Real-Time Digital Simulation of Microgrid Control Strategies

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, as shown in the figure below. 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.

Download Simulink models here. 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.

Download our paper here.