IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SMART GRID, VOL. 5, NO.

6, NOVEMBER 2014 2901

Distributed Control Techniques in Microgrids

Mehrdad Yazdanian, Graduate Student Member, IEEE, and Ali Mehrizi-Sani, Member, IEEE

Abstract—The objective of this paper is to provide a review 2) computational burden due to the multitude of the con-
of distributed control and management strategies for the next trollable resources, e.g., DG units and loads;
generation power system in the context of microgrids. This paper 3) communication needs due to the geographical span;
also identifies future research directions. The next generation
4) frequent redesign requirements since a change in even
power system, also referred to as the smart grid, is distinct from
the existing power system due to its extensive use of integrated one unit affects the central controller;
communication, advanced components such as power electronics, 5) difficulty of sharing data, due to either lack of means or
sensing, and measurement, and advanced control technologies. At unwillingness;
the same time, the need for increased number of small distributed 6) reliability and security vulnerability of the central con-
and renewable energy resources can exceed the capabilities of an troller as a common point of failure.
available computational resource. Therefore, the recent literature Therefore, noncentralized techniques are better suited to
has seen a significant research effort on dividing the control task provide the required functionality. Noncenralized techniques in
among different units, which gives rise to the development of
turn can be either decentralized or distributed. Decentralized
several distributed techniques. This paper discusses features and
characteristics of these techniques, and identifies challenges and methods assume that the interaction between subsystems is
opportunities ahead. The paper also discusses the relationship negligible. This assumption, however, is not always valid and
between distributed control and hierarchical control. can result in poor system-wide performance. The widespread
Index Terms—Distributed control, hierarchical control, micro-
blackout of August 2003 in North America [3] is an example
grid, multiagent systems, smart grid. of the consequences of the drawbacks of such a control phi-
losophy. In that event, each subsystem trying to maintain its
I. I NTRODUCTION own stability, tripped and transferred the extra load to other
subsystems, which in turn made the overload more severe and
HE EXISTING power grid is a legacy system with com-
T ponents dating as far back as 40–50 years ago. The next
generation power system, frequently referred to as the smart
caused a cascading event.
Distributed control techniques consider the interactions
between units. Assigning the control task to different units
grid, is expected to operate under an updated philosophy with based on operation in different time frames is what constitutes
a significant increase in the level of monitoring, communica- the idea of control hierarchy (primary, secondary, and tertiary
tion, and control and coordination [1]. While even the existing controls). Within the higher control levels (secondary and ter-
power system has high levels of renewable power genera- tiary), the need to distributed approaches arises because of the
tion (hydropower is a prime example), the use of renewable desire and need for higher reliability, security, and situational
resources in the smart grid is distinct by its distributed nature, awareness.
e.g., photovoltaic (PV) and wind, as opposed to the large The objective of this paper is to provide a study of existing
centralized power plants in the existing grid. distributed control and management strategies. This paper also
Distributed generation (DG) brings many potential benefits identifies and proposes future directions for research in this
to both utility and consumers; however, control and manage- realm. There are a number of papers that provide a survey of
ment of DG units pose a significant challenge compared to the state of the art of control strategies in smart grid [4], micro-
the existing practices because the number of DG units may be grid [5], and ac converters [6]. The present paper is distinct
high. For example, the Bornholm island microgrid in Denmark from these papers in that it studies specifically the distributed
consists of five combined heat and power (CHP) plants and techniques employed in a microgrid power system.
47 wind turbines [2], in which the number of generation units This paper is organized as follows. The next section defines
is comparable to that of the Hydro One system in Ontario, a microgrid and discusses the characteristics that differenti-
Canada, even though Ontario is approximately 2000 times big- ate it from the existing power system. Section III compares
ger than Bornholm. Therefore, centralized schemes may not centralized, decentralized, and distributed control. Section IV
be able to operate under the significantly increased number of provides perspective on control requirements and structure in a
DG units. The reasons include the following: smart grid. Section V reviews the state of the art of distributed
1) unavailability of a dedicated management unit;
control techniques, and Section VI discusses the different
Manuscript received July 4, 2013; revised January 18, 2014 and functionalities and applications of distributed control. Finally,
April 24, 2014; accepted July 8, 2014. Date of publication August 1, 2014; Section VII discusses research opportunities and challenges.
date of current version October 17, 2014. Paper no. TSG-00499-2013.
The authors are with Energy Systems Innovation Center and the School of
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Washington State University,
II. D EFINITION OF S MART G RID AND M ICROGRID
Pullman, WA 99164-2752 USA (e-mail: [email protected]; Smart grid is the vision of the future electric power delivery
[email protected]).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
system. As a new concept, no universally accepted definition
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. yet exists for smart grid; however, its core elements are the
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TSG.2014.2337838 use of: 1) information technology; 2) communication; and
1949-3053 c 2014 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
2902 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SMART GRID, VOL. 5, NO. 6, NOVEMBER 2014

is a block diagonal matrix, which simplifies a centralized con-

troller to n decentralized local controllers for each DER unit.
In a fully decentralized control, each unit is controlled by its
local controller that is not fully aware of the system-wide dis-
turbances and is independent of other controllers [11], [12].
A key feature of decentralized control is that communication
with other DER units is not necessary; this enables plug and
play capability. Several decentralized control strategies have
been proposed based on this assumption [13], [14].
In the grid-connected mode, the voltage and frequency of the
PCC are relatively constant and imposed by the host grid, and
the shortfall or excess power of the microgrid is exchanged with
the host grid. When islanded, a control strategy must regulate the
voltage and frequency of the microgrid and balance the microgrid
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of a generic multiple-DER microgrid. net demand and generation. Decentralized control of DER units
based on droop characteristics is widely used [9], [15]–[18].
3) power electronic devices [7]. The key technologies required The droop method in DER units mimics the principle of power
to achieve the vision of the smart grid include advanced com- balance in synchronous generators in the conventional grid. The
ponents, advanced control technologies, integrated communi- droop method is artificially crafted for electronically interfaced
cations, sensing and measurement, and improved interfaces. DER units to adjust the frequency and voltage with respect to
The concept of microgrid [8] is introduced as a building the output of DER units in islanded mode. The main advantage
block of the smart grid to be a solution for reliable intercon- of droop control is elimination of the need for communication.
nection of distributed energy resource (DER) units. Thus, a Generally, small-scale renewable energy units such as micro
microgrid is presented to the host grid as a single controllable wind generators and solar photovoltaic sources impose some
entity that provides power and/or ancillary services. A micro- challenges in regard to their impact on the electromechanical
grid is a collection of collocated DER units, e.g., DG units, stability of the grid because of their low inertia, slow time
distributed storage (DS) units, and loads, that are connected response, and stochastic nature [19]. Furthermore, droop control
to the host grid through a point of common coupling (PCC). scheme has several disadvantages, which limit its applicability
As shown in Fig. 1, a microgrid can in general have any for a modern power system [20]–[22]:
arbitrary configuration; however, some entities such as CERTS 1) poor transient performance;
promote a configuration in which loads are connected to the 2) ignoring load dynamics;
feeders with existing generation. 3) inability for black start after system collapse and requir-
A microgrid is capable of operation in grid-connected ing certain provisions for system restoration;
mode, islanded mode, and the transition between these two 4) poor performance in distribution networks;
modes [9]. Some requirements should be satisfied in both 5) inability to provide accurate power sharing among DER
modes, e.g., active and reactive power flow control, fre- units due to output impedance uncertainties1 [23];
quency and voltage stability, and black start operation. IEEE 6) unsuitability for nonlinear loads due to harmonics;
Standard 1547 includes guidelines for interconnection of DER 7) inability to impose a fixed system frequency independent
units [10]. Islanding can be either intentional (scheduled) or of system loading conditions;
unintentional. Intentional islanding can occur in situations such 8) partial coupling of real and reactive power.
as scheduled maintenance and degraded power quality of the Recent literature on droop-based control propose modifica-
main grid. It is also desired for black start procedure in the tions to overcome these limitations. Some of the well-known
case of a general or local blackout. The unique characteristics approaches include virtual output impedance method to com-
of the microgrid can be used in service restoration to provide pensate voltage imbalance and decrease sensitivity to system
fast black start recovery and also to feed local critical loads in parameters [24], adaptive droop method to improve transient
case of an emergency. Unintentional islanding can occur due performance [25], nonlinear load sharing in the presence
to faults and other unscheduled events. of nonlinear loads [26], and autonomous load sharing to
achieve more rapid real power sharing without compromising
III. T RANSITION FROM C ENTRALIZED TO frequency regulation [27].
D ECENTRALIZED TO D ISTRIBUTED C ONTROL In power system applications, ignoring the interaction
between subsystems may leads to significant performance
Assume that the following linearized model represents a deterioration. This necessitates using control strategies that
power system: do include the interaction between subsystems such as dis-
ẋ(t) = Ax(t) + Bu(t) tributed control. In distributed control, the microgrid is divided
into a number of areas, where each area can include DER
y(t) = Cx(t) + Du(t). (1) units, loads, and power lines. The primary motivation for a
Centralized control, where x and u contain system-wide vari- 1 The accuracy of reactive power sharing in the conventional droop tech-
ables, is seldom used for large interconnected power systems. nique is strongly sensitive to output impedance and system parameters. In
In decentralized control, the interaction between subsystems is addition, there is an inherent static trade–off between the accuracy of voltage
assumed to be negligible. Under this assumption, the A matrix regulation and reactive power sharing.
YAZDANIAN AND MEHRIZI-SANI: DISTRIBUTED CONTROL TECHNIQUES IN MICROGRIDS 2903

distributed implementation is the unwillingness and/or inabil-

ity of operators of different areas to share information and data.
A distributed approach preserves the autonomy of each
operator. It is also possible that through decomposing a
large problem into a series of smaller problems, an oth-
erwise unviable solution—using the available computational
facilities—becomes viable. This is especially imperative for
microgrids, which despite their small geographic size, can
include several units with various control strategies. This com-
plicates the formulation of the problem and increases its size.
As mentioned earlier, geographically large systems cannot Fig. 2. Hierarchical control levels: primary, secondary, and tertiary.
be controlled easily through centralized control—one major
obstacle is the cost of communication. Another problem with Section III). Furthermore, energy storage units due to their
such a control scheme is that should a change is needed in high ramp rate capability can be utilized to assist the primary
one part of the system, the whole plant has to be shut down. control level by providing power during transients. A disad-
Moreover, tuning of each subsystem requires readjustment of vantage of this approach is that there is an inherent trade-off
the controller of the whole system, instead of confinement of between voltage regulation and power sharing. This problem
changes to the local controller. may be addressed by secondary control.
However, some references do use communication infras-
IV. OVERVIEW OF C ONTROL S TRUCTURE tructure in conjunction with primary control, e.g., active
A. Control Requirements load sharing using communication-based approaches such as
centralized, average load sharing [32] and master-slave sce-
The most prevailing challenges and desired traits in micro- nario [33]. The communication links and high bandwidth con-
grid control include the following. trol loop are the price for better voltage regulation, transient
1) Communication-Based: Distributed techniques are com- response, and harmonic sharing for nonlinear loads [32].
mon in that they rely on the existence of some form of
2) Secondary Control: Secondary control, also known as
communication between a subset of units in a microgrid.
central control [34], [35] or energy management system
However, in general, it is not required for every unit in the
(EMS) [36], [37] is the unit in charge of ensuring power
microgrid to be able to communicate with all other units.
quality, mitigating long-term voltage and frequency deviations,
2) Time Variance and Topological Changes:
and coordination of the individual DER units for their opti-
Communication links in a microgrid can be time variant,
mal operation by determining the set points for the primary
e.g., due to fading of wireless signals. Network topological
control. Furthermore, EMS is interfacing directly with the dis-
changes, e.g., disconnection of DER units, can also affect the
tribution management system (DMS) through a narrow-band
system performance.
communication link. In addition, secondary control may tar-
3) Low Inertia and Stability Issues Due to New
get different objectives such as power quality control, voltage
Components: Many DER units are interfaced to the power sys-
profile control, reactive power sharing, and loss reduction.
tem through fast-acting power electronic devices. While such
The secondary control also facilitates the synchronization
interfaces can enhance the system dynamic performance, they
of microgrid with the main grid.
can also lead to severe excursion of voltage and frequency
In [38], a novel central secondary controller is
in islanded mode in the absence of proper controls. This is
designed to compensate voltage imbalance at the PCC
in contrast to conventional grids, which are dominated by
in an islanded microgrid. Reference [28] proposes a potential
synchronous generators whose high inertia limits the rate of
function–based method for secondary control of microgrids.
deviation of the system frequency.
In this method, the central controller defines a potential
function for each DER unit. Using the measurements taken at
B. Control Hierarchy the DER unit and communicated to the central controller, the
Distributed control and control hierarchy are two closely potential function determines the set points for each DER unit.
related concepts. In any system with sufficiently high num- Secondary control interfaces the distributed management
ber of units, one way to provide a coordination strategy is system to the microgrid and it should be designed to oper-
to employ a control hierarchy [22], [28] as shown in Fig. 2. ate on a slower time frame than that of the primary control,
A hierarchical structure has three levels based on the required e.g., a settling time in the order of a minute to: 1) decouple
time frame: primary, secondary, and tertiary. secondary control from primary control [39]; and 2) reduce the
1) Primary Control: Primary control is the first con- required communication bandwidth between the system com-
trol level and features the fastest response. Primary control ponents. Galvin electricity initiative [37] defines specifications
responds to system dynamics and ensures that voltage and of a central controller such that it provides as seamless opera-
frequency track their set points. Because of their speed impli- tion of a power system as possible during major disturbances
cations, output control [9], [29], [30], power sharing, and such as transition from grid-connected mode to islanded mode.
islanding detection and the subsequent change of controller In this approach, the master controller is responsible for
modes also lie in this control level [31]. Primary control economic optimization of the microgrid whenever possible
mainly relies on locally measured signals and requires no (i.e., in nonemergency and grid-connected operation), as well
communication (droop-based primary control is discussed in as maintaining reliable, secure, and safe operation of the grid.
2904 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SMART GRID, VOL. 5, NO. 6, NOVEMBER 2014

The work in [42] presents an MPC-based strategy for reac-

tive power control in unbalanced microgrids. This method
derives a linearized model for voltage control. Using this
model in a MPC scheme, this method predicts the voltage
profile in the next time steps and adjusts the voltage and
reactive power set points to achieve a smooth voltage profile.
Reference [43] proposes an MPC-based algorithm in which
the optimization problem for the control of the DG units of
the microgrid is decomposed into a transient subproblem and
a steady-state subproblem. This decomposition allows solv-
ing the steady-state subproblem in a slower time frame and
reduces the computational burden.
Fig. 3. Model predictive control.
B. Consensus-Based Techniques
3) Tertiary Control: Tertiary control is the highest and The literature on distributed computation goes back to
slowest level of control and sets long-term set points based the seminal work of Tsitsiklis et al. [44] that focuses on
on the status of the DER units, market signals, and other distributed optimization, where each unit is fully aware of
system requirements. It is responsible for managing multiple the global objective function. More recent literature study
microgrids and is part of the host grid. this problem under the term consensus. Consensus is an
approach for solving distributed optimization problems and
C. Distributed Control Within Control Hierarchy offers a flexible formulation that has promise for extend-
ability and scalability [45], [46]. The goal of consensus is
As mentioned, primary control is predominately performed to have different DER units converge to a single value. A
locally and does not need communication. Higher control consensus-based approach achieves global optimality using
levels, however, can be either centralized or distributed. limited, possibly time-varying communication between neigh-
The existing work on secondary and tertiary control levels bor units, without needing a dedicated unit. Study of uncon-
is mainly based on centralized control with high dependence strained consensus algorithms in a distributed environment
on communication, which makes these methods expensive and is discussed in [45] and [47], and extension to the con-
unreliable. While the research on centralized control of sec- strained case is discussed in [45] and [47]–[52]. A novel
ondary has gained paramount value over the past decade, distributed multiagent-based load restoration algorithm is pre-
the focus has shifted toward distributed control paradigm to sented in [53]. In this algorithm, each agent communicates
mitigate obstacles relevant to communication links. with neighbor agents to discover global information based on
the average-consensus theorem.
V. OVERVIEW OF D ISTRIBUTED T ECHNIQUES
The common problem that distributed techniques aim to
C. Agent-Based Techniques
address is to solve the underlying optimization problem in
a distributed manner with availability of communication. Another distributed control strategy is multiagent system
Therefore, the distinction between different distributed tech- (MAS). Agents are entities that act on the environment and
niques is not always clear; rather it is due to different problem have communication capability, some level of autonomy based
formulation approaches and perspectives. on their own goals, and a limited knowledge of the environ-
ment [54]. An intelligent agent is reactive (shows reaction to
the changes in the environment), proactive (seeks initiatives),
A. Distributed Model Predictive Control-Based Techniques and social (relies on communication). State estimation in
Model predictive control (MPC) is a de facto industry power system [55], [56] can be employed to address the lim-
standard for control of large process plants [40], [41] and ited knowledge of agent. Although agents can communicate,
offers a number of appealing features: 1) handling of mul- a large part of control is based on the autonomy of the agent
tivariable control problems; 2) ease of tuning; and 3) explicit and is performed locally.
consideration of constraints. Agents can be categorized as follows.
As shown in Fig. 3, MPC is a discrete-time control strategy 1) Centralized agent architecture consists of a single agent.
in which the control sequence of the system is determined by 2) Decentralized agent architecture consists of several
minimizing a cost function associated with the system per- agents without communication.
formance over a finite number of future time steps using the 3) Hierarchical agent consists of different layers of agents.
system model. The cost function is a combination of terms The information flow is from lower layers to higher lay-
corresponding to minimizing the deviation of system states ers, whereas the demand flow is from higher layers to
and those reflecting the deviation from set points. Each time lower layers. Besides information flow in layers, differ-
step of MPC includes calculation of the control sequence for ent agents in one layer may also be able to communicate
N future time steps, where N is the prediction horizon, to min- with each other [57]. Fig. 4 depicts an example of a
imize the weighted sum of errors; however, only the first input hierarchically agent architecture.
is applied and the rest are updated in the next time step. The MAS is suitable for large complex systems, such as power
same procedure is repeated at each consecutive time step. systems, in which a large number of agents of different types
YAZDANIAN AND MEHRIZI-SANI: DISTRIBUTED CONTROL TECHNIQUES IN MICROGRIDS 2905

controller and a central controller. While the central con-

troller ensures that the units track their steady-state reference
points and reject low frequency disturbances, local controllers
are responsible for rejecting the high frequency component
of disturbances. Since the central controller only generates
the low frequency component of the reference current of
the VSC, the signal can be transmitted to the VSC using a
limited-bandwidth communication channel.
Distributed control of a multimodule inverter system is stud-
ied in [72] to improve the reliability of the overall wind power
system. Droop characteristic is another application within
primary control (discussed in Section III).

B. Application in Voltage Coordination

Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of a hierarchically agent architecture. The objective of voltage coordination is to provide a flat
voltage profile in the microgrid—ideally zero voltage regula-
interact and most of the required information is locally avail- tion [73], [74]—to avoid flow of large currents. This can occur
able. Since microgrids need to operate independently of the because of the small impedance of transmission/distribution
grid, MAS can be utilized for their control and management. lines that allows flow of large currents even in the presence of
MAS can be applied to power systems in such areas as mon- minute voltage differences across busses. Voltage coordination
itoring, control, modeling and simulation, and protection [58]. can be realized either locally or centrally. The former scheme
A review of MAS concepts, challenges, and technologies, can be performed directly through an inner control loop aug-
along with an extensive bibliography of the relevant research mented to the voltage droop control, whereas in the the latter
and applications in power systems is presented in [58], [59]. scheme, a centralized or distributed controller updates the
Agent programming in power systems is usually carried out in reactive set points of each DER unit. However, accurate volt-
Java agent development framework (JADE) [60]. Simulation age control in low voltage (LV) and medium voltage (MV)
of agent-based power systems requires combining a power grids requires control of active power set point, in addition
system simulator with a communication backbone simulator. to reactive power set point, due to large branch resistance in
An early attempt using PSCAD/EMTDC [61] and a custom distribution networks.
Java module (which uses the C language for interfacing with Earlier works, see [12], propose a secondary voltage regu-
PSCAD/EMTDC [62]) for communication is presented in [63]. lation scheme using reactive power injection. This, however,
Reference [64] uses a neighbor-to-neighbor three-step com- is a steady-state operation and works only for the transmis-
munication scheme to implement a MAS control architecture sion level. Reference [41] proposes a voltage coordination
in a microgrid. The control objective is to achieve power bal- strategy in multiarea power systems using distributed MPC
ancing and maintain the voltage within the required limits to and communication between neighboring controllers with
keep the system stable. Reference [65] develops a multiagent- the availability of a simplified model of the neighbor area.
based hierarchical hybrid control to address both hierarchical Reference [75] proposes a strategy based on droop charac-
control requirements and hybrid dynamic behavior of the teristics for improved voltage regulation and power sharing
microgrid. This control method maintains voltage limits and in DC microgrids. A two-stage algorithm for voltage con-
maximizes economical benefits of the microgrid. trol is proposed in [76]. In the first stage, DER units inject
the necessary reactive power into the system to mitigate volt-
D. Decomposition-Based Techniques age violations. If this does not fully mitigate the problem, in
the second stage, local controllers request additional reactive
Several decomposition schemes have been proposed, includ-
power support from neighboring units. A secondary control
ing the auxiliary problem principle (APP), predictor-corrector
method for improving voltage quality and rejecting harmonics
proximal multiplier method (PCPM), and alternating direction
is proposed in [77], where harmonics are explicitly considered
method (ADM) [48], [49], [66]–[71]. These approaches are
within a hierarchical scheme.
based on decomposing the original optimization problem into
In [78], the concept of a decentralized nonhierarchal voltage
a number of subproblems that are solved iteratively until con-
regulation based on intelligent and cooperative smart entities
vergence. These methods decompose the optimization problem
is proposed. In this structure, the distributed voltage con-
into areas. Although there are different methods to define
trollers use local bus variables and mutually coupled oscillators
these areas, e.g., based on sensitivity factors and controlla-
to calculate the main variables that characterize the global
bility of different buses, in microgrid applications partitioning
operation of the smart grid, then distributed optimizers pro-
can be based on information availability—roughly equivalent
cess these variables to estimate appropriate control actions,
to physical adjacency.
which minimizes the objective function describing voltage reg-
ulation goal. More recently, reference [79] applies feedback
VI. A PPLICATIONS OF D ISTRIBUTED T ECHNIQUES
linearization to transform secondary voltage control problem
A. Application in Primary Control to a tracking synchronization problem. Then, a distributed
The control scheme proposed in [34] divides the control cooperative control scheme coordinates all agents to act coop-
action of a voltage-sourced converter (VSC) between a local eratively toward the common synchronization goal by utilizing
2906 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SMART GRID, VOL. 5, NO. 6, NOVEMBER 2014

the communication between neighboring agents to address the certain disadvantages as discussed in Section III. Reference [40]
voltage coordination problem. applies distributed MPC for optimal coordination of frequency
in multilink HVDC systems. A consensus-based frequency
C. Application in Economical Power Coordination control for multiterminal HVDC is proposed in [89].
Power coordination and economic operation are important In addition to frequency coordination, distributed control in
operational considerations. Optimal power flow (OPF) prob- secondary level can be applied to bring back the microgrid
lem aims to solve this in a centralized manner. OPF has frequency to the normal operating conditions in the islanded
a long history in power system [80] dating back to 1960s. mode. In conventional power system, a central controller,
However, OPF is nonconvex and existing solutions do not which is called load-frequency controller (LFC) in Europe or
guarantee convergence to the global optimum. Moreover, automatic gain controller (AGC) in North America, operates
generic distributed optimization strategies do not consider for frequency restoration of the system. The secondary con-
time variability of communication links and require exten- troller in microgrids implements the same concept by using
sive computations—all of which hampering the effectiveness storage units energy to bring back the long-term frequency of
of distributed OPF for microgrid applications. Some methods the microgrid within nominal values. References [79] and [90]
do consider time-variability of the communication links, but propose a distributed secondary voltage control scheme for
require the constraint sets to be the same for each local gener- microgrids in the islanded mode.
ator. Reference [81] formulates distributed OPF with discrete
variables, and [71] propose a coarse-grained OPF. A compari- VII. F UTURE T RENDS
son of three decomposition-based methods is provided in [82]. A. Challenges Ahead
Reference [83] employs distributed MPC for coordination of It is clear that there is a need for development of a compre-
wind and solar energy systems in a dc grid. Optimal charging hensive framework that considers different modes of operation
of electric vehicles is studied in [84] exploiting the elasticity of of a microgrid as well as the presence of a high number of
the electric vehicle loads as an iterative optimal control prob- DER units. This paper reviews the main techniques employed
lem. Reference [85] proposes a consensus-based algorithm for distributed control and discusses their applications. The
for optimal economic dispatch by adjusting power-frequency main challenges ahead in perfecting and implementing these
set point of each generator using aggregate power imbalance techniques include the following.
in the network (ACE) with and without losses. In [86], a 1) Conversation Between Control and Power Engineering
decentralized multiagent system, in which agents are identical Communities: Distributed control has been studied in the
and autonomous, is presented for economic dispatch of DG control area for much longer time than in the power area.
units in microgrids. Reference [87] solves the centralized eco- A discussion between these two communities can effi-
nomic dispatch problem (EDP) in a distributed manner using ciently improve and expedite the development of meaningful
incremental cost consensus (ICC) algorithm. approaches for the power system. An example effort is
joint panels at the IEEE Power and Energy Society General
D. Application in Frequency Coordination Meeting.
Frequency control is relevant when. 2) Convergence of Results: In a distributed control scheme,
1) DER units are electronically interfaced so they can each system performs optimization only on its own control
control frequency independently. inputs, with the assumption that the input to other subsys-
2) When a segmented power system is used (small power tems is constant; therefore, it becomes prone to resulting in
systems or microgrids connected together through a either a local optimal or a Nash equilibrium instead of a Pareto
multiterminal HVDC link). optimal set of control inputs [91]. A convergence analysis is
The objective of frequency control is to have different units carried out in [92], which investigates relationship between
converge to a common frequency. In this case, one unit has to communication topology and convergence rate.
have an independent frequency set point so that the problem 3) Stability Analysis: Performing stability analysis helps
does not become indeterminate. Each unit may have its own assess the safe design. This kind of analysis is more trend-
minimum and maximum values for power and terminal voltage. ing in control area, but it is important to apply the results to
In traditional power systems, the inherent physics of syn- power system applications. Reference [93] presents necessary
chronous generators forces exact coupling between mechanical and sufficient stability conditions for the distributed-averaging
rotational speed and electrical frequency. However, the majority PI (DAPI) secondary control scheme, which is proposed in
of renewable energy resources do not have this physical cou- [94]; however, nonlinear analysis of reactive power sharing is
pling. As a result, no natural inertia is present in these systems to not addressed in [93]. Reference [95] investigates droop con-
aid frequency regulation. There are some efforts in the literature trol stability enhancement by applying a wireless network to
to provide virtual inertia for such resources by mimicking the coordinate the inverters.
operation of synchronous generators. An example is [30] that 4) Cybersecurity Considerations: One of the paramount
adds a term proportional to the time derivative of frequency in the reasons for interest in distributed techniques is the unwilling-
power control loop. However, this is essentially a measurement- ness of stakeholders to share critical data to protect system
based derivative feedback term, which is subject to bandwidth against cyberattacks. The communication network is always
limits [88]. This method does not seem to address the complexity vulnerable to cyberattacks by outsiders. Therefore, attention
of the power system and its multiinput multioutput nature. is required for developing distributed control schemes, which
A common approach for frequency regulation of DER units are more robust against these vulnerabilities. Reference [96]
is to emulate droop characteristics; however, droop control has analyzes cyber attacks to the networked control systems.
YAZDANIAN AND MEHRIZI-SANI: DISTRIBUTED CONTROL TECHNIQUES IN MICROGRIDS 2907

microgrids to reduce the computational and communication

burdens caused by increased number of DGs. This paper
provides a review of the basic architecture of distributed con-
trol and an overview of the distributed control techniques in
microgrid. The main part of this paper discusses various exist-
ing techniques and classifies them based on their formulation
approach and perspective. This paper also discusses the rela-
tionship between distributed control and hierarchical control as
two closely related concepts. Finally, the challenges and future
trends for distributed control of microgrids are identified.

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IEEE Trans. Power App. Syst., vol. 87, no. 10, pp. 1866–1874, Oct. 1968. M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from the
[81] C.-H. Lin and S.-Y. Lin, “Distributed optimal power flow with dis- Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran, in
crete control variables of large distributed power systems,” IEEE Trans. 2009 and 2012, respectively. He is currently pursu-
Power Syst., vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 1383–1392, Aug. 2008. ing the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from
[82] B. Kim and R. Baldick, “A comparison of distributed optimal power Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA.
flow algorithms,” IEEE Trans. Power Syst., vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 599–604, His current research interests include control
May 2000. design techniques in power electronics devices and
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Control Syst. Technol., vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 504–512, Mar. 2013. Innovation Center.
[84] L. Gan, U. Topcu, and S. H. Low, “Optimal decentralized protocol
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pp. 940–951, May 2013. Ali Mehrizi-Sani (S’05–M’11) received the B.Sc.
[85] R. Mudumbai, S. Dasgupta, and B. Cho, “Distributed control for optimal degrees in electrical engineering and petroleum engi-
economic dispatch of a network of heterogeneous power generators,” neering from the Sharif University of Technology,
IEEE Trans. Power Syst., vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 1750–1760, Nov. 2012. Tehran, Iran, both in 2005; the M.Sc. degree from
[86] N. Cai, N. T. T. Nga, and J. Mitra, “Economic dispatch in microgrids the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada;
using multi-agent system,” in Proc. North Amer. Power Symp. (NAPS), and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Toronto,
Champaign, IL, USA, 2012, pp. 1–5. Toronto, ON, Canada, both in electrical engineering,
[87] Z. Zhang and M.-Y. Chow, “The leader election criterion for decentral- in 2007 and 2011, respectively.
ized economic dispatch using incremental cost consensus algorithm,” He is currently an Assistant Professor with
in Proc. 37th Annu. Conf. IEEE Ind. Electron. Soc. (IECON), Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA.
Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 2011, pp. 2730–2735. His current research interests include power sys-
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Distributed grid regulation with bandwidth and saturation limits in wind resources.
generation and battery storage,” IEEE Trans. Control Syst. Technol., Dr. Mehrizi-Sani is an Editor of the IEEE T RANSACTIONS ON P OWER
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frequency control among non-synchronous systems connected by a System Equivalents and a Contributing Member of several other IEEE task
multi-terminal high-voltage direct current grid,” IEE Gen. Transmiss. forces, including the Task Force on Microgrid Controls, the Task Force on
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trol for islanded microgrids—A networked control systems approach,” Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Post-Doctoral Fellowship in 2011. He
in Proc. 38th Annu. Conf. IEEE Ind. Electron. Soc. (IECON), 2012, was a Connaught Scholar at the University of Toronto. He received the Dennis
pp. 5637–5642. Woodford Prize for his M.Sc. thesis.