Performance Evaluation of a Control Strategy Developed for a Hybrid Energy System Integrated in DC-AC Microgrids

Abstract

—Renewable energy is a promising technology to meet the future electricity demand of any country. However, output power produced by renewable energy sources varies intermittently according to the climatic conditions. Hence, interconnection of these renewable energy sources as hybrid energy system is a complicated task. In this article, a DC-AC microgrid structure is proposed to integrate different voltage-current characteristic renewable sources, storage units, local loads, and utility grids. A control strategy is proposed for the effective microgrid power management under grid connected and isolated modes. The proposed control strategy performs (1) prediction of the output power developed by the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources, (2) control of the primary sources, storage unit and utility grid, and (3) schedule loads on priority basis. Simulation studies have been carried out for the performance evaluation of the control strategy developed for the microgrid structure and the results are presented in this article.

Keywords:

• power management
• microgrid
• hybrid energy system
• renewable energy
• biomass
• solar-photovoltaic
• wind
• smart grid
• smart grid
• distributed generation

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kumaravel Sundaramoorthy

Kumaravel Sundaramoorthy received his B.E. (EEE) from Bharathidasan University, his M.Tech in power systems from National Institute of Technology Thiruchirappalli, Tamilnadu, and his Ph.D from the National Institute of Technology Calicut, Kerala, India. He has been working in the Department of Electrical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Calicut, as an assistant professor since December 2008. His main research interests are microgrids, hybrid energy systems, and power quality.

Ashok Sankar

Ashok Sankar received his B.E from Regional Engineering College Calicut, Kerala; his M.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi; and his Ph.D from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India. He worked in L&T in the switchgear division, ALIND limited, Reserve Bank of India, and finally joined the Regional Engineering College, Calicut, Kerala. Presently he is working as a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and the National Institute of Technology Calicut, Kerala, India. His main research interests include electric vehicles, microgrids, deregulation, and power quality.