No abstract

When operating a stand-alone micro grid, the battery energy storage system (BESS) and a diesel generator are key components needed in order to maintain demand-supply balance. Using Unit Commitment (UC) to calculate the optimal operation schedule of a BESS and diesel generator helps minimize the operation cost of the micro grid. While calculating the optimal operation schedule for the microgrid, it is important that it reflects the actual characteristics of the implanted devices, in order to increase the schedule result accuracy. In this paper, a piecewise linearization, on the actual power conditioning system (PCS) input/output-efficiency characteristic curve, has been considered while calculating the optimal operation schedule using UC. The optimal schedule result calculated by the proposed method has been examined by comparing the schedule calculated by a fixed input/output-efficiency case, which is conventionally used while solving UC for a stand-alone microgrid.

For many past years, research in the operation of stand-alone Microgrid, which provides electric power generated from renewable energy sources and energy storage system instead of diesel generators, has been a major issue in order to prepare the exhaustion of fossil fuel and to protect environment, in island grids. Samso Island, known as the world's first stand-alone Microgrid in Denmark, is connected to the mainland grid through AC system, which has different technical conditions with Korea's isolated power system. Korea's first stand-alone Microgrid has been built in Ga-sa island, Chun-la-nam-do, based on Energy Management System (EMS) operation, and other islands are under construction to follow the next step. These stand-alone Microgrid's has large capacity of Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) and the proportion of the renewable energy sources are large, which makes it necessary to use a Microgrid-Energy Management System (MG-EMS) to operate the grid effectively and economically. However, since the main subject of MG-EMS is different from EMS, specific characteristics and functions must be different as well. In this paper, the necessary characteristics and functions are explained for a general MG-EMS compared to a large power system EMS.

Power system decentralization has been an emerging topic for the past decade in an effort to improve power quality and environment protection via increased integration of renewable energy sources. Towards these objectives, decentralized microgrids have been proposed and thoroughly investigated in terms of technical capabilities and economic performance. In fact, the planning and actual operation of small-scale, decentralized microgrids has started in countries such as Canada, Japan, USA, UK and other countries. It is expected that the research in this area will progress and eventually take over the existing paradigm of large-scale power generation in the future. These small-size decentralized microgrids could be connected with nearby microgrids under normal operating conditions, but under special events, such as natural or man-made disasters, they would be disconnected and run in islanded mode. Under such high impact – low probability events, the microgrid must have resiliency to successfully re-connect with other microgrids and the main grid. In this paper, an Energy Management System (EMS) for a microgrid having a resiliency function, allowing to operate under islanded mode after an accident, is proposed. The proposed tool, called Resilient Energy Management System (ResEMS), aims at procuring reserve power into the microgrid’s Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) effectively, by importing it from the nearby connected power system. The accident is assumed to be a predictable natural disaster, which means that the accident occurrence time, duration and level of damage can be estimated. The proposed ResEMS has been applied to a microgrid comprising of a BESS, a diesel generator and several photovoltaic devices. The simulation results verify its beneficial operation.