On the optimal management of the reactive power in an industrial hybrid microgrid: A case study

Nowadays, the development of the hybrid microgrids is mainly addressed towards industrial applications, where different AC and DC typologies of distributed energy resources coexist. In a such context, the management of devices in the hybrid AC/DC microgrid becomes a not-obvious task, that has gained great interest in relevant literature. In this paper, the importance of the optimal management of both active and reactive powers in an hybrid AC/DC microgrid is analyzed, highlighting that, in these applications, the reactive power control is mandatory not only when the microgrid operates in islanding mode, but also in grid-connected mode. Specifically, a comparison between control strategies with and without reactive power management is performed in the hybrid AC/DC microgrid proposed for an actual industrial facility in the southern Italy. Numerical experiments demonstrate the need of utilizing the former strategy than the latter one.