Control System Development and Test for the Operation of a Micro-Grid System—PART II

Razzaqul Ahshan, Mohammad Tariq Iqbal, George K. I. Mann, John E. Quaicoe

Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Canada.

DOI: 10.4236/sgre.2014.512027                

Abstract

This paper presents experimental development and performance testing of an active power controller for stable and reliable operation of a micro-grid system. In order to achieve accurate and fast power balance in a micro-grid system that contains renewable energy sources, power in the system has to be regulated continuously. Such an objective can be achieved using droop based alternating current control technique. Because the droop characteristic employed into the developed controller initiates to determine the power deviation in the system which is continuously regulated by controlling the current flow into dump power resistors. The designed controller is tested and validated using a micro-grid prototype in the laboratory environment for stand-alone mode of operation under various operating conditions. The key development in the micro-grid prototype is the development of a wind turbine simulator. A dSPACE ds1104 DSP board is used to implement and interface the designed controller with the micro-grid system. The experimental investigation of the developed controller presents the significant capability to achieve continuous power balance in the micro-grid system, while it maintains stable and reliable operation of the system. Finally, the power quality of the isolated micro-grid system is presented and discussed under the operation of the developed controller.

Keywords

Active Power Controller, Micro-Grid Prototype, Renewable Energy Sources, Wind Turbine Simulator

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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