The International Council on Large Electric Systems (CIGRE) defines microgrids as ‘electricity distribution systems containing loads and distributed energy resources, (such as distributed generators, storage devices, or controllable loads) that can be operated in a controlled, coordinated way either while connected to the main power network or while islanded’.
There are different types of microgrid applications such as residential microgrids, remote microgrids, industrial microgrids, and many more. This example shows the operation of a remote microgrid with diesel generator, battery energy storage system, photovoltaic, and loads in Simscape™.
Microgrids developed in remote places ensure reliable and uninterrupted power. The microgrid controller ensures economic and sustainable energy mix while maximizing fuel saving with stable renewable energy integrations. To learn how to develop, evaluate, and operate a remote microgrid, see the Design, Operation, and Control of Remote Microgrid example. The planning objectives in this remote microgrid example include power reliability, renewable power usage, and reduction in diesel consumption. The key indices for economic benefits for the remote microgrid include life cycle cost, net revenue, payback period, and internal rate of return.
In this example, these indices are improved through reduction in diesel usage, maximum usage of renewable energy, and operation of the BESS. This example uses various standards for covering, planning, designing, controlling, and testing. The control performance evaluation includes conformation of standards for power quality.
The second example is about industrial microgrid. In an industrial microgrid, the planning objectives are ensuring power reliability, minimize downtime, faster system reconfiguration during fault and cost optimization. Electrical design covers the voltage selection, network structure, grounding etc. while the automation design ensures system protection, monitoring, communication etc. In this example, two main grids connect through two primary substations. Each substation has one BESS units and one microgrid controller. The industrial grid operates as two microgrids connected through a normally open switch.
This figure shows various aspects from different standards considered in this workflow. The microgrid standards and industrial process standard are mapped at different control levels.
The third example is about techno-economic analysis of microgrids. Techno-economic analysis of microgrids is a comprehensive study that integrates technical performance and economic viability to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of different microgrids. Microgrids comprise multiple distributed energy resources (DERs) including solar panels, wind turbines, generators, combined heat and power (CHP) plants, energy storage systems, and controllable loads. To meet the energy demands while minimizing the overall cost, the techno-economic analysis identifies the optimal configuration and operation of these components
This flowchart describes the steps of a techno-economic analysis in this example
- Clone and add the repository to the MATLAB® path.
- Open MicrogridDesignWithSimscape.prj.
- In the toolstrip, use the project shortcut buttons to open the example.
- This example requires MATLAB R2024a or later.
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