Abstract:

As the demand of modern societies for electrical energy continues to grow, distributed energy generation (DG) systems are beginning to be considered more seriously as an attractive new alternative to meet these needs. These systems typically comprise a number of small-scale power generation technologies (typically in the range of 1 to 10,000 kW) that are located close to the point of consumption (e.g., a home or business) to provide an alternative to or an enhancement of the traditional electric power system network. The significant potential of smaller distributed energy resources (DER) to meet customers’ and utilities’ needs can be best captured by organizing these resources into Microgrids.

Microgrids are small community networks which can be defined as a number of small generators for users in close proximity. The talk will focus on the modeling and simulation of various DER using MATLAB/SIMULINK simulation package and some of the possible control strategies and operational requirements when connected to a microgrid distribution network. Subsequently further work will be done to explore the key technical challenges associated with microgrids to make them function effectively both in connection to the bulk power provider grid and in isolation from the grid.