Optimization of Islanded Microgrid Operation

Presently a lot of effort is being deployed in the area of microgrid development. In this aspect, the work presented here is in the direction of developing and coordinating various operational modules in an isolated microgrid system.\ud The work presented in this report looks at the prospects of incorporating a consumer side load-scheduling algorithm that works in conjunction with the unit commitment and economic load dispatch. The unit commitment and economic load dispatch are run a day in advance to determine generator outputs for the following day. From the microgrid operator point of view, the load side scheduling helps reduce the stress on the system especially during peak hours thereby ensuring system stability and security. From the consumers’ point of view, the dynamic electricity prices within a day, which are a reflection of this time varying stress on the system, encourage them to endorse such a scheme and reduce their bills incurred. Owing to unpredictable weather conditions, running unit commitment and economic load dispatch in advance does not guarantee planned real-time generation in the microgrid scenario. Such variability in forecasted generation must be handled in any microgrid, while accounting for load demand uncertainties. To address this issue a load side energy management system and power balance scheme is proposed in this paper. The objective is to ascertain uninterrupted power to critical loads while managing other non-critical loads based on their priorities