Distributed operation of interlinked ac microgrids with dynamic active and reactive power tuning

Microgrids are small grids formed by clustering modern generating sources, storage systems, and loads together. Being independent, the formed microgrids can, in principle, operate at their own preferred voltages and frequencies. Tying them to the mains grid or another microgrid would therefore require some interlinking power converters, whose control should preferably be autonomous without depending on fast communication links. Contributing to this theme of research, a distributed power management scheme has been proposed in this paper for interlinking two or more independent microgrids operating at different voltages and frequencies. The proposed scheme allows sources in the microgrids to concentrate more on active power harnessing, while the interlinking converters focus more on meeting the load reactive demand. If necessary, backup active power from an underloaded microgrid can also be transferred to an overloaded microgrid, allowing it to supply loads in excess of its rated capacity. The performance of the proposed scheme has already been tested in experiment. © 1972-2012 IEEE.