Autonomous Power Management and Control Among Interconnected Standalone Hybrid Microgrids

Multiple microgrids (MGs) being interconnected permits a high penetration of renewable energy sources while also improving the reliability and generation efficiency of the interconnected MG system. However, an effective power management strategy (PMS) and reliable control structure are required to ensure suitable operation and proper power sharing. Therefore, an effective clustering method of three hybrid MGs with a decentralized control structure is proposed in this paper to ensure sufficient power supply in three MGs depending on their available power generation in islanded mode. The interconnection takes place among the DC buses of each hybrid MG using a bidirectional DC/DC converter, which eliminates the complexity of reactive power management and synchronization and reduces power losses and costs. Moreover, the proposed decentralized PMS is based on the system voltage deviation to achieve proper power sharing without any communication link. Different scenarios for power sharing among interconnected hybrid MGs, including load variations, source failure, and energy storage systems charging or discharging, are analyzed. The performance of the proposed interconnection method and PMS is analyzed and validated using MATLAB/Simulink and a real-time-based OPAL-RT digital simulator. The simulation outcomes show that the proposed method and PMS ensure reliable operation and provide proper power sharing among the three hybrid MGs.