Microgrid and distribution network planning

Can microgrid placement maximize resiliency of distribution networks?

Catastrophic events are intensifying and proliferating across the US grid. As a result, it becomes harder to keep the lights on when undergoing severe fault scenarios. This paper proposes and investigates, for the first time, the planning of microgrid placement with the intent to maximize the resiliency of distribution networks.

What drives microgrid development?

Resilience, efficiency, sustainability, flexibility, security, and reliability are key drivers for microgrid developments. These factors motivate the need for integrated models and tools for microgrid planning, design, and operations at higher and higher levels of complexity.

What is a microgrid planning capability?

Planning capability that supports the ability to model and design new microgrid protection schemes that are more robust to changing conditions such as load types, inverter-based resources, and networked microgrids.

Can microgrids be used in transmission-level resource planning?

The combination of these developments identifies benefits that microgrids can provide within many aspects of distribution planning. Ultimately, this development will enable microgrids to be included within transmission-level resource planning such as integrated resource planning processes.

Does a microgrid sell power to the ADN?

It can be found that the network loss of the microgrid shows an apparent downward trend after it is integrated into the ADN. It shows that the network loss is effectively reduced after the microgrid is connected to the grid. As can be seen from the figure, at this moment, the microgrid sells power to the ADN.

How can a microgrid controller be integrated with a distribution management system?

First, the microgrid controller can be integrated with the utility’s distribution management system (DMS) directly in the form of centralized management. Second, the microgrid controller can be integrated indirectly using decentralized management via a Distributed Energy Resources Management System (DERMS).