University of Tasmania, Australia

Control and Power Management of Converter Fed Microgrid System with Distributed Renewable Energy Resources (Wind-Solar-Fuel cell-Energy storage)

Recently, the concept of having many small-scale energy sources, dispersed over a grid has gained a considerable interest due to the innovations in the technologies and changing economic and regulatory environment. Microgrid is a small scale power system that can integrate and control the distributed energy sources efficiently. Microgrids bear the promise of substantial environmental benefits, brought about by higher energy efficiency and by facilitating the integration of renewable sources such as wind solar-fuel cell and energy storage systems. Distributed generation with renewable energy sources can reduce the losses and increase the system efficiency. It can reduce capital investment and improves the overall conversion efficiency by reducing transmission losses (which is currently 6-10%). However, an efficient and reliable operation and control strategy is a mandatory for reliable operation of the Microgrid system. It is desirable that a Microgrid continue to operate when it becomes islanded or grid connected. Microgrd system should maintain voltage and frequency under islanded mode when grid is not available. Low voltage ride through (LVRT) is also a requirement for distributed generation.

This project aims to develop an efficient and reliable microgrid system equipped with wind, solar and fuel cell system. The project works include: development of a prototype microgrid model with wind-solar-fuel cell and their control strategies, development of power management strategy and performance evaluation of energy storage system for the power smoothing of the microgrid system.