IEC 61850 communication based dual stage load frequency controller for isolated hybrid microgrid

In an isolated microgrid with low inertia system components, the load frequency control (LFC) problem becomes more cumbersome due to presence of stochastic renewable generation. The diesel generator acts as a dominant generating unit in an isolated microgrid and participates in LFC. Since microgrid spread over a large geographical area, communication delays during exchange of control and measurement signals at the Load Frequency Controller affect the LFC scheme. Till now, either these communication delays were ignored or considered as a constant in the literature, computed through estimation models, at all nodes. Filling this research gap, this paper designs and develops an IEC 61850 based communication model for computing realistic communication delays between the microgrid entities. The IEC 61850 based information models of microgrid entities are developed and presented. Then, proposed and then performance of developed communication model is analyzed through an integrated network emulation platform using the real-life implementations of IEC 61850 communication models and a network simulator. The performance of Load frequency controller in presence of realistic communication delays validates the communication design.