Search

In this article, a module-based plug-n-play (PnP) dc microgrid (MG) is introduced to help rural electrification. It provides a bottom-up way to form an MG with multilayer expandability and PnP feature. The module-based MG overcomes the drawback of conventional MG that requires central design and implementation which leads to high upfront cost and long lead time. It provides an organic way to form an MG that allows user to scale up the system as their demands grow, and fully utilize the existing resources. The proposed MG module is expandable on different layers that can meet the requirements of customers with different power consumption requirements. Each module, which contains PV generation and energy storage, can work as a stand-alone solar home system. Multiple modules can be connected as a group to scale up the local power supply. Groups can be interconnected through a public bus with gateway converter modules to form a community network, which can supply public usage and enable power exchange in a community range with relatively high distribution efficiency. The control of the proposed MG is in a fully decentralized manner such that central control and communication network can be omitted, which makes the system more user-friendly and highly robust. Detailed design, analysis, and implementation of the proposed PnP MG is provided in this article. Simulation and experimental results have been provided to verify the concept and analytical study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DC microgrids built through a bottom-up approach are becoming popular for swarm electrification due to their scalability and resource-sharing capabilities. However, they typically require sophisticated control techniques involving communication among the distributed resources for stable and coordinated operation. In this work, we present a communication-less strategy for the decentralized control of a photovoltaic (PV)/battery-based highly distributed dc microgrid. The architecture consists of clusters of nanogrids (households), where each nanogrid can work independently along with provisions of sharing resources with the community. An adaptive I–V droop method is used, which relies on local measurements of state of charge and dc bus voltage for the coordinated power sharing among the contributing nanogrids. PV generation capability of individual nanogrids is synchronized with the grid stability conditions through a local controller, which may shift its modes of operation between maximum power point tracking mode and current control mode. The distributed architecture with the proposed decentralized control scheme enables 1) scalability and modularity in the structure, 2) higher distribution efficiency, and 3) communication-less, yet coordinated resource sharing. The efficacy of the proposed control scheme is validated for various possible power-sharing scenarios using simulations on MATLAB/Simulink and hardware-in-the-loop facilities at the Microgrid Laboratory, Aalborg University. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]