Communication framework for a self-organized ad hoc microgrid, A

Abstract

Power systems are susceptible to prolonged power outages as a result of major disturbances in the system. The introduction of the distributed energy resources (DER) can assist the grid during these outages by providing localized supply of power. This is possible through creating a Microgrid that can island from the affected power grid and form its own network. However, due to the uncertain and often abrupt nature of weather related and man-made events, excessive advance planning for the formation of the Microgrid may not be possible, and as such, it may need to be formed in an ad-hoc fashion. In such a situation, an energy resource with grid-forming capability must act as a coordinator, and detect the topology of the network as well as the type of its DER units and loads. To enable this, a communication platform is needed to facilitate the transmission of necessary information between all controllable units and the coordinator. The main purpose of this project is to devise such a solution for creating an ad-hoc self-organized Microgrid via power line communication (PLC) media. In this proposed solution, smart nodes along a distribution feeder will communicate with each other to help form an ad hoc Microgrid. One of the smart nodes will assume the coordinator role that will establish, operate and control the Microgrid. This thesis work evolved around achieving three main objectives related to the formation, operation control, and communication of the proposed ad hoc Microgrid. The first objective is to develop an algorithm that will be used to detect the electrical network topology, and form the Microgrid in a self-organized fashion. The second objective is to provide a framework for the ad hoc Microgrid formation and operation, along with a conceptual design of the proposed smart node. The final objective is to develop a detailed PLC network model following G3-PLC specifications using a discrete event simulator called OPNET, and evaluate the performance of the PLC network. A case study using the IEEE 34-bus test distribution system has been used to demonstrate how the PLC network can support the ad hoc Microgrid communication requirements in terms of speed and reliability.