A Comparison of Microgrid Topologies Considering Both Market Operations and Reliability

Abstract

This article investigates and compares various types of microgrids in the literature. The comparison is concerned with the economic operation of the micro-sources employed in different topologies and the reliability of the end-users. Also, the effect of each component on the performance of the overall microgrid is discussed in detail, e.g., the individual and centralized power converters, etc. The numerical simulation of a case study shows that the single AC and three wire network microgrid types are predominant over two others, namely single DC and hybrid AC-DC networks. The AC microgrid shows its benefits in market operations, while the three-wire network takes advantage of customizing loads as its reliability preferences. The DC microgrid is the worst case, suffering from high power losses and poor reliability.

Keywords:

• microgrids
• hybrid AC-DC
• three-wire network
• distributed generation
• reliability evaluation
• Monte Carlo simulation

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Minh Y. Nguyen

Minh Y. Nguyen received the B.Sc. in electrical engineering from Ha Noi University of Science Technology, Vietnam in 2006, M.Sc. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea in 2009 and 2013, respectively. He is currently a full-time lecturer with Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of International Training, Thai Nguyen University of Technology, Vietnam. His research interests are power system operation, integration of alternative sources, distributed generation and microgrid.

Yong Tae Yoon

Yong Tae Yoon received the B.S., the M.Eng. and the Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambrigde, in 1995, 1997 and 2001, respectively. Currently, he is an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Seoul National University, Korea. His main research interests include electric power network economics, power system reliability and the incentive regulation of independent transmission companies.