An improved power control strategy for hybrid AC-DC microgrids

This paper presents a new droop-based control strategy for hybrid microgrids (HMG) with improved power sharing. When ac microgrids (AC-MG) and dc microgrids (DC-MG) are present in a distribution grid, there is an opportunity to interconnect them via an interlinking converter (IC) and form a HMG. Power sharing and adequate voltage/frequency control are the main functions of AC-MG and DC-MG control systems in standalone mode. When it comes to a HMG, active power sharing throughout the whole system must also be properly achieved by controlling the IC active power throughput. Furthermore, the possibility of participation of IC in AC-MG reactive power adds some complexity to a HMG control system. In this paper, a new decentralized control strategy is presented for a HMG which relies on regulating the voltage magnitude of a common bus in each microgrid. In this regard, new droop characteristics for sources across both microgrids as well as IC are proposed. The proposed droop characteristics result in better active/reactive power sharing across both microgrids and at the same time results in better voltage regulation. The derivation of new droop characteristics is thoroughly discussed in this paper. Simulation results are used to show the improvement achieved. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.