Optimization-Based Control of Microgrids for Ancillary Services Provision and Islanded Operation

AbstractThe ongoing environmental crisis is pushing the electrical sector towards a radical transformation, as the wide diffusion of renewable sources requires the power system to be more distributed, cooperative, and flexible, being each portion of the grid now able to produce and absorb power. This poses much more coordination challenges with respect to the traditional centralized system, largely sustained by fully controllable fossil-based power plants. In this context, microgrids, i.e. intelligent small-scale grids equipped with distributed energy resources and smart loads, are considered as the fundamental bricks of this future paradigm. This is due to the opportunity of coordinating co-located sources and loads, and to the microgrids extreme flexibility, as they can be operated either connected to the main grid or in islanded mode. The contribution of this doctoral research consists in the design of dedicated control architectures for ensuring the efficient and secure operation of microgrids in these two modes, characterized by different challenges and opportunities