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A machine learning‐based optimized droop method is suggested here to simultaneously reduce the production cost (PC) and power line losses (PLL) for a class of direct current (DC) microgrids (MGs). Traditionally, a communication‐less technique known as the hybrid droop method has been employed to decrease PC and PLL in DC MGs. However, achieving the desired reduction in either PC or PLL requires arbitrary adjustments of weighting coefficients for each distributed generator in the conventional hybrid droop method. To address this challenge, this paper introduces a systematic approach that capitalizes on the benefits of artificial intelligence to accurately predict both the PC and PLL in a DC MG. Furthermore, an optimization technique relying on the gradient descendent method is employed to independently optimize both PC and PLL for each scenario. The effectiveness of the proposed method is confirmed through a comparative study with classical and hybrid droop coordination schemes under various scenarios such as rapid load changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The power system network is complex and diverse in nature because of the random and irregular existence of renewable sources, various types of varying and constant loads. Under these circumstances, the stabilization of DC link voltage and obtaining reduced power fluctuations are the main control aspect of DC microgrid (MG) system. This paper explores a Kalman filter (KF) based voltage–current control algorithm for the battery unit to control the medium voltage direct current (MVDC) bus voltage accurately with trivial oscillations as compared to the traditional VI algorithm. The stability and monitoring of DC microgrids are greatly influenced by gathering sufficient and precise information. Since installing several sensors on DC MGs is costly and increases DC MG ripple. In this work, an extended Kalman filter (KF) is used to estimate the current of the lead-acid battery. Hence the current represents an important factor in guaranteeing safe operations. Where the Kalman Filter, which improves the estimation efficiency, to reach a good performance in the current prediction. By updating the proposed approach provides smooth and noise-less operation from the measured DC voltage. The control strategy established for electric vehicle (EV) in this paper is to improve the overall charging ability of the EV only if the system's total power is greater than the load level by means of the current loop management technique. The feasibility of the designed MG system with the established battery management mechanism and the Escape Ford EV performance is studied using MATLAB/Simulink platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islanded microgrids with low-inertia distributed energy resources (DERs) are prone to frequency fluctuations. With the increasing integration of DERs in microgrids, the complexity of control and stability has also increased. Moreover, the integration of DERs into microgrids may result in a power imbalance between energy supply and demand during sudden changes in load or energy generation. This can cause frequency variations in the microgrid, which could have disastrous consequences such as equipment damage or even blackouts. This paper proposes a control strategy to ensure the efficient operation of an islanded hybrid microgrid consisting of a PV generator, battery energy storage system (BESS), and emergency diesel generator. According to Energy Exchange Model proposed in this paper, the hybrid system presented operates independently without being connected to the electrical grid, where the PV system and BESS act as the main energy sources, while the emergency diesel generator provides active power backup with voltage and frequency regulation. The novel in this paper is also that DER aids in frequency regulation during active power transients by delivering and absorbing active power in accordance with the inverter's suggested P droop control strategy. In this way inverter droop control decreases system frequency nadir emulating so called "synthetic inertia". To design both the islanded hybrid system and the proposed control strategy, the MATLAB/Simulink environment is utilized. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the analyzed microgrid system is capable of maintaining stability and operating efficiently in a range of operating conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to achieve the flexible and efficient utilization of distributed energy resources, microgrids (MGs) can enhance the self-healing capability of distribution systems. Conventional primary droop control in microgrids exhibits deviations in voltage and frequency and lacks research on voltage–frequency control during network reconfiguration. Therefore, this paper investigates the control strategy of secondary control for voltage and frequency during the process of reconstructing distribution networks to operate in the form of microgrids after faults. Firstly, the mathematical model of three-phase voltage-source inverters with droop control is analyzed. Then, inspired by the generator's secondary frequency control strategy, an improved secondary control method based on droop control is proposed, and the effectiveness of the improved droop control strategy is verified. Finally, simulation examples of distribution networks with various dynamic boundary topology changes are designed to simulate a relatively stable control result, validating the proposed strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In voltage‐controlled voltage source inverters (VSIs)‐based microgrids (MGs), the inner control is of prime interest task for guaranteeing safe and stable operation. In this paper, an in‐depth investigation of the modelling, control design, and analysis of the voltage and current inner control loops intended for single‐phase voltage‐controlled VSIs is established. The main objective of this work is to provide a comprehensive study of the mathematical modelling, control design, and performance evaluation of the inner control's loops considering different proportional‐integral (PI) controller types with and without compensation, and to determine the optimal scheme that can offer better performance in terms of implementation simplicity, robustness, and transient and steady‐state responses. Thus, the mathematical closed‐loop models of designed outer voltage and inner current control schemes based on PI, P, and feedforward controllers with and without compensation are, first, derived. Following this, a systematic and effective control design for tuning the different PI controllers' parameters is proposed. Furthermore, an analysis revealing the performance of the designed voltage and current control schemes is provided. This analysis enables us to choose a P controller and PI feedforward controller for the current control loop and the voltage control loop, respectively. The chosen P and PI controllers should be simple; meanwhile, they should offer a wide bandwidth. A simulation study is carried out in MATLAB/Simulink software to assess the performance of the adopted inner control scheme for both linear and non‐linear loads. In addition, an experimental setup, based on a TMS320F2837xD μC, of a single‐phase VSI supplying linear and non‐linear loads is built to verify the effectiveness and the robustness of the adopted inner controller. The results demonstrated: (1) the necessity of introducing the compensation term, which is responsible for offering control improvement against voltage perturbation, (2) the high tracking performance of the chosen controller in terms of dynamic and steady‐state responses as well as its simplicity of implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the stability analysis and enhancement in the AC‐microgrid system comprising parallel‐operated voltage‐source inverters (VSIs) supplying an active‐load. The active‐load behaves such as a constant power load from the AC‐side. In the paper, two models for the active‐load modeling in the AC microgrid are considered: (i) simple model in which the active‐load is modeled as an ideal current source, (ii) detailed model in which all dynamics of the active‐load converter and related controllers are taken into account. The main findings and contribution of this paper are as follows. (a) All linearized state equations of the study system are extracted and transferred into a unified common dq‐reference frame, and then, small‐signal stability of the study system is carried out in the common reference frame by using the simple and detailed models of the active‐load. (b) It is shown that the simple model of the active‐load, as a current source, leads to more pessimistic results in comparison to the active‐load detailed model. (c) Impacts of the active‐load power and bandwidth of the active‐load voltage control loop on the system stability are examined. (d) Control of the generation‐side VSIs is modified and a stabilizing approach, called generation‐side virtual capacitor, is proposed for stabilizing the system under high active‐load penetration. Next, modal analysis and time‐domain simulations are used to investigate the study system responses with and without the proposed stabilizing approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The droop mechanism is widely utilized in a stand‐alone microgrid (MG) to regulate power‐sharing among distributed generators (DG). However, over the years, the droop phenomena are continually modified to lessen the deviation in voltage and frequency parameters caused due to classical droop. This study suggests computing the droop coefficient for voltage–current (V–I) droop to take into account for proportional power distribution among DGs. In grid utility networks, the conservation voltage reduction (CVR) strategy is widely used to curtail the use of energy. Hence, this paper investigates the CVR's performance for stand‐alone MG by performing the adaptive vector control scheme in the two‐phase d–q reference frame. In addition to it, the paper is intended to develop a coordinated control strategy for stand‐alone MG involving classical P–f droop and self‐sustained V–I droop employed to perform the function of CVR during peak demand and overloading conditions. Further, a load‐shedding control approach is also considered to cut out some segments of load during overloading conditions to operate the MG in the stable zone. The validation of the proposed strategy is conducted on MATLAB/Simulink software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a Multi-stage Switch Inductor Switch Capacitor High Gain DC-DC Converter for microgrid application designed with integrated Active Switch Capacitor (ASC) and Active Passive Inductor Cell (APIC). The closed loop control of a proposed voltage lift DC-DC converter is performed to ensure the constant output voltage disregarding the change in input voltage. The new high gain extendable DC-DC boost converter topology is capable of providing high-gain voltage with low duty cycle and it is extendable by increasing the number of APIC network. Analytical modelling of the proposed converter is carried out to obtain the technical specifications. The open loop and closed loop simulation model of the proposed converter is developed in the MATLAB/Simulink environment to analyse the performance of the converter. The microcontroller-based hardware model of the proposed converter of power rated 200 W (18/200 V at 50% duty ratio) is developed and tested in open loop to validate the simulation results and experimental set-up results are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, harmonic compensated individual-phase voltage control of four-leg inverters is proposed for microgrid applications. Individual-phase control, which is one of the promising voltage control methods of four-leg inverters, ensures robustness for high load unbalance rates. However, the odd harmonics generated by nonlinear loads and dead time deteriorate the quality of load voltages under single-phase control. The proposed method compensates for the odd harmonics included in the load voltages to improve the output power quality. In the proposed method, band-pass and all-pass filters are used to generate the virtual components for the individual-phase control. Additionally, the harmonics are compensated in the synchronous reference frame using a resonant controller, while the fundamental components are controlled by proportional-integral controllers. With the proposed method, the total harmonic distortion of the load voltages is maintained at a low level under unbalanced and nonlinear load conditions. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through simulation and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Perform an inclusive assessment and comparative analysis of different APFs studied with the application of non-linear load. • Highlight the important shunt active filter (SAF) control techniques for real-microgrid system applications. • SHAF-based coordinated control literature study is conducted by emphasizing primary, secondary and tertiary methods. • The SHAF design and control with its significant merits and demerits makes this review different from other papers. • Comparative tables are structured by considering control architecture, power management, and installation complexity. Owing to avoid harmonic and power quality issues, the concept of eliminating their impacts on microgrid systems has gained a lot of interest. Incidentally, shunt active filters (SHAFs) is selected as the most reliable solutions against the concern problems and become the first choice of researchers. However, the performance of SHAF is strictly dependent upon the controller's action, design, and stability. Looking at the necessity, the detailed working of parallel/series filters for current and voltage source-based non-linear load application is discussed and compared. This paper reviews and collects information related to various SHAF control techniques for improving microgrid performances. The effectiveness of the controller is examined and justified by considering the non-linearity reduction, dc-link voltage balancing, current and voltage regulation, and improving the synchronization techniques. In this review, the most advanced control techniques are discussed and contrasted systematically to highlight their strengths and weaknesses. In addition to that, by considering different control architectures, the possible control outcomes and shortfalls are also summarized in different tabular forms. The survey can hypothetically serve as a standard and establishment of material for selecting the most significant methods for smoothening the SHAF operation for complex microgrid systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a fixed-switching-frequency modulated model predictive control (M 2 PC) is established for a two-level three-phase voltage source inverter (VSI) working in an islanded AC microgrid. These small-scale power systems are composed by two or more VSIs which interface DGs, controlling the voltage amplitude and frequency in the system, and simultaneously sharing the load active and reactive power. Generally, these operational characteristics are achieved using hierarchical linear control loops, but with challenging limitations such as slow transient reaction to disturbances and high proneness to be affected by parameter modifications. Model predictive control may solve these issues. Nevertheless, the most used and developed predictive control scheme, the finite-set model predictive control (FS-MPC), presents the drawback of having the harmonic spectrum spread over all the frequencies. This brings issues with coupling between the different hierarchical control levels of the whole microgrid system, and eventually, when designing the filters for main-grid connection. This paper aims to solve these issues by developing the fixed-switching-frequency M 2 PC working with higher-level control loops for operation in an islanded AC microgrid. These advantages are proved in an AC microgrid configuration where methodology for paralleling multiple M 2 PC-regulated VSIs is described, with rapid transient response, inherent stability, and fully decentralised operation of individual VSIs, achieving proper load power sharing, eliminating circular currents, and proper waveforms for output currents and capacitor voltages. All these achievements have been confirmed via simulation and experimental verification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a maiden application of combined voltage and frequency control ensures voltage, frequency, and power regulation in diverse standalone low voltage AC microgrid (MG) networks by combining flexible improved droop control (IDC) with a novel fractional-order controller (FOC) proposed. An effort is made to design an IDC into the control loop based on virtual power, virtual negative resistance, inductance, and FOC to ensure power decupling and compensate voltage source converter (VSC) based distributed generators feeder voltage drop. A maiden proportional fractional integral derivative filter plus double derivative (P I λ D F D 2) controller is used to precisely monitor VSC voltage and current reference value for reducing the control errors. The controller robustness regarding system parameters uncertainties, unmodeled dynamics, and disturbance in the MG system is ensured by a new memetic salp swarm algorithm by finding optimal P I λ D F D 2 controller parameters. Several simulation studies in the MATLAB Simulink environment were conducted to verify the efficacy of the proposed technique. The suggested control methodology is also investigated by hardware in the loop using the OPAL-RT real-time simulator platform to demonstrate the controllers practical functional realization. The findings confirmed the efficacy of the proposed strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous development of the global economic level, global energy consumption is also on the rise, and the global power industry is faced with a number of formidable challenges including load growth, low energy efficiency, high power quality, and environmental protection. Despite the fact that distributed energy cannot be directly connected to the power grid, the concept of the microgrid (MG) is proposed to make better use of distributed energy and reduce its effect on the power grid. The low cost and high controllability of DC MGs have piqued the interest of academicians both at home and abroad. If DC MGs are to be implemented in real-world engineering, a stability control strategy is required; therefore, research on voltage stability and coordinated control of DC MGs is extremely important and promising. This paper summarizes the current research on the voltage control strategy of the DC MG from the perspective of the voltage control strategy of the DC MG. Lastly, it is proposed that the future development of DC MGs will be more focused on intelligence and control precision and that the consistency algorithm combined with the benefits of centralized control and distributed control can effectively aid the future development of DC MGs, taking into account the grid's dependability and control precision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel cooperative voltage control strategy for an isolated microgrid based on the multi-agent advantage actor-critic (MA2C) algorithm. The proposed method facilitates the collaborative operation of a distributed energy system (DES) by adopting an attention mechanism to adaptively boost information processing effectiveness through the assignment of importance scores. Additionally, the algorithm we propose, executed through a centralized training and decentralized execution framework, implements secondary control and effectively restores voltage deviation. The introduction of an attention mechanism alleviates the burden of information transmission. Finally, we illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method through a DES consisting of six energy nodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internal oscillations among multiple generation systems in low-voltage stand-alone nanogrids and small-scale microgrids can cause instability in the entire generation system. This issue becomes worse when the coupling strength between the generation systems increases, which is a result of a shorter distance between them and a smaller reactance to resistance ratio. Previous approaches, which were based on the independent control design and considered the coupling effect as disturbances, may fail to tackle this issue when the two generation systems become strongly coupled. Therefore, in this paper a novel method is proposed to handle this coupling effect by designing robust decentralized controllers in a sequential manner to address the problem of voltage and frequency control in a nanogrid. This proposed sequential design is a general technique that is applicable to multiple inverter-based generation systems in a nanogrid or small-scale microgrid. For the ease of demonstration, in this paper the case of two interconnected inverters with LC output filters is studied. Two robust decentralized controllers are designed for the two inverter systems by using the μ -synthesis technique. The sequential design takes into account the interconnection line between the two inverters. Moreover, the controllers are designed to be robust against all the parameter variations in the system including the LC filter and interconnection line parameters. The simulation results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed controller over the independently-designed controllers for the case of two generation systems that are highly coupled due to the short distance between them. Moreover, the proposed controller is shown to be robust against the LC filter and interconnection line parameter uncertainties as compared to the sequentially-designed linear quadratic Gaussian controllers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper proposes a control scheme to improve the dynamic response of power systems through the automatic regulators of converter-based Distributed Energy Resources (DERs). In this scheme, both active and reactive power control of DERs are varied to regulate both frequency and voltage, as opposed to current practice where frequency and voltage controllers are decoupled. To assess the proposed control against the current state-of-art, the paper also defines a metric that captures the combined effect of frequency/voltage response at any given bus of the network. Results indicate that the proposed control strategy leads to a significant improvement in the stability and performance of the overall power system. These results are based on a comprehensive case study carried out by employing a modified version of the IEEE 39-bus benchmark system, where a portion of the synchronous machines is substituted by converter-interfaced DERs. The impact on the proposed control of load models, the $R/X$ ratio of network lines, as well as the level of DER penetration to the grid, are properly evaluated and conclusions are duly drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper defines an agile power system as a system in which the physical structure can change due to the connection/disconnection of subsystems, such as microgrids. These systems pose serious difficulties in their operations and control. Some of these challenges are reviewed. One operational issue is the energy balancing or the load frequency control problem when microgrids with a low inertia are connected to the main grid. The paper identifies the need for new rules of operation. Furthermore, in this paper, decentralized and data-driven voltage control designs are proposed, compared and illustrated on a microgrid. They take into consideration the structure and the usage of the large amount of data provided by the proliferation of sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid ac/dc microgrid (HMG) comprises ac and dc microgrids (MGs) interconnected through an interlinking converter (IC). In islanded operation mode of HMG, a coordinated control structure must be implemented to realize voltage and frequency control in ac MG, voltage control in dc MG, active and reactive power sharing among ac sources, active power sharing among dc sources, global active power sharing among dc and ac sources, and reactive power sharing among ac sources and IC. To realize these objectives, a new coordinated control based on master–slave approach is proposed in this paper. In this method, the master source of each MG broadcasts its relative power loading as a common signal to the slave sources of the same MG and IC through a unidirectional low-bandwidth communication network. Based on this information, the slave sources and the IC adjust their operating point. The proposed method provides accurate power sharing as well as zero voltage and frequency deviation. It does not require a centralized control unit and features plug and play capability. The derivation of the proposed method is thoroughly discussed in this paper. Time domain simulation results based on CIGRE benchmark MG are presented to validate the proposed control strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Hybrid AC/DC microgrid (MG) can integrate distributed generation sources and distributed loads on the AC and DC side of the MG by eliminating many unnecessary power conversion devices, which is more flexible and efficient. However, to achieve reliable and economic operation of a hybrid AC/DC MG is challenging due to its complex structure. In this paper, a novel distributed event-triggered hierarchical control strategy is proposed to improve the economic operation of a hybrid AC/DC MG. For the primary control, distributed local controls of AC DGs, DC DGs, and interlinking converters (ICs) are realized by adopting the droop control method. For the secondary control, the distributed economic dispatch, distributed average bus voltage discovery, and distributed proportional power-sharing algorithms are first proposed; then, control objectives of voltage and frequency restoration and economic operation of the hybrid AC/DC MG are realized based upon the developed algorithms. Furthermore, the distributed secondary control is built upon an event-triggered mechanism developed in this paper, which can reduce the communication burden. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controlling of voltage and frequency in the microgrid is a challenging issue and many controllers are suggested for this purpose. Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller is simple and efficient when its coefficients are optimally adjusted. Recently, evolutionary algorithms are used to optimally adjust the PID coefficients. In this paper, four evolutionary algorithms, particle swarm optimization, genetic algorithm, imperialist competitive algorithm and selfish herd optimization, are applied to set the PID controller coefficients and tested in the frequency and voltage control of the microgrid. Settling time, overshoot and stability margin are three main factors in the control response of PID which are considered for generating the fitness function to be optimized in terms of the PID coefficients. The proposed microgrid includes inverter-based distributed generators and different loads. Load change and different faults may cause the degradation of frequency and voltage where using of the PID controller leads to better control of these parameters. Simulation results show the efficiency of all four algorithms where particle swarm optimization performance is better than other three algorithms. Experimental results also verify the simulation results discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State-of-charge (SoC) imbalance and bus voltage deviation are two of the main problems in autonomous dc microgrids. Based on this concern, this paper presents an improved dual-quadrant SoC weighted control strategy and a distributed optimization control method to achieve SoC balance, ensuring accurate power-sharing and bus voltage recovery. Firstly, this paper couples the injected/released power with the current SoC and observed average SoC value to weight the droop coefficient, which is based on the charge/discharge mode for the energy storage system. Then a secondary controller is designed based on distributed optimal control to eliminate the bus voltage deviation caused by the line impedance difference. The proposed optimal control method optimizes the average bus voltage to the nominal value and achieve accurate power-sharing by constructing the correlated variables and voltage independent intermediate variables exchanged among bulk energy storage units (ESUs). Since the voltage observer cannot accurately observe the true average bus voltage under the communication delay, the proposed distributed optimal control method without the voltage observer can ensure that the average bus voltage is optimized to the nominal value, thus improving the robustness of the control system. Finally, the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed method are verified in Simulink/MATLAB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel microgrid secondary control method based on distributed sliding mode control, addressing the issue of reactive power sharing in islanded microgrids. Acknowledging the complications posed by feeder impedance mismatch, the traditional droop control mechanism fails to facilitate efficient reactive power sharing. Utilizing a distributed framework, this paper initially introduces a reactive power ratio observer, enabling the observation of global average reactive power without the need for precise reactive power calculation as required in a conventional centralized control setup. Subsequently, employing the devised reactive power ratio observer, sliding mode control is integrated to achieve effective reactive power sharing. Furthermore, this paper broadens its scope to encompass both reactive power sharing and voltage restoration, resulting in the design of a comprehensive controller. Notably, the proposed distributed sliding mode controller not only achieves accurate reactive power sharing but also exhibits significant resilience in the face of load disturbances. The simulation results conducted under various scenarios effectively validate the efficacy of the proposed distributed sliding mode control strategy. • A distributed sliding mode control for microgrid secondary voltage control. • Reactive power ratio observer for global reactive power calculation. • Comprehensively consider average voltage restoration and reactive power sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable distributed generators (RDGs) have made inroads in recent power systems owing to the environmental effect of traditional generators and their high consumption of electric energy. The widespread use of RDGs has been a recent trend in numerous nations. The integration complexity and the intermittent nature of RDGs can undermine the security and stability of microgrids (µGs). In order to guarantee the effectiveness, dependability, and quality of the electricity delivered, appropriate control methods are necessary. RDGs are being included in single-phase microgrids (1Ø-µGs) to generate energy closer to the user. The creation of low-voltage µGs allows for increased energy efficiency and improved electrical supply dependability. Nevertheless, the combined power pumped by DGs might create power quality (PQ) difficulties, especially during off-grid operations. The three biggest problems with PQ are reactive-power swapping, voltage and frequency (VαF) variations, and current and voltage (IαV) harmonic falsification associated with 1Ø-µGs; these conditions may affect the operation of µGs. The designed and implemented (primary–secondary control systems) in RDGs are the prevalent strategy discussed in the literature for mitigating these PQ difficulties. Furthermore, emerging grid innovations like the electrical spring offer viable alternatives that might reduce some problems through decentralized operation. Although several research studies have addressed PQ concerns in 3Ø-µGs, not all of these solutions are immediately applicable to their 1Ø equivalents. In this paper, the state of the art and a performance comparison of several PQ enhancement strategies of µGs is discussed. Additionally, the primary difficulties and several PQ approach tactics are highlighted. All vital features from high-quality published articles and new dimensions in this field are presented for mitigating PQ difficulties in 1Ø-µGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrical power system operators (SOs) are free to realize grid operations according to their own strategies. However, because resulting power flows also depend on the actions of neighboring SOs, appropriate coordination is needed to improve the resulting system states from an overall perspective and from an individual SO perspective. In this paper, a new method is presented that preserves the data integrity of the SOs and their independent operation of their grids. This method is compared with a non-coordinated local control and another sequential method that has been identified as the most promising distributed optimization method in previous research. The time series simulations use transformer tap positioning as well as generation unit voltage setpoints and reactive power injections as flexibilities. The methods are tested on a multi-voltage, multi-SO, realistic benchmark grid with different objective combinations of the SOs. In conclusion, the results of the new method are much closer to the theoretical optimum represented by central optimization than those of the other two methods. Furthermore, the introduced method integrates a sophisticated procedure to provide fairness between SOs that is missing in other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the increasing amounts of renewable energy generation and energy storage required to meet ambitious environmental goals, it is clear that the next generation of power grids will be dominated by converter-connected devices. In addition, the increasing share of loads connected via power electronics and the general transition to non-synchronous grids with distributed generators make dc microgrids an attractive future alternative. However, achieving optimal utilization of distributed generators in such cases is a complex task, as the performance depends on both the grid and control design. In this paper, we consider such a case where the optimal utilization of distributed generators is achieved by optimal power sharing while taking into account the grid topology, the available generators, and the way they are controlled. For the latter, we consider a droop-based decentralized control scheme whose primary objective is to achieve voltage regulation in the allowable operating range. A novel mixed-integer optimization approach is proposed to identify the optimal converter size and location in the network so that the microgrid can operate safely and with optimal use of the available resources. Time-domain simulations are used to validate the proposed approach and demonstrate its robustness to uncertainty in generator availability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of modern feedback control methods for the voltage regulation in DC/DC converters of DC microgrids. Control objectives and practical restrictions are defined and used as indicators for the analysis and performance assessment of the control methods. After presenting the concept of each control method, the advantages and limitations in the converter applications are discussed. The main conclusions of this overview can be used as recommendations for the selection of the suitable control method according to the control requirements in the DC microgrid. The low robustness against disturbances is a major issue in all control methods. For the enhancement of the robustness of the feedback control methods, three approaches are reviewed. Applications of these approaches in DC/DC converters are compared with regard to the achieved disturbance rejection and the related cost of nominal performance degradation. The disturbance/uncertainty estimation and attenuation (DUEA) framework appears to be the most promising approach to compromising these opposing control objectives. This overview is presented for a general DC/DC converter, without any additional control design requirement imposed by a specific converter plant. This allows the generalisation of the conclusions of the performance assessment, which can facilitate the application of the control methods in similar systems, such as in AC/DC converters or motor drives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inverter‐based virtual synchronous generators (VSGs) by introducing the virtual inertia enhance the microgrid frequency stability. The subject of this paper is regarding the stability analysis and enhancement of the study system comprising parallel‐operated VSGs feeding an active load. The active load with tightly closed‐loop control behaves such as constant power load resulting in stability issue. In the article, impacts of the dc‐side voltage control bandwidth of the active load and power level of active load on the system stability are examined. Then, an approach based on feedback linearising technique implemented on VSGs is presented for stabilising the system at higher levels of active load power. By employing the presented approach, the VSGs show reduced output impedance at the low and middle‐frequency ranges, and this in turn stabilises the system even at the rated level of the active load power and at higher control bandwidths of the active load dc‐side voltage control loop. Next, the linearised state‐space equations of converters and related controllers are transferred from local dq‐reference frames to a common dq‐reference frame, and then stability of the whole study system is analytically examined. At the end, time‐domain simulations and hardware‐in‐the‐loop experiments are given to verify the analytical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The abrupt transfer from grid-connected (GC) to stand-alone (SA) operation modes is one of the major issues that may threaten the stability of a distributed generation (DG) system. Furthermore, if the islanding mode happens, it is vital to take into consideration the load voltages or load current waveforms as soon as feasible. This paper develops an advanced control technique based on a super-twisting sliding mode controller (ST-SMC) for a three-phase inverter operating in both the GC and SA modes. This control scheme is proposed to ensure a smooth transition from the GC to SA mode and enhance the load voltage waveforms under the islanding mode. In addition, to minimize the operational costs of the system and the complexity of the studied model, a digital Luenberger observer (DLO) with a proper design is adopted for estimating the inverter-side current. The control scheme of the whole system switches between a current control mode during the GC mode and a voltage control mode during the SA mode. The super-twisting control algorithm is applied to the outer voltage control loop involved in the cascaded voltage/current control scheme in the SA mode. Simulation tests of a three-phase inverter are performed for the purpose of assessing the suggested control performance by using the PowerSim (PSIM) software and comparing it with a classical PI controller. Furthermore, a processor-in-the-loop (PIL) implementation in a DSP board TMS32F28335 while debugging is conducted using code composer studio 6.2.0. The obtained results show efficient control properties, such as a smooth transition among the microgrid (MG) operating modes, as well as effectiveness and robustness during both the GC and SA operation modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we present a Direct Model Reference Adaptive Control (DMRAC) algorithm in a boost converter used in islanded microgrids (MG) with a solar photovoltaic (PV) system. Islanded types of microgrids have very sensitive voltage and frequency variability; therefore, a robust and adaptive controller is always desired to control such variations within the MG. A DC–DC boost converter with a modified MIT rule controller is proposed in this paper, which stabilizes output voltage variations in islanded MG. Since the boost converter is a non-minimum phase, the controller design that relies only on output voltage feedback becomes challenging. Even though output voltage control can be achieved using inductor current control, such current mode controllers may also require prior knowledge of the load resistance and more states, such as output and inductor currents in feedback. Here, two control loops are used to achieve a stable output voltage; a PID controller can regulate the output voltage at a fixed level, and the outer loop is designed to implement the MIT rule for a DMRAC. To ensure that the actual system is following the desired reference model, using only an output voltage feedback sensor, a DMRAC is devised to update the PID controller parameters in real-time. Compared to a DC–DC boost converter connected to the MG, a controller, such as the one introduced in this paper, is more successful in dealing with unknown parameter fluctuations and disturbance changes. The MATLAB/SIMULINK is used to design and simulate the controller with different load disturbances and input voltage variances. The hardware validation is also carried out to show the performance of the proposed controller. Our results suggest that the DMRAC provides robust regulation against parameter variations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents implementation of control method for dual control of Voltage and Current control and Power sharing coupled with Demand Response for the islanded microgrid. These three controller viz Voltage and current controller, Power sharing controller and smart load controller while acting in unison can able to maintain long layoff from the connection requirement of the main grid. The paper uses state space inverter based generator model with close loop Voltage and Current control and Power sharing controller will enhance microgrid stability and transient response where smart load controller which uses state space model for voltage,current and Phase Locked Loop units to estimate reserve power available from smart load for better voltage and frequency regulation. Voltage current Controller and Power Sharing Controller will also assist the microgrid for smooth disconnection of microgrid from main grid while smart load controller will use its point of load voltage control for smooth islanding of microgrid. This control technique henceforth called tripartite control technique, compared with classical controller connected to microgrid in maintaining frequency, voltage with power sharing of the inverter driven by renewable generator. This paper investigate the operation performance issues of test Microgrid using Tripartite Control Technique. Simulation results indicate close approximation with experimental results [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a contemplate study on online voltage control strategy with different loading conditions in a DC microgrid using particle swarm optimization (PSO). DC microgrids consist of many converters and it is an important issue to stabilize network voltage by properly designing their controllers. Conventional feedback controls have been often used as a primary control for voltage stabilization with optimizing control parameters such as droop gains. Moreover, the optimal control parameters should be flexibly updated when the system condition dynamically changes so as to maintain high voltage control performance under sudden and unexpected changes in system conditions. In that context, this paper introduces an online voltage control using an advanced PSO technique to frequently update control gains. The primary control was modeled as a proportional‐derivative controller, and the optimization problem was defined based on the eigenvalue analysis. A parallel operation of local and global searches is conducted in the proposed method to search optimal control gains by allocating a part of particles to move in a random pattern. The validation of the proposed method was performed using a simplified 3‐bus DC microgrid model with two generator sets and two constant power loads. © 2022 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel hybrid AC/DC microgrid architecture incorporating a central energy storage system (ESS) for both the AC and the DC sub-grids. To ensure effective operation of the proposed hybrid AC/DC microgrid architecture, a coordinated control strategy between the central ESS and the inter-linking converter (ILC) is proposed in the paper. The proposed central ESS provides voltage and frequency control to the AC sub-grid by measuring voltage and frequency at the point of common coupling (PCC) of the AC sub-grid, while providing DC voltage support to the DC sub-grid by measuring DC sub-grid’s PCC voltage. Furthermore, per-unit frequency and the DC sub-grid PCC voltage are utilized to transfer power between the two sub-grids via the ILC. Therefore, two control strategies are coordinating with each other and maintain stable operation. The central ESS eliminates the use of multiple ILCs and complex control schemes for charge and discharge control to maintain same state of charge levels at each ESS. Effectiveness of the proposed coordinated controller is verified by applying various load disturbances, faults, and under different modes of operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new modulation strategy based on the carrier-based switching strategy for the non-square direct matrix converters (MC) is proposed to control the active power of distributed generation (DG) units. In this strategy, the active power of DGs is controlled by the central input current control of the non-square direct MC independent from the voltage and frequency. Conventionally, each DG has a converter, and for supplying a load with N number of DGs, N number of converters are needed and each converter has its own modulation switching and control strategy to control the power output of each DG. Needless to say, in a microgrid with N number of DGs, the control strategy of each converter has more complex structure than that of a microgrid with one converter, and surely the former strategy entails more volume and price. Using the proposed converter in this paper, it is possible to supply a load with N number of DGs through one converter. Also, the power outputs of all DGs are controlled by a central control strategy. The proposed central control strategy is described and simulated for a typical microgrid. Experimental and simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed converter and the proposed strategy. The results demonstrate the applicability and efficiency of the system and verify the theoretical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a method for controlling the voltage of inverter-based Microgrids by proposing a new scale-free distributed cooperative controller. The main contribution of this paper is that the proposed distributed cooperative controller is scale-free where is independent of any information about the communication system and the number of distributed generators, as such it works for any Microgrids with any size. Moreover, the communication network is modeled by a general time-varying graph which enhances the resilience of the proposed protocol against communication link failure, data packet loss, and arbitrarily fast plug and play operation in the presence of arbitrarily finite communication delays as the protocol does not require the knowledge of the upper bound on the delay. The stability analysis of the proposed protocol is provided. The proposed method is simulated on the CIGRE medium voltage Microgrid test system. The simulation results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed scale-free distributed nonlinear protocol for regulating voltage of Microgrids in the presence of communication failures, data packet loss, noise, and degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In general, severe load imbalances in small AC micro-grid systems can degrade their operational performance and their maintenance. This is because the unbalanced load in the micro-grid affects the energy flow and the voltage regulation functions of each phase. In order to solve the voltage imbalance problem, several algorithms for the 3-phase 4-leg CVCF inverter have been proposed, but the control algorithms are not enough to operate the 4-leg CVCF inverter in a stable manner. Therefore, this paper proposes a single-phase voltage and power control algorithm for the 3-phase 4-leg CVCF inverter based on a dq control in order to improve the voltage imbalance problem caused by a severely unbalanced load, where the single phase voltage control algorithm is composed of an αβ-dq and a dq-αβ transformer, a voltage and a current controller, and an off-set controller and a PWM, and the single-phase power control algorithm is also composed of an αβ-dq and a dq-αβ transformer, an active/reactive power and a current controller, and an off-set controller and a PWM. Additionally, this paper performs modeling of the single-phase voltage and the power controller for a 4-leg CVCF inverter using the Matlab/Simulink S/W. From the simulation results, it is confirmed that the transient stability of the proposed single voltage control algorithm can be improved compared to the conventional control algorithm, and voltage control can also be maintained in a stable manner under extremely unbalanced conditions. Further, it is confirmed that 3-phase currents of the proposed single-phase power control algorithm are controlled in a stable manner under extremely unbalanced conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the voltage and frequency stability and suppress the voltage harmonics of a microgrid, a virtual synchronous generator (VSG) control strategy based on the harmonic current bypass control is proposed in this paper. First, a robust voltage control link is added to the virtual excitation component of the traditional VSG control strategy to reduce the amplitude error of the inverter's driving voltage caused by the reactive power-voltage droop coefficient. A harmonic current bypass control link is then used to adjust the inverter's voltage signal to reduce the total harmonic distortion of the microgrid. Finally, a simulation model of the microgrid is established using the MATLAB/Simulink software, and its stability is analyzed. In addition, the proposed control strategy is also compared with the traditional droop control and traditional VSG control strategies, focusing on the frequency instability and harmonic suppression performance of the microgrid. The numerical simulation results verified the effectiveness and superiority of the improved VSG control strategy proposed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: With the advancement of power electronic converters over the last few decades, the capability to integrate solar photovoltaics, wind, diesel generators, batteries, ultracapacitor, and electric vehicles with standalone networks or utility grids has increased. For the reliable operation of standalone networks, accurate load sharing among these sources is required. As a result, several load sharing schemes with inherent merits and related demerits are presented in the literature. This work intends to address shortcomings of earlier reported control schemes with the inheritance of associated merits using the proposed control scheme. The proposed enhanced Master–Slave control, with advanced droop control scheme, is illustrated for Master voltage source inverter with resistive line impedance and improves the steady‐state response by improving voltage and frequency profile. It reduces the voltage drop caused by load effect and droop effect, allowing the voltage and frequency regulation during load changes and distinct load conditions such as balanced linear load, unbalanced linear load, and balanced nonlinear load in standalone alternating current (AC) microgrids. Furthermore, Slave voltage source inverters independently compensate for local load demand. This paper presents precise current control and voltage control design methodology and a mathematical model for voltage control and their performance analysis in time and frequency domain. Finally, the proposed enhanced Master–Slave control for accurate load sharing among parallel standalone AC microgrids validated using real‐time simulator and experimental results is provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a voltage compensator for converters in multi-converter DC microgrids (MG), which enhances the DC-MG behavior under fault conditions. Among the four existing categories in the classification of the faults, this paper focuses on those faults that affect voltage generation of converter-based distributed generation units (DGUs). Such faults conceptually occur from the terminal voltage reference to actual voltage generated by DGUs. To compensate the adverse effects of the faults, an adaptive scheme is proposed, which considers the most general case of the faults by using the time-varying multiplicative and additive fault models. The proposed scheme benefits from an integrated structure, which does not require separate fault detection, isolation, and identification blocks. As an advantage of the proposed approach, it is designed independent of the primary and secondary controllers of DGUs, and hence its performance is not affected by using different primary and secondary controllers. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is verified under various fault conditions and uncertainty in the system parameters. Using the proposed scheme, the results show that the performance of system under the fault condition is similar to that of the normal operation. • An adaptive voltage control compensator scheme is proposed for DC microgrid. • The considered faults affect the voltage generation of DGUs. • The faults are modeled by time-varying multiplicative and additive components. • The proposed scheme does not need any separate fault detection and isolation modules. • To validate the conducted analysis, various case studies are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Droop control is a viable method for the operation of island DC microgrids in a decentralized architecture. This paper presents a mixed-integer conic optimization formulation for the design of generator droop control, comprising the parameters of a piecewise linear droop curve. The mixed-integer formulation originates from a stochastic optimization framework that considers several operating scenarios for finding the optimal design. The convexity of the mixed-integer problem continuous relaxation gives global optimality guarantees for the design problem. The paper presents computational results using a tight polyhedral approximation of the conic program, leading to a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) problem that is solved using a state-of-the-art commercial solver. The results from the proposed approach are contrasted with both a classic linear droop control design and a recent piecewise linear formulation. The Monte-Carlo simulation results quantify the extent to which the MILP solution is superior in reducing voltage violations and power loss, and the degree to which the loss is close to that from a conic optimal power flow solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distributed generation (DG) needs to be connected to the microgrid (MG) through an inverter. The power quality of MG is impacted due to the characteristics of DGs and access to many types of loads. Traditionally, robust control or secondary regulation is used in MG inverters to solve power quality problems. However, there are issues in which the controller order is too high or the design is too complicated. A novel adaptive control strategy based on Narendra theory for voltage source inverter in MGs is proposed in this paper to solve the above problems. This strategy improves the control performance by designing an adaptive law. The MG inverter can adjust the parameters adaptively to change the output voltage quality under complex working conditions. The example shows that the inverter with the proposed adaptive control strategy can maintain good voltage control performance under complex conditions of MG, thus ensure the power quality in the MG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To realize the coordinated distribution of power in the multi-source system, maintain the charging balance among energy storage units, and improve the anti-interference capability of the bus voltage, a cascade control for an isolated PV-battery DC microgrid is proposed in this paper. First, to provide inertia for the microgrid so that it can cope with external disturbance, the parameters of the droop curve were adjusted by correlating the bus voltage variation rate, which improved the conventional droop control. Secondly, a nonsingular terminal sliding mode control was proposed to track voltage and current references and, thus, enhance the robustness of the DC microgrid. Moreover, the high-frequency chattering of the sliding mode control was inhibited with the exponential reaching law, and the Lyapunov function was utilized to verify the stability of the proposed nonsingular terminal sliding mode control method. Both the simulated and experimental results verified the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microgrids (MG) are small-scale electric grids with local voltage control and power management systems to facilitate the high penetration and grid integration of renewable energy resources (RES). The distributed generation units (DGs), including RESs, are connected to (micro) grids through power electronics-based inverters. Therefore, new paradigms are required for voltage and frequency regulation by inverter-interfaced DGs (IIDGs). Notably, employing effective voltage and frequency regulation methods for establishing power-sharing among parallel inverters in MGs is the most critical issue. This paper provides a comprehensive study, comparison, and classification of control methods including communication-based, decentralized, and construction and compensation control techniques. The development of inverter-dominated MGs has caused limitations in employing classical control techniques due to their defective performance in handling non-linear models of IIDGs. To this end, this article reviews and illustrates advanced controllers that can deal with the challenges that are created due to the uncertain and arbitrary impedance characteristics of IIDGs in dynamics/transients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a buffered microgrid with a modular grid interface consisting of a modular back-to-back converter. The proposed method provides a flexible strategy that enables both the load and generation expansion of the microgrid, with no sizing constraints on the initial stage. The method maintains the physical separation of the buffered microgrid from the grid by using back-to-back converters, which ensures a safe, secure and seamless operation in both islanded and grid-connected operation modes. The proposed modular structure allows an energy exchange prioritization either between the energy storage systems and the grid or between the energy storage units themselves, depending on the recommended/desired operational strategy. The prioritizations are achieved by using sets of dead zones in the control of the interfacing converters. In order to control the voltage and frequency, an inverse-droop-based dq-frame current control method was implemented in PSCAD/EMTDC to substantiate the proposed method. The simulation results of different scenarios show the operational flexibility, control simplicity and communication-free operation of the microgrid with different types of sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microgrids deal with challenges presented by intermittent distributed generation, electrical faults and mode transition. To address these issues, to understand their static and dynamic behavior, and to develop control systems, it is necessary to reproduce their stable operation and transient response through mathematical models. This paper presents a data-driven low-order model identification methodology applied to voltage characterization in a photovoltaic system of a real campus microgrid for secondary voltage regulation. First, a literature review is presented focusing on secondary voltage modeling strategies and control. Then, experimental data is used to estimate and validate a low-order MIMO (multiple input–multiple output) model of the microgrid, considering reactive power, solar irradiance, and power demand inputs and the voltage output of the grid node. The obtained model reproduced the real system response with an accuracy of 88.4%. This model is used for dynamical analysis of the microgrid and the development of a secondary voltage control system based on model predictive control (MPC). The MPC strategy uses polytopic invariant sets as terminal sets to guarantee stability. Simulations are carried out to evaluate the controller performance using experimental data from solar irradiance and power demand as the system disturbances. Successful regulation of the secondary voltage output is obtained with a fast response despite the wide range of disturbance values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel inertia-enhanced distributed control method to complement the inertia of microgrids. The rate of change of frequency (RoCoF) and the rate of change of voltage (RoCoV) are employed in this paper to quantify the frequency inertia and voltage inertia, respectively. Then, a fully distributed algorithm with constrained changing rates is proposed. By bounding the changing rates of frequency and voltage during the consensus control, the algorithm can address the consensus problem while enhancing the inertia of microgrids. Compared with most inertia control methods, the proposed method can utilize the reserve power of scattered DGs to supply inertia. Besides, it performs better under disturbances and delays than conventional distributed control methods. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated by several cases in MATLAB/Simulation and a hardware experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a simple pulse width modulation algorithm for control of an ultracapacitor based energy storage system used for source and load support applications. As opposed to dual loop control philosophy that is widely used for backup applications, this paper presents a simple single loop current control that is only useful for controlling the ultracapacitor based DC/DC converters used in source and load support applications. The proposed PWM blocking method necessitates the DC/DC converter to operate in five states and takes into consideration the essential operational limits associated with the ultracapacitors. The performance of the proposed algorithm is verified experimentally using a 24 V laboratory prototype setup. Further, the shortcomings of dual loop control when applied to source and load support applications are demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A decentralized improved I-V droop control strategy for battery-supercapacitor (SC) hybrid energy storage system (HESS) is proposed in this paper. The dynamic power sharing between battery and SC is realized by replacing the constant droop coefficient in I-V droop control with virtual impedance, i.e. virtual inductance for battery side converter and virtual resistance for SC side converter. Besides, by injecting the virtual inductance in the battery side converter, negligible DC bus voltage deviation can be achieved without extra voltage compensator. Moreover, the state-of-charge (SoC) recovery is also considered to extend the service life of the HESS. Furthermore, in the proposed regulated power system, since the power allocation, DC bus stability and SoC recovery are decoupled from each other, the design of control parameters is simple. The corresponding design guideline is demonstrated in this paper. Finally, to verify the accuracy and feasibility of the theoretical analyses, hardware in the loop simulations have been conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stability problem of low-voltage multi-terminal DC (MTDC) systems has drawn much interest. This paper focuses on the oscillation instability phenomenon of low-voltage MTDC systems and analyzes the interaction behavior between each voltage-source converter and the DC network oscillation mode. The typical structure and control strategy of a low-voltage MTDC system under master-slave control is first described, and its equivalent circuit is established. Then, an interaction behavior analytical model is proposed, and the source-network and network-load interaction characteristics are studied. Furthermore, a system stability analysis method is built based on the modularized modeling, which can solve the problem of how to address the complexity of high-order low-voltage MTDC systems. The transfer function of the whole system is conveniently established, revealing the system instability mechanism. The proposed method can provide effective stability assessment for low-voltage MTDC systems. Finally, the results are verified using electromagnetic transient simulation and experimentally validated using a low-voltage three-terminal DC system test platform with AC 0.4 kV/DC 800 V. This research can be flexibly extended to high-order systems for controller design and performance optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel state estimation methodology is proposed in this paper for microgrids monitoring using synchronized and non-synchronized measurements. A Kalman filter model is proposed to track both system states and frequency along the time considering the measurements gathered from the grid by PMUs and smart meters allocated in the system. An augmented measurement Jacobian matrix is formed considering system states and frequency as variables to be estimated along the time. Distributed generation is connected to the grid by voltage source inverters (VSI) considering frequency and voltage droop control characteristics. A radial 18-bus test system is used for the computational simulations in order to prove the efficiency of the proposed methodology. The algorithm is tested considering microgrid in grid-connected and islanded operation modes providing satisfactory results with reduced estimation errors when compared to the RSCAD (Real-Time Simulation Software Package) software. The main contributions of this work include: (i) the explicit model of frequency and voltage droop control of VSI in a Kalman filter model; (ii) the capability of tracking microgrids frequency and system states along the time; (iii) the explicit model of derivatives of phasor measurement units and smart meters measurements with respect to the system states and frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, many distributed fault-tolerant (Di-FT) secondary controls have been designed to improve the robustness of the islanded AC microgrids (MGs) to actuator faults/attacks. However, some problems still exist among the existing research: (a) the convergence speed of the faulty MG's states has not been discussed, which is important for reducing the inter-harmonic component around the fundamental frequency thereby improving the power quality; (b) large computing and sampling resources are required by the relatively high control gain for dealing with the possible serious actuator faults. Therefore, a distributed event-triggered fixed-time (Di-ET-FT) fault-tolerant secondary control of the faulty islanded AC MG is designed in this paper to release the communication burden, save the computing resources, and achieve the fixed-time convergence speed for improving power quality simultaneously. The Di-ET-FT fault-tolerant secondary control has a two-layer control framework, which are the observer layer as the upper layer and the fault-tolerant control layer as the lower layer. Meanwhile, two event-triggered strategies are designed in these two layers to decrease sample/control updating numbers and communication numbers, respectively. Zeno behavior of the Di-ET-FT fault-tolerant secondary control can be evaded effectively by proving that the interevent time is lower bounded by a positive value. The abovementioned advantages of the designed secondary control are validated by the real-time simulation based on NI-PXI simulator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]