Privacy-Preserving Distributed Control Strategy for Optimal Economic Operation in Islanded Reconfigurable Microgrids

In this article, a privacy-preserving distributed control strategy is proposed for realizing the optimal economic operation of islanded reconfigurable microgrids (MGs). Using the proposed distributed control strategy, participating DERs would only exchange the frequency data with their neighbors while the generation data are held privately by each participant. The proposed distributed control strategy reduces the communication burdens among DERs and exploits the operational flexibility of reconfigurable MGs. It also demonstrates the versatility for considering a variety of operational objectives without requiring any additional communication and control infrastructures. Using the proposed control strategy, the optimality and the stability of an MG system's equilibrium point are demonstrated by the Lyapunov theory. The effectiveness of the proposed control strategy is validated in a 12-bus MG system for various operating conditions, including load variations, DER disconnection and reconnection operations, and MG reconfiguration operations.