreme weather, especially in rural areas. Compared to traditional microgrids, a networked microgrid leverages multiple grid-forming sources to form a potential meshed grid and is more flexible in operation. This paper demonstrates the simulation modeling of an actual networked microgrid located in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico. The model contains representations of power inverters that connect the battery energy storage systems and photovoltaic generation systems to the networked microgrid and is capable of simulating fast grid transients as well as long-term operation of the networked microgrid. The modeling technique for power inverters allows the time-efficient simulation of the microgrid with a minimal penalty on model accuracy.

Li, Dingrui↗

Distributed Control of Inverter-Based Lossy Microgrids for Power Sharing and Frequency Regulation Under Voltage Constraints

This paper presents a new distributed control framework to coordinate inverter-interfaced distributed energy resources (DERs) in island microgrids. We show that under bounded load uncertainties, the proposed control method can steer the microgrid to a desired steady state with synchronized inverter frequency across the network and proportional sharing of both active and reactive powers among the inverters. We also show that such convergence can be achieved while respecting constraints on voltage magnitude and branch angle differences. The controller is robust under various contingency scenarios, including loss of communication links and failures of DERs. The proposed controller is applicable to lossy mesh microgrids with heterogeneous R/X distribution lines and reasonable parameter variations. Simulations based on various microgrid operation scenarios are also provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed control method.

Microgrid Control, Droop Control, Frequency Synchr↗

Microgrids, Infrastructure Resilience, and Advanced Controls Launchpad (MIRACL): Use Cases and Definitions

This resource document is designed to establish common use cases and definitions for U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories and partners participating in the Microgrids, Infrastructure Resilience, and Advanced Controls Launchpad (MIRACL) effort. Use case definitions can be used to classify and connect research-and-development efforts and ultimately to organize project goals. Establishing use cases will also allow for the definition of operational benchmarks for various elements of the MIRACL project and broader distributed wind program as well as enable future alignment with other distributed energy resource research projects.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

A New Distributed Optimization for Community Microgrids Scheduling

This paper proposes a distributed optimization model for community microgrids considering the building thermal dynamics and customer comfort preference. The microgrid central controller (MCC) minimizes the total cost of operating the community microgrid, including fuel cost, purchasing cost, battery degradation cost and voluntary load shedding cost based on the customers' consumption, while the building energy management systems (BEMS) minimize their electricity bills as well as the cost associated with customer discomfort due to room temperature deviation from the set point. The BEMSs and the MCC exchange information on energy consumption and prices. When the optimization converges, the distributed generation scheduling, energy storage charging/discharging and customers' consumption as well as the energy prices are determined. In particular, we integrate the detailed thermal dynamic characteristics of buildings into the proposed model. The heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems can be scheduled intelligently to reduce the electricity cost while maintaining the indoor temperature in the comfort range set by customers. Numerical simulation results show the effectiveness of proposed model.

alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM)↗

A Novel Grid-forming Voltage Control Strategy for Supplying Unbalanced Microgrid Loads Using Inverter-based Resources

This paper presents a novel grid-forming voltage control strategy for a battery energy storage system to maintain balanced three-phase output voltages when serving unbalanced loads. A stationary reference frame (αβ) based control scheme is proposed to regulate positive-sequence and negative-sequence voltages. Compared with the conventional rotating reference frame (dq) based control scheme, the proposed scheme shows better dynamic performance. Then, we analyze the system zero-sequence network and propose adding a grounding transformer to the Y/Yg connected output transformer to further reduce the voltage unbalance at the point of common coupling. The simulation results demonstrate the effective performance of the proposed voltage control scheme. Based on the results, the power-voltage unbalance curve is derived for different output transformer configurations to establish the relationship between the power unbalance limit and the voltage unbalance limit for microgrid power scheduling.

Xu, Bei↗

Optimization-Based Fast-Frequency Estimation and Control of Low-Inertia Microgrids

The lack of inertial response from non-synchronous, inverter-based generation in microgrids makes the power system vulnerable to a large rate of change of frequency (ROCOF) and frequency excursions. Energy storage systems (ESSs) can be utilized to provide fast-frequency support to prevent such large excursions in the system. However, fast-frequency support is a power-intensive application that has a significant impact on the ESS lifetime. In this paper, a framework that allows the ESS operator to provide fast-frequency support as a service is proposed. The framework maintains the desired quality-of-service (limiting the ROCOF and frequency) while taking into account the ESS lifetime and physical limits. The framework utilizes moving horizon estimation (MHE) to estimate the frequency deviation and ROCOF from noisy phase-locked loop (PLL) measurements. These estimates are employed by a model predictive control (MPC) algorithm that computes control actions by solving a finite-horizon, online optimization problem. Additionally, this approach avoids oscillatory behavior induced by delays that are common when using low-pass filters as with traditional derivative-based (virtual inertia) controllers. MATLAB/Simulink simulations on a test system from Cordova, Alaska, show the effectiveness of the MHE-MPC approach to reduce frequency deviations and ROCOF of a low-inertia microgrid.

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FY 2021 Isolated Grids and Grid-Connected Turbine Reference Systems; Microgrids, Infrastructure Resilience, and Advanced Controls Launchpad (MIRACL)

For individuals, businesses, and communities focused on building resilient electrical grid infrastructure, wind energy can provide an affordable, accessible, and compatible distributed energy resource option that also enhances the capabilities of local grid operations. The Microgrids, Infrastructure Resilience, and Advanced Controls Launchpad (MIRACL) project is a multi-year distributed wind research effort, driven through a partnership between four Department of Energy National Laboratories and industry to develop and improve the planning, design, and operation of wind-centered microgrids to complement solar, energy storage, and other distributed energy resources for grid-tied and isolated operation (U.S. Department of Energy, 2021). This report documents the application of methods developed through the initial three years of the MIRACL project to two real-world distributed wind reference systems. Specifically, the methods demonstrated in this report include 1) a market valuation framework to comprehensively value the services distributed wind can provide and 2) a resilience framework that enables stakeholders to characterize distribution system resilience and compare grid investment decisions from a resilience perspective. Additional methods mentioned in this report include distributed hybrid system design methods for grid resilience, advanced control co-simulation platforms, and power hardware-in-the-loop (PHIL) models. Preliminary results from these additional methods are presented in this report and will be demonstrated and/or applied to the reference systems in the coming year. The purpose of applying these methods to reference systems is to drive technology transfer of the theories, methodologies, and technologies developed under the MIRACL project and increase the number of referenceable case studies available to stakeholders interested in additional value-added capabilities of wind systems beyond bulk energy supply (i.e. kilowatt-hours).

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Energy storage requirements of dc microgrids with high penetration renewables under droop control

Energy storage is a important design component in microgrids with high penetration renewable sources to maintain the system because of the highly variable and sometimes stochastic nature of the sources. Storage devices can be distributed close to the sources and/or at the microgrid bus. In addition, storage requirements can be minimized with a centralized control architecture, but this creates a single point of failure. Distributed droop control enables a completely decentralized architecture but, the energy storage optimization becomes more difficult. Our paper presents an approach to droop control that enables the local and bus storage requirements to be determined. Given a priori knowledge of the design structure of a microgrid and the basic cycles of the renewable sources, we found that the droop settings of the sources are such that they minimize both the bus voltage variations and overall energy storage capacity required in the system. This approach can be used in the design phase of a microgrid with a decentralized control structure to determine appropriate droop settings as well as the sizing of energy storage devices.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Integrated Synchronization Control of Grid-Forming Inverters for Smooth Microgrid Transition: Preprint

This paper develops an integrated synchronization control technique for a grid-forming inverter operating within a microgrid that can improve the microgrid's transients during microgrid transition operation. This integrated synchronization control includes the disconnection synchronization control and the reconnection synchronization control. The simulation results show that the developed synchronization control works effectively to smooth the angle change of the grid-forming inverter during microgrid transition operation. Thus, the microgrid's transients are significantly improved compared to the case without synchronization control.

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