Generalized microgrid harmonic compensation strategies using DG unit interfacing converters

Increased non-linear residential loads in today's distribution system is a concern due to the harmonics related power quality issues. The situation gets worsened by the harmonic resonance introduced by the installation of power factor correction (PFC) capacitor banks in the distribution network. At the same time, more and more renewable energy-based distributed generation (DG) units are being installed in the residential area. These DG systems can be used as an effective way to mitigate the harmonic related power quality problems introduced by the nonlinear residential loads. In literature, very limited work has been done to identify harmonic compensation priorities that should be assigned to different DGs operating at different locations of the distribution system for improved compensation performance. This issue is addressed in this paper. A selective harmonic compensation scheme based on modal analysis is developed to assign compensation priorities on DGs operating at different distribution system nodes for improved compensation performance. A modeled residential distribution system containing distribution components such as distribution line, PFC capacitors, transformers, and household appliances along with DG units is used to verify the improvement of compensation performance. Experimental verification of the proposed method is also provided.

To manage the microgrid effectively, it is important to get the power information among multiple distributed generation (DG) units. However, when the droop control method is adopted, as the corresponding DG units cannot be simply modeled as VF or PQ buses, the conventional power flow algorithm may become inapplicable. To solve this issue, a time domain iteration (TDI) based power flow algorithm is hereby proposed. Firstly, a microgrid model is prepared, containing a network model and several DG unit models. Then, the proposed TDI is executed for power flow calculation, which mimics the real-time operation of microgrids. In each iteration, the DG unit models input voltages and currents to the network model; then the network model changes its state accordingly and feeds related parameters back to those DG unit models. As the DG unit models simulate the behavior of actual DG units, the proposed algorithm is not limited to the droop control governed microgrids. Moreover, as the TDI has definite physical meaning, convergence problems can be avoided. Finally, the validity of the proposed power flow algorithm is verified through the Matlab simulation results from an 8-bus microgrid system.

This paper introduces a smart coordinated allocation of distributed generation (DG) units, shunt-connected capacitors (SC), and static VAR compensators (SVC) for power loss minimization. The problem is formulated as a mixed-integer non-linear programming and is solved using a BONMIN solver embedded in General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS). The proposed method’s evaluation was performed on the IEEE 33-bus test system, where three cases were discussed. GAMS/BONMIN was used to find optimal locations and power outputs of DGs in the first case. Simulation results, in this case, showed that losses were reduced by 48.42% with one DG unit, 58.58% with two DG units, and 65.44% with three optimally allocated DG units. In the second case, the proposed method was used to coordinate DGs and SCs, while in the third case, coordinated allocation of DG and SVC was investigated. The results showed that SC/SVC coordination further reduces active power losses. With three SCs allocated, the reduction in the active power losses was 93.5% compared to the base case, and 82.18% compared to losses in the case where only 3 DGs are connected, while in the case of three SVC allocated, it was 93.85% compared to the base case, and 82.21% compared to the case where 3 DGs are connected. The second and third cases also showed that the coordination of SC/SVC leads to an improved voltage profile, where the bus voltages are close to the acceptable range, and voltage fluctuation is significantly reduced. The comparison between different non-linear programming solvers embedded in GAMS for solving optimal power flow was also presented.

As a result of the progress in renewable energy technologies, distributed generation (DG) with harmonic compensation capability has become an attractive topic. If photovoltaic (PV) systems have harmonic compensation functionality, they can help suppress the harmonic currents produced by multiple harmonic sources like energy-saving household appliances. This paper proposes harmonic circulate control, which is a harmonic suppression method that uses DG units. Using the proposed method, the current distortion in three-phase distribution grids can be suppressed by a smaller number of harmonic compensators than with conventional methods. In order to verify the validity of the proposed control strategy, experimental results using a laboratory system are presented.

With high penetration of power electronics-based distributed generation (DG) units, the decentralized control strategy based on droop control with virtual impedance has been widely studied in recent years. But the conventional virtual impedance cannot properly deal with the massively increasing of nonlinear loads. Therefore, an improved virtual impedance method based on second-order general-integrator (SOGI) is presented. Besides, a further value correction of reactive power in droop control is also proposed in this paper. The proposed approaches have been applied and verified in a parallel system formed by two DG units connected with nonlinear loads. The form of SOGI and derivative formula of corresponding virtual impedance in the system has been analyzed in detail. The obtained experimental results show the proposed approaches can achieve less output voltage and current distortion of DG units with nonlinear loads, and also realize good performance of power sharing.

Summary If sensitive loads are connected to the point of common coupling (PCC), compensation should be carried out in order to reduce PCC voltage harmonics. In this case, compensation is performed by the interface converters of distributed generation (DG) units. In this paper, a novel method is proposed for voltage harmonics compensation in islanded microgrids. The proposed method is capable of adjusting compensation percentage in proportion to the existing level of distortion at PCC. Also, this controller provides a proper sharing of compensation workload, considering the nominal capacity of DGs, which will improve the sharing of nonlinear load. Also, to decrease the asymmetry among phase impedances of microgrid, a novel structure is proposed to generate virtual impedance. At fundamental frequency, the proposed structure for the virtual impedance improves the control of the fundamental component of the power, and at harmonic frequencies, it acts to adaptively improve nonlinear load sharing among DG units. In the structures of the proposed harmonics compensator and the proposed virtual impedance, a self-tuning filter is used for separating the fundamental component from the harmonic components. This self-tuning filter decreases the number of the phase-locked loops. The simulation results in MATLAB/SIMULINK environment show the efficiency of the proposed approach in improving load sharing and decreasing voltage harmonics. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Control strategies of a microgrid which includes both synchronous generators and converter-based distribution generation (DG) units must be designed such that effective operation of the microgrid is achieved. The main objective of this paper is to develop a high performance control strategy for an islanded medium voltage (MV) microgrid consisting of inverter and non-inverter interfaced DG units. A new control method for the synchronous generator in an islanded microgrid is proposed based on a virtual droop scheme. The proposed strategy can effectively manage the real and reactive powers of the microgrid among the inverter and non-inverter based DG units. The steady state and dynamic responses of the MV microgrid is significantly improved by using the proposed power management scheme. The performance of the proposed control strategy is verified by using digital time-domain simulation study in the PSCAD/EMTDC software environment.

Voltage regulation in the distribution networks becomes more challenging when the distribution generation (DG) units are introduced. The reasons behind that are: the reverse power flow which is introduced by the DG units, in addition to the probabilistic nature of the generated power due to renewable-based DG units. In this paper, a fuzzy algorithm is proposed to provide an adaptive reference of the OLTC controller, such that the OLTC, which feeds a multiple feeders, can mitigate the effect of the high penetration of the DG units. The motivations behind using the fuzzy logic are: 1) it can map nonlinear relations behind its inputs and output; and 2) it can provide a smooth transition, which lead to a more relaxed tap operation compared to the conventional logic control. The proposed fuzzy algorithm is tested using a radial structure distribution network which is modeled using SIMULINK/MATLAB.

Distributed generation (DG) units has become an essential part of the smart grid due to increased penetration of renewable energy sources. These units help to improve power quality according to their position and control. Grids could face unexpected faults which affects power quality most especially voltage profile and power losses. This paper presents the potential application of (DG) units as a solution for improving voltage profile and mitigating power losses in loop distribution systems in case of faults for different positions of DG unit. Load flow analysis of a 66/20 kV distribution line network is performed to calculate the various values of voltage and power flow at each bus for different faults in each position of DG unit. Simulation of this distribution substation network with DG units have been developed in the MATLAB/Simulink Environment. The objective of this study is enhancement of voltage profile at various buses and the improvement in power flows in the distribution network with reduction in branch losses in the presence of fault.

Microgrids consist of multiple parallel-connected distributed generation (DG) units with coordinated control strategies, which are able to operate in both grid-connected and islanded modes. Microgrids are attracting considerable attention since they can alleviate the stress of main transmission systems, reduce feeder losses, and improve system power quality. When the islanded microgrids are concerned, it is important to maintain system stability and achieve load power sharing among the multiple parallel-connected DG units. However, the poor active and reactive power sharing problems due to the influence of impedance mismatch of the DG feeders and the different ratings of the DG units are inevitable when the conventional droop control scheme is adopted. Therefore, the adaptive/improved droop control, network-based control methods, and cost-based droop schemes are compared and summarized in this paper for active power sharing. Moreover, nonlinear and unbalanced loads could further affect the reactive power sharing when regulating the active power, and it is difficult to share the reactive power accurately only by using the enhanced virtual impedance method. Therefore, the hierarchical control strategies are utilized as supplements of the conventional droop controls and virtual impedance methods. The improved hierarchical control approaches such as the algorithms based on graph theory, multi-agent system, the gain scheduling method, and predictive control have been proposed to achieve proper reactive power sharing for islanded microgrids and eliminate the effect of the communication delays on hierarchical control. Finally, the future research trends on islanded microgrids are also discussed in this paper.

In electrical systems the most critical disturbance is the interruption of the power service. However, the main concern for many commercial and industrial users is the mal-operation produced by voltage sags. This paper presents a study about performance of a distribution system in presence of voltage sags using a distribution generation (DG) unit and a distribution static compensator (DSTATCOM). The analysis is performed by using a stochastic generation of disturbances method and ATP/EMTP software tool. Several case studies in the IEEE-13 bus test feeder taking to account different DG locations and penetration levels for DG unit are presented. In addition, the relation between the injected DSTATCOM reactive power, the type of sag and the location of affected nodes is considered. Simulations show that for IEEE-13 system the DSTATCOM is the best alternative for sags mitigation. However, the DG unit is an alternative that can be considered in larger distribution systems to reduce the effects of voltage sags.

This paper presents an improved Voltage Oriented Control (VOC) scheme to control a three-phase grid-connected 7-level diode clamped inverter, where this inverter is the Distributed Generation (DG) unit that is the core of the Distributed Generation System (DGS). An optimization method is used to recursively tune the parameters of the PID controller in the presented control scheme so as to achieve the optimal performance for the DG unit in a grid-connected mode. Simulation results are carried out to show the meritorious performance of the proposed control scheme while tracking the power references, which represent the required power to be injected by the DG unit to the distribution system.

This paper describes a control method for distributed generation (DG) units to implement active power sharing and frequency recovery simultaneously in an islanded microgrid. Conventional active power–frequency ( P – f ) droop control is used for the DG controller, and the frequency deviation is recovered by the DG itself via self-frequency recovery control, without requiring secondary frequency control. Because the electrical distance (impedance) from each DG unit to a point where the load demand changes differs among DG units, the instantaneous frequency deviations may differ between DG units. These differences are fed into the integrators of the self-frequency recovery control and may result in errors in active power sharing. To solve this problem and share active power more accurately, a compensation control method is developed for active power sharing, which considers the droop coefficients of each of the DG units. Simulation results show that the proposed control method is effective.

This paper proposes a flexible enhanced power quality strategy for a multi-function distributed generation (DG) in an aggregated system. Being a multi-function DG system, the grid-interfaced inverter can provide very sinusoidal current and harmonic compensating current simultaneously. Different from the classic strategy where the compensating current is directly calculated by the measured harmonic content in the load current, the proposed power quality control strategy presents a more flexible way using a voltage-controlled approach based on the virtual impedance theory. As a result, each individual DG can provide harmonic compensation functionality independently and the power quality of grid current can be enhanced. This paper first develops an aggregated DGs model using continuous timedomain equivalent circuit. The classic and proposed power quality control strategies can then be derived from the developed models. The proposed control strategy is performed by the virtual harmonic impedance method, which can promote the output current of each individual DG itself and compensate harmonics caused by the other DGs. The proposed control strategy can be seamlessly incorporated into the conventional PR control scheme, and maintain both the stead-state and transient performance within the control bandwidth. Moreover, the proposed control strategy is less sensitive to the variable of the grid frequency. Experimental results are provided to validate the correctness of the proposed power quality strategy.

This paper discusses and identifies the effect of Distributed Generation (DG) units on delivery loss reduction and efficiency improvement of future electric systems. It demonstrates that optimal placement and utilization of DGs in distribution feeders and radial distribution networks can lead to significant efficiency improvement through different parts of electric power systems. To this end, Utilities and Distribution System Operators (DSO) need to encourage DG owners to participate in optimization process. This can be done by implementing encouragement mechanisms such as price signal or feed-in tariffs. Furthermore, this paper investigates and optimizes the effect of μ-level DG units on delivery loss reduction and efficiency improvement of distribution feeders. The paper also proposes two major optimization algorithms for optimum placement and utilization of medium-size and MW-scale DGs in LV distribution networks. Finally, the paper closes with a discussion of policies needed to support efficiency improvement and delivery loss minimization of future distribution systems with large penetration of DG units.