Development of robust integrated controller for optimal power management in renewable microgrids

Hybrid wind/photovoltaic (PV) power generation system integrated with battery energy storage system is identified globally as the leading alternative green energy infrastructure that has the capability to facilitate a smooth transition towards the sustainable and decarbonized energy sector. However, it is crucial to maintain the power balance between the components of the hybrid microgrid. The complexity of solving the demand-generation mismatch exponentially increases with the introduction of unpredictable renewable-based generation-side variation, in addition to the load variation. This inevitably limits the progress of commercializing renewable power generation sources. Battery energy storage systems provide a viable solution, with the condition that they are optimally utilized considering their technical limitations. Furthermore, a hybrid microgrid requires numerous power electronic interface to maintain the power quality and controllability both in grid-connected and islanded operational modes. Nevertheless, considering the primary objective that is, to maintain an uninterruptible and reliable power supply under an economical norm, the efficiency of hybrid power supply system is drastically affected by the number of converters interfacing its components. Considering the diligent national efforts to establish smart grids that Page 2 | Template for Center Internally-Funded Projects are highly interoperable with advanced metering equipment provides an opportunity to utilize state-of-the-art advanced control framework to not only maintain the power quality and uninterruptible power supply but also to effectively utilize the components hybrid microgrid with reduced integration of power electronic interfaces. Therefore, this project proposes a non-linear robust controller design to improve the performance of the hybrid microgrid system, stabilized the DC-link and load voltages, obviate the need for PV-boost converters, and ensure efficient energy management irrespective of the disturbances, change of loads, variations of irradiance level, temperature, and wind speed. This comprehensive control design model of the hybrid microgrid system additionally utilizes the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm to capture the maximum power from the wind and solar renewable energy sources. Extensive analytical case studies of various scenarios performed on the hybrid microgrid model and a prototype controller setup will be intensively analyzed and presented to prove the efficacy of the proposed scheme in terms of optimal utilization of the components of the hybrid microgrid system.