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A compact interlinking converter modular (ICM) for hybrid ac/dc microgrids with a distributed storage (DS) bus for storage integration is proposed in this article. The advanced ICM for hybrid ac/dc/ds microgrids involves the nine-switch topology with compact configuration and decreased number of active operating switches, which structurally equivalents to afford a dc interconnection port for dc subgrid, an ac interconnection port for ac subgrid, a ds interconnection port for ds subgrid, and two dc–dc converters for the interconnection ports for parallel DSs. In addition to the popular advantage of component elements saving, the suggested ICM, aggregating various interlinking converter cells (ICCs) into an ICM, is also proficient of participating computations from all ICC sensors to enhance the overall modular performance without building extra communication connection links between ICCs. With this in mind, a decentralized power management control strategy is realized by employing a coordination power control methodology to systematically handle various distributed generations (DGs), DSs, and ICM in a decentralized manner with improved communication fault ride-through capability. The controller hardware-in-the-loop experiments on a real-time digital simulator platform validates the achievement of the advanced ICM application in hybrid ac/dc/ds microgrids and the effectiveness of the associated decentralized power management scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In dc microgrid, energy storage system (ESS) plays a crucial role to provide short-or-long term and high-quality electric energy. The different control strategies for bidirectional dc-dc converter (BDC) of ESS in grid-tied and islanded modes pose challenges to the coordination control of the dc microgrid. This paper proposes an autonomous control scheme for the BDC in dc microgrid. The proposed control scheme is based on $V^2-P$ droop control and unifies bus voltage regulation and power regulation in a single control structure. Thus, global smooth transition between various operation modes can be achieved without any control strategy changes, which avoids various mode switch detection mechanisms and improves system stability. Furthermore, the proposed control scheme is fully decentralized which reduces the reliance on communication, and enhances the reliability of the microgrid. On the other hand, $V^2-P$ droop approach eliminates the negative effect of widespread constant power loads (CPLs) in dc microgrid. The stability of the proposed control method is illustrated, and the design guideline of some critical control gains is addressed. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is validated by the real-time hardware-in-loop (HIL) platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The penetration level of photovoltaic (PV) keeps increasing in modern distribution networks, which leads to various severe voltage limits violation problems. This article aims to aggregate and utilize the PV inverters for voltage regulation by a fully distributed two-level Volt/VAr control (VVC) scheme. In the lower-level VVC (real-time scale), the rooftop PV inverters are aggregated via consensus algorithms and then governed by droop controllers in medium-voltage networks. The droop controller adjusts the reactive power output of each PV aggregator in real-time from its dispatched value depending on the bus voltage variations. In the upper-level VVC (15-min timescale), the reactive power of PV aggregators is dispatched for power loss minimization, where control signals are set as base values for PV aggregators. This problem is formulated as second-order cone programming and solved by the alternating direction method of multipliers. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in both short-term and long-term scenarios with different system scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a uniform control strategy for the bidirectional ac/dc interlinking converter (BIC) in hierarchical controlled hybrid microgrid. The uniform control strategy unifies different control structures for multifunctional BIC in terms of power management, ac and dc voltage support. With the unified control structure, various triggering mechanisms for BIC mode-switch are not compulsory in response to the relevant scenario changes in the power network. Therefore, the negative consequences, such as unsmooth transition and system collapse due to the inaccurate or slower mode switch, can be avoided. Moreover, the uniform control strategy is also applicable for the hierarchical controlled hybrid microgrid, whose control architecture is typically comprised of the centralized and decentralized levels. This enables the communication fault ride-through capability and the impact from the communication failures can thus be mitigated. To sum up the above two features, the proposed control strategy is able to provide a smooth operation for the BIC without control mode switch in the event of unintentional scenario changes in power or communication network. To verify the validity of the proposed uniform control strategy, the controller hardware-in-the-loop experimental results have been provided in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Power allocation in hybrid energy storage systems (HESSs) is an important issue for dc microgrids. In this paper, an integral droop (ID), inspired by the electrical characteristics of capacitor charging/discharging process, is proposed and applied to a cluster of energy storages (ESs) with high ramp rates. Through the coordination of the ID and conventional V-P droop, the transient power allocation in HESSs can be intrinsically realized in a decentralized manner. The high-frequency components of power demand can be compensated by the ESs with ID, whereas the ESs with V-P droop respond to the smooth change of load power. Additionally, the ID coefficient can be designed according to the nominal ramp rate of the ESs with slow response, which helps to extend the lifespan of the HESS. On the other hand, to easily assess the stability of the system feeding constant power loads, a minimum relative impedance criterion (MRIC) is developed. Based on MRIC, it is revealed that the proposed ID can shape the output impedance of the HESS and stabilize the entire system. The feasibility and effectiveness of ID are verified by both simulations and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Economic operation is a major concern for microgrids (MGs). System operation cost is optimized when the incremental costs (ICs) of all distributed generators (DGs) reach equality. Conventionally, economic dispatch of DGs is solved by centralized control with optimization algorithms or distributed control with consensus algorithms. To improve the reliability, scalability, and economy of MGs, a fully decentralized economic power sharing strategy is proposed in this paper. As frequency is a global state in ac MG and dc bus voltage serves as a natural indicator in dc MG, a frequency-IC droop scheme is proposed for ac MG, a voltage-IC droop scheme is proposed for dc MG, and a normalization scheme is proposed for hybrid ac/dc MG. By using the proposed technique, ICs of DGs reach equality with the convergence of the system global indicator (frequency or dc bus voltage). Then power sharing of each DG is automatically achieved based on its relevant IC function and the total operating cost can be optimized without any communication or central controllers. The proposed approach is implemented in an ac MG, a dc MG, and a hybrid ac/dc MG in MATLAB/Simulink to verify its effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents two linear power sharing schemes for distributed generators (DGs). The purpose is to reduce the total generation cost (TGC) of the considered autonomous microgrid. The saving in cost is realized by tuning the DG droop gradients in accordance to their respective maximum or mean generation costs. Compared with the existing nonlinear cost-based schemes, the proposed schemes use linear droop functions, which are easier to tune and implement in practice for a greater reduction in TGC. The proposed schemes have been tested experimentally with an example microgrid powered first by dispatchable DGs only, and then by a combination of dispatchable and nondispatchable DGs. Experimental results obtained have demonstrated the anticipated outcomes under different operating conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a distributed control scheme for reliable autonomous operation of a hybrid three-port ac/dc/distributed storage (ds) microgrid by means of power sharing in individual network, power exchange between ac and dc networks, and power management among three networks. The proposed distributed control scheme includes: 1) a fully decentralized control, which is achieved by local power sharing (LPS) in individual ac or dc network, global power sharing (GPS) throughout ac/dc networks, and storage power sharing (SPS) among distributed storages. Upon fully decentralized control, each power module can operate independently without communication links. This would benefit for riding through communication malfunction in multilayer supervision control system; 2) a multilevel power exchange control for scheduling LPS, GPS, and SPS has been developed to reduce unnecessary power exchange between ac/dc networks and operations of DS units with the benefit of reducing power exchange losses and prolonging storage lifetime. The proposed distributed control strategy has been verified by the simulation and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]