João Peças Lopes

Defining control strategies for MicroGrids islanded operation

This paper describes and evaluates the feasibility of control strategies to be adopted for the operation of a microgrid when it becomes isolated. Normally, the microgrid operates in interconnected mode with the medium voltage network; however, scheduled or forced isolation can take place. In such conditions, the microgrid must have the ability to operate stably and autonomously. An evaluation of the need of storage devices and load shedding strategies is included in this paper.

Participation of Doubly Fed Induction Wind Generators in System Frequency Regulation

This paper proposes a control scheme that allows doubly fed induction wind generators (DFIWG) to participate effectively in system frequency regulation. In this control approach, wind generators operate according to a deloaded optimum power extraction curve such that the active power provided by each wind turbine increases or decreases during system frequency changes. The control strategy defined at the wind generator to supply primary frequency regulation capability exploits a combination of control of the static converters and pitch control, adjusting the rotor speed and the active power according to the deloaded optimum power extraction curve. Results obtained in a small isolated system are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach.

Optimum generation control in wind parks when carrying out system operator requests

This paper proposes an optimized dispatch control strategy for active and reactive powers delivered by a doubly fed induction generator in a wind park. In this control approach, wind turbines are supposed to operate over a deloaded maximum power extraction curve and will respond to a supervisory wind farm control after a request from a system operator for adjusting the outputs of the wind park. The definition of the active and reactive powers operating points, for each wind turbine, is defined from an optimization algorithm that uses the primal-dual predictor corrector interior point method. The control strategy used at the wind generator level exploits a combination of pitch control and control of the static converters to adjust the rotor speed for the required operation points. A small wind park is used to illustrate the effectiveness of the developed approach.

Using Low Voltage MicroGrids for Service Restoration

Under normal operating conditions, a MicroGrid is interconnected with the medium voltage network; however, in order to deal with black start and islanded operation following a general blackout, an emergency operation mode must be envisaged. A sequence of actions and conditions to be checked during the restoration stage are identified and tested through numerical simulation. Voltage and frequency control approaches, inverter control modes, and the need of storage devices are addressed in this paper in order to ensure system stability, achieve robustness of operation, and not jeopardize power quality during service restoration in the low voltage area

Improving power system dynamic behavior through doubly fed induction machines controlled by static converter using fuzzy control

This work presents a control strategy applied to a doubly fed induction machine (DFIM) for wind generation in a medium power system. In order to control the active power and reactive power exchange between the machine and the grid, the rotor is fed by a link of AC-DC-AC converters modeled as voltage and controlled current sources, respectively. The control of the rotor-side converter is realized by fuzzy controllers whose performances are compared with that of conventional Proportional-Integral controllers. The control of the grid-side converter is carried out by a control block based on the instantaneous power theory and it is controlled to maintain the DC link voltage constant and to improve the power factor of the system. Some design considerations of the control schemes are discussed. A multimachine model is used in digital simulations to assess the dynamic behavior of the power system control scheme proposed in this work.

Control strategies for microgrids emergency operation

Under normal operating conditions, a microgrid (MG) is interconnected with the medium voltage (MV) network. However, planned or unplanned events like maintenance or faults in the MV network, respectively, may lead to MG islanding. In order to deal with islanded operation and even black start following a general blackout, an emergency operation mode must be envisaged. Two possible control strategies were investigated and are described in this paper in order to operate a MG under emergency mode. A sequence of actions for a well succeeded black start procedure, involving microgeneration units, has also been identified contributing for an increase in distribution network reliability

Real time preventive actions for transient stability enhancement with a hybrid neural network-optimization approach

This paper reports a new approach in defining preventive control measures to assure transient stability relative to one or several contingencies that may occur separately in a power system. Generation dispatch is driven not only by economic functions but also with the derivatives of the transient energy margin value; these derivatives are obtained directly from a trained artificial neural network (ANN), using real time monitorable system values. Results obtained from computer simulations, for several contingencies in the CIGRE test system, confirm the validity of the developed approach. >

Microgrids: Enhancing the Resilience of the European Megagrid

The European electricity system of the future faces challenges of unprecedented proportions. By 2020, 20% of the European electricity demand will be met by renewable generation while, by 2030, a substantial proportion of the electricity generation would become largely decarbonized. Furthermore, beyond 2030, it is expected that significant segments of the heat and transport sectors will be electrified to meet the targets proposed by the EU governments for greenhouse gas emission reductions of at least 80% in 2050.

A new bi-directional charger for vehicle-to-grid integration

Bidirectional and efficient on-board charger systems for electric vehicles is a challenge nowadays. This paper describes a novel power converter system that implements bidirectional flow between the grid and an electric vehicle battery, where a dual active bridge is advantageous. With a bidirectional topology and proper control all the major grid constraints, such as power quality, harmonic rejection, active and reactive power control, and others, can be easily satisfied. A hardware prototype of the power converter is built. Experimental results from this hardware prototype verify the preliminary operation and claims of the V2G power interface.

Microgrid Service Restoration: The Role of Plugged-in Electric Vehicles

The development of the microgrid (MG) concept endows distribution networks with increased reliability and resilience and offers an adequate management and control solution for massive deployment of microgeneration and electric vehicles (EVs). Within an MG, local generation can be exploited to launch a local restoration procedure following a blackout. EVs are flexible resources that can also be actively included in the restoration procedure, thus contributing to the improvement of MG operating conditions. The feasibility of MG service restoration, including the active participation of EVs, is demonstrated in this article through extensive numerical simulation and experimentation in a laboratorial setup.