A probabilistic approach for maximizing the islanding success in microgrids

Abstract

With Increasing electricity demand, microgrids nowadays play an important role in smart grids which demand a systematic approach for its optimal design and performance enhancement. Microgrids development is propitious for the electric energy industry from several aspects including environmental aspects, improvement of system operation and power quality, cost saving and other market related issues. In the IEEE Standard 1547.4, splitting large distribution networks into a number of smaller networks can provide enhanced operation and control. In this paper, a distribution test system is considered for optimum design of microgrids. The design considers maximizing the success indicant of the constructed microgrids. The islanded operation of microgrids requires serving important loads when the main supply fails. Thus, the success of the islanding process can be a challenging issue for planners to enhance the distribution system reliability. The indicant formulated in this paper incorporates the crucial conditions for successful operation of microgrids such as power imbalance and voltage constraints. A radial distribution system of 69 buses is chosen for this research. The selected system has a typical fuel mix of distributed generators such as biomass generators, photovoltaic units and wind turbines. The design problem is solved using the recently developed back tracking search optimization algorithm. The intermittent nature of distributed generators is taken into consideration through a probabilistic approach.