1.

Toward Power Quality Management in Hybrid AC–DC Microgrid Using LTC-L Utility Interactive
Inverter: Load Voltage–Grid Current Tradeoff
The authors propose an inductor, transformer, capacitor and inductor topology for utility interactive
inverter for the power quality of ac microgrid. In grid connected mode, not only the voltage but current
can also be improved using this control strategy. During standalone it minimizes the shedding of loads.
Here a voltage-current cascade control is used. Sinusoidal and non-sinusoidal supplies (SVR and NSVR)
are given to load and checked for the evaluating the effectiveness of the proposed topology and
control strategy. Improvement in load voltage may cause damage in the grid current and so a trade-
off should be made, which is a limitation. The proposed topology improves the power quality in both
the modes (islanded and grid connected). A modular framework for realization of the control
strategies is proposed. An LTC-L topology for UII is suggested to solve its control problems and
discussed its opportunities and challenges. PR controller is used for voltage control. Comparison is
made with LTC and LCTL topologies.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SMART GRID, VOL. 8, NO. 2, MARCH 2017.

2. Energy Management Strategy for Supercapacitor in Droop-Controlled DC Microgrid Using Virtual

Impedance
An energy management system (EMS) is proposed that integrates a super-capacitor as independent
energy storage system (ESS). Quick bursts of electric power are supplied during transients that
improves the quality and life of the DGs (Distributed Generations). A control strategy is proposed that
uses virtual impedance loop consisting of virtual resistance and virtual capacitance in series between
converter and the dc bus. This control decouples the power flow between SCESS and the DGs. This
gives the ‘plug and play’ method of control i.e. smooth transition from islanded to grid connected and
vice versa. The EMS has good dynamic performance and flexibility in comparison to the other
methods. Virtual impedance provides surge current compensation with the ability to flexibly adjust
SCESS’s dynamics and also SOC (state of charge) regulation for SC (Super Capacitor). Their controls are
decoupled and can be tuned independently. Simulation is performed in MATLAB and experiment is
done for validating. Further optimization of SOC performance is not discussed.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 32, NO. 4, APRIL 2017.

3. Bidirectional Power Flow Control in a DC Microgrid Through a Switched-Capacitor Cell Hybrid DC–
DC Converter
A bidirectional hybrid DC-DC converter is used for DC microgrid. Switched-Capacitor cell gives the
advantage of step up or down (high voltage conversion) without usage of transformer. State-space
averaging method and pulse width modulation (PWM) switch model method applied on an equivalent
circuit model are used to understand the operation and stability. The converter uses a current
controller in frequency domain based on the Bode plot, using the K factor method can track the
reference current waveform with good dynamic performance. Stability analysis using two averaging
approaches: an analytical and an average simulation model based method is discussed. Simulation
and experimental results on a 2 kW prototype is done concluding that there is a smooth transition
between buck and boost modes. PWM switch model averaging method predicts a real phenomenon,
i.e., the subharmonic oscillations that cannot be foreseen by the SSA method in current mode control
and it can switch from CCM to DCM and vice-versa. SPICE software is used.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 64, NO. 4, APRIL 2017.

4. Optimal EV charging control strategy based on DC microgrid

The paper mentions the system structure of DC microgrid and its unit functional models. An energy
management control strategy based on ‘day-ahead prediction’ is developed, according to the different
power demand scenarios. The interaction of the optimal control strategy with renewable energy and
electric charging vehicle (EV) is given. The output is volatile and intermittent so, it is difficult to keep
the power grid stable operation and optimize the scheduling for large scale. The main objective is to
study an EV charging optimal control problem in DC microgrid. EV charging devices are DC charger and
EV battery. PV generation forecasting with weather data is used here to generate schedule plans.
Energy storage control should mitigate fluctuations in PV generation, improve proportion of PV
generation and increase economy of EV charging. EV charging control should optimize control through
energy management system. A case study result shows that the strategy can improve self-
consumptive rate of PV generation, decrease peak electricity consumption during the EV charging and
reduce the cost of EV charging.
3rd International Conference on Power and Energy Systems Engineering, CPESE 2016, Energy Procedia
100 (2016) 243 – 247.

5. Refined Hybrid Microgrid Architecture for the Improvement of Voltage Profile

Hybrid microgrid (HMG) can reduce number of power conversion stages. Conventional HMG
architectures have poor fault tolerant capacity leading to severe power imbalances in the system. If
fault occurs in either DC or AC bus, that part is isolated. The island operation faces difficulty in control
of interlinking converter because of droop characteristics. This paper gives a refined HMG architecture
that can handle system uncertainties and improves voltage profile. It has two layers- AC and DC
through which each constituent is connected. Bidirectional power flow is present between the layers.
MATLAB is used for simulation. A solid state transformer (SST) is used intermediate for AC and DC
buses as bidirectional power flow. Converter is designed such that it can deliver/absorb power from
DC or AC or both. Objective function and constraints are discussed for control problem. The
performance indices that mentioned are- frequency deviation during fault, load profile during the
fault, voltage profile under sudden load change.
5th International Conference on Advances in Energy Research, ICAER 2015, Energy Procedia 90 (2016)
645 – 654.

6. Artificial Neural Network Based Fault Detection and Fault Location in the DC Microgrid
Dc bus system cannot sustain high fault currents. This paper proposes a novel use of Artificial Neural
Network (ANN) for fault detection and fault location in a low voltage DC bus microgrid system. The
fault can be fast detected and isolated without deenergising the entire system. The ANN is trained
with various faults. PSCAD/EMTDC softwares are used for simulation. Detection of fault is based on
transient voltage signal or fault current signal. So, two ANN are established- for fault detection and
for fault location. The proposed model is a ring DC bus segmented into overlapping nodes. The battery
connected in the system acts as slack bus to keep DC voltage stable during islanded mode. A voltage
source converter (VSC) is used as the interaction device between the bus and DGs (wind power here)
for AC loads. ANN is subjected to two types of faults- (i) pole to pole which is due to external
mechanical stress and permanent and (ii) pole to ground due to branch drop or lightning and is
temporary. During fault, a complete route will be developed through anti parallel diode in VSC so the
converter station will release active power to the fault point. ANN considers slope and direction of bus
current. So, current signals on both ends of line are used as inputs to ANN.
Applied Energy Symposium and Forum, REM2016: Renewable Energy Integration with
Mini/Microgrid, Energy Procedia 103 (2016) 129 – 134.

7. Hybrid Ring Microgrid with Coordinated Energy Management Scheme

This paper presents a hybrid ring microgrid (MG) and its coordinated control for efficient energy
management. The proposed MG has both AC and DC bus in ring structure which provide better voltage
regulation and reliability. The model is simulated using MATLAB/SIMULINK. There are five energy
management schemes controlled by hybrid microgrid control centre. A grid design consists of various
factors of influence like number of customers, physical length, types of loads, voltage levels, etc. a 3-
phase PLL for smooth exchange of power balance between AC and DC system are used. Instantaneous
active current is determined by PI controller and reactive current by power export values. In islanded
mode, instead of 3-phase PLL, positive sequence extractor is used. The generators should provide
required voltage, frequency controls, suitable harmonic levels and reactive power to the loads. An
inverter is used that acts as voltage source. Energy management (EM) is done by a power control
circuit (PCC). The EM is sub divided into positive power balance and negative power balance. During
island mode, the energy is managed based on charging and discharging of the battery.
Global Colloquium in Recent Advancement and Effectual Researches in Engineering, Science and
Technology (RAEREST 2016), Procedia Technology 25 (2016) 793 – 800.

8. Wind-driven SEIG supplying DC microgrid through a single-stage power converter

SEIG- Self Excited Induction Generator. Single stage power converter connected between SEIG and DC
grid for closed loop control. The MPPT algorithm used here is perturb and observe based.
dcPIC30F4011 digital controller is used. The firing angle of the converter is adjusted by continuously
monitoring DC grid current for wind velocity. The machine acts as a squirrel cage induction generator
and has the advantage of low cost, simple, robust, less maintenance. The induction machine can be
operated as induction generator for supplying the grid and self excited induction generator for feeding
isolated loads. For extracting maximum power, the rotational speed should be allowed to vary widely.
For this, the machine should be operated in self exited mode with capacitors connected at stator
terminals. This paper gives a 1-stage converter here 3-phase semi converter. DC current continuously
monitored (for MP) and adjust firing angle. The algorithm is free from machine parameters as it uses
only measured value of electrical parameters. A smoothing inductor connected between output side
of semi converter and DC microgrid. Variable voltage variable frequency (VVVF) is sensed through
transducers and feed to zero cross detector. P&O algorithm involves comparison of present and
previous values of DC grid current. Simulation results are done for steady state and step changes.
Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 19 (2016) 1600–1607.

9. DC-link voltage regulation of inverters to enhance microgrid stability during network

contingencies
Equal power-rating inverters operating with different power set-points in either an islanded or grid
connected mode may lead to inter-unit circulating power caused by a large mismatch between power
generation and demand during network contingencies. This paper proposes a regulator
for controlling the dc-link voltage of the microgrid’s inverter during a period of circulating power. It
includes a discharging resistor with a series-connected switch across the dc-link capacitor which is
turned on through a control algorithm if the dc-link voltage exceeds its pre-defined limit. In a two
inverter model the limitation is that inverter-1 uses dc link voltage of inverter-2 and vice versa. If
inverter-2 power is set to zero, this influences inverter-1 by reducing its power to zero. To overcome
this, a regulator that controls the capacitor voltage during a dc link voltage violation using discharging
circuit consisting of an electronic switch in series with discharge resistor that controls time constant
of capacitor. During discharging , the supervisory controller adjusts the power set points of the
inverters for optimal operation. A control algorithm for control switch to regulate excess dc voltage is
developed. Excess dc voltage is discharged through the resistor. Small signal model of the DG unit is
done. The future aim is to implement the proposed control algorithm in a small laboratory scale MG
system.
Electric Power Systems Research 147 (2017) 233–244.
10. Economic Dispatch for Operating Cost Minimization Under Real-Time Pricing in Droop-
Controlled DC Microgrid
In this paper economic dispatch problem for total operation cost minimization in DC microgrid is
formulated. Operating cost is associated with each generator and utilities of the grid. Power flow is
model included in optimization. Transmission losses can also be considered for generation dispatch.
Considering primary (local) control of the grid forming converters, optimal parameters can be applied
to the control level, achieving higher accuracy and fast response. Optimization problem solved using
a heuristic method; here GA (Genetic Algorithm) is used. A 6-bus droop controlled DCMG case is
studied. The DCMG contains solar, wind, battery and fuel cell. It has a hierarchical communication
control with low speed data exchange. Gathering real time electricity prices, load profiles, energy
manager optimizes renewable energy utilization by means of economic dispatch. Various costs and
their expressions are given in the paper. Objective function and constraints are mentioned which has
to be optimized. Advantages of GA are also discussed. Case study of a 6-bus system at 380V level
demand response is studied.
IEEE JOURNAL OF EMERGING AND SELECTED TOPICS IN POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 5, NO. 1, MARCH
2017.

11. Distributed control of multi-time scale DC microgrid based on ADRC

The paper proposes time scale voltage droop control based on active disturbance rejection control
(ARDC). The distributed generators have different dynamic characteristics leading to multi time scale.
This is not sensitive to system model uncertainties and external disturbance, but system dynamics can
be tuned explicitly. Based on the proposed control method, a reduced order model is developed to
analyse system stability experimentally. The droop control should be realized in a distributed control
without communication such that, it reduces dependency on communication and its bandwidth. The
droop control is an output impedance programming method and sensitive to line impedance. ARDC is
a robust control because it doesn’t require precise system description.
IET Power Electron., 2017, Vol. 10, Iss. 3, pp. 329–337.

12. Optimal air-conditioning load control in distribution network with intermittent renewables
This paper proposed a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) approach to schedule the
interruptible air-conditioning loads. Major contribution of this work is to propose a coordinated
control scheme for wind generation, battery energy storage and controllable air-condition load to
reduce system operation cost and system peak load. To mitigate the problem of uncertain variables,
like wind power generation, the Rolling Horizon Optimization (RHO) was employed to continuously
update the real-time information and proceed to control window. Thermal comfort of the customers
is also included for which, a 2-parameter thermal model is introduced to calculate the indoor
temperature variation more precisely. Simulation is done for validation of the proposed method. Here,
innovatively, thermal model performance is improved by calculating air-conditioner coefficient of
performance (COP). At present they utilize ac microgrid and will use dc microgrid with energy storage
system in future to improve energy efficiency. Also historical data based modelling and monte carlo
simulation are other two methods that can be implemented in future; and compare the
rolling horizon optimization scheme with scenario-based approach and interval optimization to
validate its efficiency.
J. Mod. Power Syst. Clean Energy (2017) 5(1):55–65.

13. Real-time microgrid economic dispatch based on model predictive control strategy
This paper proposes a model predictive control strategy for microgrid economic dispatch, where
hourly schedule constantly is optimized to the system state and latest forecast information. Implicit
network topology of microgrid and corresponding power flow constraints are considered which leads
to Mixed Integer Nonlinear Optimal Power Flow problem. So, the technique of conic programming is
used to solve the problem. Economic dispatch of microgrid is usually constructed as a nonlinear
programming problem. The major problems identified is First of all, microgrid economic dispatch is
generally modelled in an open-loop style one day ahead, i.e. based on the prediction of weather
conditions, demand, and electricity price, optimal power dispatch for each hour of next day is
completed in one calculation. Two ways of solving the uncertainties are: (i) to transform every possible
scenario into their deterministic equivalence and find a good solution for all the cases, (ii) to
dynamically adjust the schedule according to real-time conditions, namely the rolling optimization.
The three components of Model Predictive Control are: (i) control agent; (ii) multiple local agents; (iii)
possible disturbances that may affect local implementation of control actions. Simulation is performed
on an IEEE-33bus system and compared with the routine day-ahead microgrid schedule to validate
the proposed method’s effectiveness.
J. Mod. Power Syst. Clean Energy, springer.

14. Cost reduction of a hybrid energy storage system considering correlation between wind and PV
power
A hybrid energy storage system (HESS) plays an important role in balancing the cost with the
performance in terms of stabilizing the fluctuant power of wind farms and photovoltaic (PV) stations.
Single type energy storage systems cannot meet the demands in real applications, considering the
power and energy requirement at different time scale. This paper gives hybrid energy storage systems
(HESS), as well as chemical properties in different medium, deeming the ramp rate as one of the
determinants that must be observed in the cost calculation. A mathematical tool, Copula, is explained
in details for the purpose of unscrambling the dependences between the power of wind and PV plants.
To lower the cost, the basic rule for allocation of buffered power is also put forward. The paper
introduces the probability method to analyse how power and energy is compensated in certain
confidence level. Two definitions of coefficients are set up, separately describing energy storage status
and wind curtailment level. It is concluded that the cost of a hybrid energy storage system is greatly
affected by ramp-rate and dependence between the power of wind farms and photovoltaic stations,
in which dependence can easily be determined by Copulas.
Feng et al. Protection and Control of Modern Power Systems (2016) 1:11

15. Hierarchical control for DC microgrid clusters with high penetration of distributed energy
resources
This paper, a real-time tertiary control algorithm for DC microgrid which refers to the control layer
that transcends the boundaries of a single microgrid, and hence supervises a group of microgrid
central controllers (MGCC). Each of the individual microgrid resources, and controllable loads, needs
a controller. These localized controllers are referred to as local or resource controllers (LC), and
collectively represent a primary control layer. In addition, an MGCC is needed to act as a
coordinator/supervisor to the LCs forming the secondary control layer. Main contributions of this
paper can be summarized as follows: 1) a tertiary DC microgrid control algorithm will be developed;
2) detailed hardware based testing will be used to verify the proposed algorithm. To overcome
renewable energy intermittency, the developed algorithm virtually aggregates neighbouring
microgrids into clusters, which virtually exchange energy through the distribution grid infrastructure
stabilizing the main power infeed. The developed algorithm periodically forecasts the net available
energy from each microgrid and it solves a set of load flow equations, governed by predefined
constraints, to determine (near-) optimal set points to the various microgrids, which consequently
improves the efficiency and voltage stability of the distribution network, and increase its level of
survivability. The algorithm was validated experimentally using a laboratory scale testbed setup.
Electric Power Systems Research 148 (2017) 210–219.