Real-Time Digital Simulation of Microgrid Control Strategies

Simulink models of the microgrid used in our paper can be downloaded here. Paper: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9087709

Real-Time digital simulations can be used to evaluate and design microgrid control strategies without any risk prior to actual deployment in the field.

Our paper mentioned below describes a model of the microgrid that the Snohomish County Public Utility District (Snohomish PUD) is building in Arlington, Washington State. This microgrid is currently in the design stage and is expected to be completed by the end of 2020. It consists of PV generation, a battery, an emergency generator, loads and a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) enabled electric vehicle (EV) charging station. When the microgrid is synchronized to the main grid, the battery will be used for solar smoothing, peak-shaving and energy arbitrage. The battery and PV inverters will then operate in grid-following mode. On the other hand, when the microgrid is islanded, the battery inverter will operates in grid-forming mode while the PV inverter will operate in grid-following mode. The emergency generator will only be used when the battery is discharged and there is insufficient PV generation. The batteries of the EVs are capable of supporting the microgrid and the electrical grid. The simulation models developed in MathWorks® Simulink® using the Simscape Power Systems™ (formerly SimPowerSystems™) toolbox are available to the public and could be adapted to model other microgrids (see the download link below).

Three operational scenarios are studied: grid-connected operation; seamless transition to islanded mode with the battery inverter operating in grid-forming mode; and islanded operation using the emergency generator when the battery is discharged.

You will need RT-LAB to run these models, if not comment out the components that are not from Simscape Power Systems™ toolbox. Send us an email if you have any questions or suggestions on these models. Email addresses can be found in the paper below.

Use this for citation: C. Keerthisinghe and D. S. Kirschen "Real-Time Digital Simulation of Microgrid Control Strategies," in 2020 IEEE Power & Energy Society Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference (ISGT), Washington, DC, USA, Feb 2020, pp. 1-5.