Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία πραγματεύεται τη μελέτη της λειτουργίας και τη δημιουργία ενός μικροδικτύου, στο χώρο του Κτηρίου Βαρέων Ηλεκτρολόγων του Πανεπιστημίου Πατρών. Επιπρόσθετα, πραγματεύεται την κατασκευή ενός εξομοιωτή ηλεκτρικής κατανάλωσης φορτίου μονοκατοικίας, με στόχο την εξαγωγή συμπερασμάτων από την σύνδεσή του με το μικροδίκτυο. Η εργασία αυτή εκπονήθηκε στο Εργαστήριο Ηλεκτρομηχανικής Μετατροπής Ενέργειας του Τμήματος Ηλεκτρολόγων Μηχανικών και Τεχνολογίας Υπολογιστών της Πολυτεχνικής Σχολής του Πανεπιστημίου Πατρών. Η διπλωματική εργασία έγινε καθ’ όλη τη διάρκεια σε συνεργασία με τους συναδέλλφους Ψαρά Βασίλειο και Παρασκευά Παύλο. Στο μικροδίκτυο είναι συνδεδεμένα αυτήν τη στιγμή Φ/Β πλαίσια η ισχύς των οποίων είναι 1920Wp, και υπάρχει η δυνατότητα τόσο αυτόνομης όσο και διασυνδεδεμένης λειτουργίας. Το μικροδίκτυο εκτός από την φωτοβολταϊκή συστοιχία, έχει τρεις αντιστροφείς συνδεδεμένου συστήματος, που πραγματοποιούν την αντιστροφή της παραγόμενης από τα φωτοβολταϊκά συνεχούς τάσης σε εναλλασσόμενη, ένα μετατροπέα αυτόνομου συστήματος, ο οποίος αναλαμβάνει την δημιουργία και τον συνεχή έλεγχο του αυτόνομου συστήματος και τους συσσωρευτές οι οποίοι αξιοποιούνται για την αποθήκευση της παραγόμενης ενέργειας από τις πηγές παραγωγής ενέργειας του συστήματος. Επίσης, σκοπός της εργασίας είναι η κατασκευή ενός εξομοιωτή ηλεκτρικής κατανάλωσης φορτίου μιας μέσης κατοικίας, ώστε μελλοντικά, με πειράματα πάνω σε αυτήν τη διάταξη, να διαστασιολογηθεί ένα μικροδίκτυο το οποίο θα επαρκεί για τη σταθερή, συνεχόμενη και αξιόπιστη κάλυψη της απαιτούμενης ενέργειας μιας μέσης κατοικίας. Αρχικά, παρουσιάζεται το ενεργειακό πρόβλημα, το οποίο εκ φύσεως οδηγεί στην ανεύρεση νέων πηγών ενέργειας. Εν συνεχεία, αναφέρονται τα πλεονεκτήματα και μειονεκτήματα των ανανεώσιμων πηγών ενέργειας καθώς και η παρούσα κατάσταση όσον αφορά τη χρησιμοποίησή τους. Κατόπιν, παραθέτουμε τον ορισμό καθώς και τις συνήθεις συνιστώσες ενός μικροδικτύου, αναλύοντας θεωρητικά τις κυριότερες μονάδες παραγωγής, μετατροπής και αποθήκευσης ενέργειας. Επίσης, παραθέτουμε μια καταγραφή καθώς και μια ανάλυση όλων των εμπλεκομένων μονάδων του υπάρχοντος μικροδικτύου. Με σκοπό τη μελέτη της λειτουργίας του, την αξιολόγηση των δυνατοτήτων του και την εκτίμηση της παρούσας κατάστασής του, παρουσιάζονται μετρήσεις που πραγματοποιήθηκαν με διάφορα φορτία και εξάγονται κάποια σημαντικά συμπεράσματα. Στη συνέχεια παρουσιάζονται όλες οι εμπλεκόμενες μονάδες του μικροδικτύου που είναι εγκατεστημένο στο εργαστήριο Παραγωγής, Μεταφοράς, Διανομής και Χρησιμοποίησης Ηλεκτρικής Ενέργειας, καθώς και μια σειρά πειραμάτων που διεξήχθησαν. Το επόμενο βήμα ήταν η προσομοίωση τόσο των μετατροπέων ισχύος, όσο και της μεθόδου μέγιστης απομάστευσης ισχύος που χρησιμοποιήθηκε καθώς και του συνολικού συστήματος. Τέλος, αναλύουμε τη διαδικασία υλοποίησης του εξομοιωτή φορτίου, ο οποίος προσομοιώνει ποικίλες οικιακές συσκευές που ελέγχονται από έναν προγραμματιζόμενο λογικό ελεγκτή και παραθέτουμε παλμογραφήματα και μετρήσεις που προέκυψαν από τα πειράματα που διενεργήσαμε μετά την ολοκλήρωση της κατασκευής σε εργαστηριακό περιβάλλον. / The current thesis deals with the study of the operation, as well as the construction of a typical microgrid. Furthermore, the thesis deals with the construction of a resistive-inductive load that emulates the energy consumption of a household. This thesis was conducted in the Laboratory of Electromechanical Energy Conversion, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering School of Engineering, University of Patras. The outer purpose of this study is the construction a resistive-inductive load that simulates the energy consumption of a household. The device uses a programmable logic controller (PLC) in order to implement the necessary automation. The main subject of this current thesis was the programming of the PLC and the emulation of the daily operation of electrical devices of a household. Once completed, it will be possible to connect this load emulator to a microgrid so as to optimize its performance and study its operational behavior. This whole thesis was fulfilled through continuous cooperation with colleagues Paraskeuas Paulos and Psaras Vasileios. Initially, the energy problem is presented, a fact that naturally leads to the finding of new energy sources. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of renewable energy sources are discussed as well as the current state regarding their utilization. Afterwards, the definition and the common components of a microgrid are presented through theoretical analysis of all the related units (energy production, conversion and storage units). Moreover, every installed unit of an existing microgrid in the laboratory is mentioned and analyzed. Aiming to study its operation, evaluate its capabilities and estimate its present state, measurements with varying loads are cited. . The profile and size of a typical energy consumption of a household are presented. Given that, the final choice of the emulation method in laboratory environment was made, using appropriate passive elements (resistors, inductors). Finally, the energy consumption of the load emulator is presented, as it was recorded through the connection to the utility grid, and certain conclusions concerning its operation are made.

This research addresses some of the difficulties faced when operating voltage controlled inverters with synchronous generators in microgrids. First, an overview of microgrid value propositions is provided, and the problems faced when attempting to use microgrids to provide improved power quality are discussed. Design considerations for different types of microgrids are provided to enable microgrids to deliver the desired functionality without adding unnecessary cost. The main body of this research investigates the poor transient load sharing encountered between voltage controlled inverters and synchronous generators in islanded operation. Poor transient load sharing results in high peak inverter rating requirements and high cost. The tradeoff between power quality and power sharing is highlighted, and methods to improve transient load sharing are proposed. The use of current limiting to protect inverters during faults and overloads is also investigated. Stability problems are identified when using simple inverter current limiting methods when operating in parallel with synchronous generators. Virtual impedance current limiting is proposed to improve transient stability during current limiting. The methods proposed in this thesis for mitigating inverter overloads and faults will allow for more reliable and cost effective application of inverter based distributed energy resources with synchronous generators in microgrids.

The deployment of Renewable Energy (RE)-based generation has experienced a sustained global growth in the recent decades, driven by many countries' interest in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on fossil fuel for electricity generation. This trend is also observed in remote off-grid systems (isolated microgrids), where local communities, in an attempt to reduce fossil fuel dependency and associated economic and environmental costs, and to increase availability of electricity, are favouring the installation of RE-based generation. This practice has posed several challenges to the operation of such systems, due to the intermittent and hard-to-predict nature of RE sources. In particular, this thesis addresses the problem of reliable and economic dispatch of isolated microgrids, also known as the energy management problem, considering the uncertain nature of those RE sources, as well as loads. Isolated microgrids feature characteristics similar to those of distribution systems, in terms of unbalanced power flows, significant voltage drops and high power losses. For this reason, detailed three-phase mathematical models of the microgrid system and components are presented here, in order to account for the impact of unbalanced system conditions on the optimal operation of the microgrid. Also, simplified three-phase models of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) are developed to reduce the level of complexity in small units that have limited impact on the optimal operation of the system, thus reducing the number of equations and variables of the problem. The proposed mathematical models are then used to formulate a novel energy management problem for isolated microgrids, as a deterministic, multi-period, Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) problem. The multi-period formulation allows for a proper management of energy storage resources and multi-period constraints associated with the commitment decisions of DERs. In order to obtain solutions of the energy management problem in reasonable computational times for real-time, realistic applications, and to address the uncertainty issues, the proposed MINLP formulation is decomposed into a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) problem, and a Nonlinear programming (NLP) problem, in the context of a Model Predictive Control (MPC) approach. The MILP formulation determines the unit commitment decisions of DERs using a simplified model of the network, whereas the NLP formulation calculates the detailed three-phase dispatch of the units, knowing the commitment status. A feedback signal is generated by the NLP if additional units are required to correct reactive power problems in the microgrid, triggering a new calculation MINLP problem. The proposed decomposition and calculation routines are used to design a new deterministic Energy Management System (EMS) based on the MPC approach to handle uncertainties; hence, the proposed deterministic EMS is able to handle multi-period constraints, and account for the impact of future system conditions in the current operation of the microgrid. In the proposed methodology, uncertainty associated with the load and RE-based generation is indirectly considered in the EMS by continuously updating the optimal dispatch solution (with a given time-step), based on the most updated information available from suitable forecasting systems. For a more direct modelling of uncertainty in the problem formulation, the MILP part of the energy management problem is re-formulated as a two-stage Stochastic Programming (SP) problem. The proposed novel SP formulation considers that uncertainty can be properly modelled using a finite set of scenarios, which are generated using both a statistical ensembles scenario generation technique and historical data. Using the proposed SP formulation of the MILP problem, the deterministic EMS design is adjusted to produce a novel stochastic EMS. The proposed EMS design is tested in a large, realistic, medium-voltage isolated microgrid test system. For the deterministic case, the results demonstrate the important connection between the microgrid's imbalance, reactive power requirements and optimal dispatch, justifying the need for detailed three-phase models for EMS applications in isolated microgrids. For the stochastic studies, the results show the advantages of using a stochastic MILP formulation to account for uncertainties associated with RE sources, and optimally accommodate system reserves. The computational times in all simulated cases show the feasibility of applying the proposed techniques to real-time, autonomous dispatch of isolated microgrids with variable RE sources.

Driven by economic, technical and environmental factors, the energy sector is currently undergoing a profound paradigm shift towards a smarter grid setup. Increased intake of Distributed and Renewable Generation (DG) units is one of the Smart Grid (SG) pillars that will lead to numerous advantages among which lower electricity losses, increased reliability and reduced greenhouse gas emissions are the most salient. The increase of DG units’ penetration will cause changes to the characteristics of distribution networks from being passive with unidirectional power flow towards Active Distribution Networks (ADNs) with multi-direction power flow. However, such changes in the current distribution systems structure and design will halt the seamless DG integration due to various technical issues that may arise. Voltage and reactive power control is one of the most significant issues that limit increasing DG penetration into distribution systems. On the other hand, the term microgrid has been created to be the building block of ADNs. A microgrid should be able to operate in two modes of operation, grid-connected or islanded. The successful implementation of the microgrid concept demands a proper definition of the regulations governing its integration in distribution systems. In order to define such regulations, an accurate evaluation of the benefits that microgrids will bring to customers and utilities is needed. Therefore, there is a need for careful consideration of microgrids in the assessment, operation, planning and design aspects of ADNs. Moreover, SG offers new digital technologies to be combined with the existing utility grids to substantially improve the overall efficiency and reliability of the network. Advanced network monitoring, two ways communication acts and intelligent control methods represent the main features of SG. Thus it is required to properly apply these features to facilitate a seamless integration of DG units in ADNs considering microgrids. Motivated by voltage and reactive power control issues in ADNs, the concept of microgrids, and SG technologies, three consequent stages are presented in this thesis. In the first stage, the issues of voltage and reactive power control in traditional distribution systems are addressed and assessed in order to shed the light on the potential conflicts that are expected with high DG penetration. A simple, yet efficient and generic three phase power flow algorithm is developed to facilitate the assessment. The results show that utility voltage and reactive power control devices can no longer use conventional control techniques and there is a necessity for the evolution of voltage and reactive power control from traditional to smart control schemes. Furthermore, a probabilistic approach for assessing the impacts of voltage and reactive power constraints on the probability of successful operation of islanded microgrids and its impacts on the anticipated improvement in the system and customer reliability indices is developed. The assessment approach takes into account: 1) the stochastic nature of DG units and loads variability, 2) the special philosophy of operation for islanded microgrids, 3) the different configurations of microgrids in ADNs, and 4) the microgrids dynamic stability. The results show that voltage and reactive power aspects cannot be excluded from the assessment of islanded microgrids successful operation. The assessment studies described in the first stage should be followed by new voltage and reactive power planning approaches that take into account the characteristics of ADNs and the successful operation of islanded microgrids. Feeders shunt capacitors are the main reactive power sources in distribution networks that are typically planned to be located or reallocated in order to provide voltage support and reduce the energy losses. Thus, in the second stage, the problem of capacitor planning in distribution network has been reformulated to consider microgrids in islanded mode. The genetic algorithm technique (GA) is utilized to solve the new formulation. The simulation results show that the new formulation for the problem of capacitor planning will facilitate a successful implementation of ADNs considering islanded microgrids. In the third stage, the SG technologies are applied to construct a two ways communication-based distributed control that has the capability to provide proper voltage and reactive power control in ADNs. The proposed control scheme is defined according to the concept of multiagent technology, where each voltage and reactive power control device or DG unit is considered as a control agent. An intelligent Belief-Desire-Intention (BDI) model is proposed for the interior structure of each control agent. The Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) performatives are used as communication acts between the control agents. First, the distributed control scheme is applied for voltage regulation in distribution feeders at which load tap changer (LTC) or step voltage regulators are installed at the begging of the feeder. In this case, the proposed control aims to modify the local estimation of the line drop compensation circuit via communication. Second, the control scheme is modified to take into consideration the case of multiple feeders having a substation LTC and unbalanced load diversity. To verify the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed control structure, a multiagent simulation model is proposed. The simulation results show that distributed control structure has the capability to mitigate the interference between DG units and utility voltage and reactive power control devices.

Η παρούσα διδακτορική εργασία αφορά στο σχεδιασμό και εφαρμογή ελέγχου σε κατανεμημένη παραγωγή ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας ώστε να είναι δυνατή η ένταξή της σε μικροδίκτυα στο δίκτυο χαμηλής τάσης. O σχεδιασμός του ελέγχου αποσκοπεί: 1) Στην δυνατότητα σύνδεσης-αποσύνδεσης (Plug and play) της κατανεμημένης παραγωγής στο μικροδίκτυο χωρίς καμμία ιδιαίτερη παρέμβαση από κεντρικό έλεγχο. 2) Η κατανεμημένη παραγωγή, που περιλαμβάνει συστοιχία κυττάρων καυσίμου και ανεμογεννήτρια, πρέπει να παρέχει στήριξη ενεργού και άεργου ισχύος στο μικροδίκτυο διανομής όταν συμβαίνουν διαταραχές φορτίου. 3) Να τροφοδοτεί όλο το φορτίο σε κατάσταση νησιδοποίησης, στην οποία θα μπορεί να μεταβαίνει είτε λόγω σφάλματος στην μέση τάση είτε γιατί το μικροδίκτυο είναι επιθυμητό να λειτουργεί εσκεμμένα στην προαναφερθείσα κατάσταση. 4) Η μετάβαση από τη διασυνδεδεμένη κατάσταση του μικροδικτύου στη νησιδοποίηση και αντίστροφα να γίνεται με τον ομαλότερο δυνατό τρόπο. Λόγω της έντονης μη γραμμικότητας των υπό μελέτη συστημάτων, στο σχεδιασμό των συστημάτων ελέγχου εφαρμόζεται ασαφής λογική. Τα αποτελέσματα της έρευνας αφορούν τόσο τον θεωρητικό σχεδιασμό των παραπάνω συστημάτων με την βοήθεια προγράμματος εξομοίωσης (Matlab/Simulink) όσο και την πειραματική επιβεβαίωση των συμπερασμάτων στο εργαστήριο. Αρχικά, εξομοιώνεται μια συστοιχία κυττάρων καυσίμου συνδυασμένη με μια μπαταρία (υβριδικό σύστημα) και ενσωματώνεται σε ένα ασθενές δίκτυο διανομής. Ο έλεγχος δοκιμάζεται για τοπικές μεταβολές φορτίου και για μετάβαση από την διασυνδεδεμένη σε νησιδοποιημένη κατάσταση προκειμένου να διαπιστωθούν τα επιθυμητά χαρακτηριστικά του ελέγχου που αναφέρθηκαν. Επιπλέον, γίνεται μια διερεύνηση για το εύρος της αποτελεσματικότητας του ελέγχου για διαφορετικού τύπου γραμμών διανομής. Η συμπεριφορά του ελέγχου κρίνεται ικανοποιητική σε όλες τις περιπτώσεις. Στην συνέχεια, το ίδιο υβριδικό σύστημα (μεγαλύτερης όμως ισχύος) και μια ανεμογεννήτρια με γεννήτρια διπλής τροφοδότησης ενσωματώνονται σε ένα μικροδίκτυο που συνδέεται σε ασθενές δίκτυο διανομής στο πρόγραμμα εξομοίωσης. Ο έλεγχος του υβριδικού συστήματος δεν αλλάζει λόγω της ευελιξίας της ασαφούς λογικής. Ο έλεγχος των μικροπηγών δοκιμάζεται για τοπικές μεταβολές φορτίου και για μετάβαση από την διασυνδεδεμένη σε νησιδοποιημένη κατάσταση και αντιστρόφως για μετάβαση από νησιδοποιημένη σε διασυνδεδεμένη κατάσταση. Επιπλέον, γίνεται μια διερεύνηση της δυναμικής απόκρισης του μικροδικτύου κατά την ύπαρξη μπαταρίας και κατά την απομάκρυνσή της από το μικροδίκτυο. Η συμπεριφορά του ελέγχου κρίνεται ικανοποιητική σε όλες τις περιπτώσεις. Για την πειραματική επιβεβαίωση, αξιοποιείται ένα σύστημα συστοιχίας κυττάρων καυσίμου (Ballard& Nexa System) συνδυασμένο με μια μπαταρία στο χώρο του εργαστηρίου. Εφαρμόζεται η τεχνολογία ψηφιακού ελέγχου σήματος μέσω ενός ψηφιακού επεξεργαστή σήματος (DSP). Έτσι, δίνεται η δυνατότητα σε τμήματα του ελέγχου που έχουν ήδη σχεδιαστεί να μεταφέρονται μέσω ειδικού λογισμικού στον επεξεργαστή και να ενσωματώνονται στην κατανεμημένη παραγωγή με ελάχιστο κόστος. Το πραγματικό σύστημα που δημιουργείται δοκιμάζεται για τοπικές μεταβολές φορτίου. Η συμπεριφορά του ελέγχου κρίνεται ικανοποιητική σε όλες τις περιπτώσεις. Μέσω εκτενών αποτελεσμάτων εξομοίωσης αλλά και πειραματικών, αποδεικνύεται πως ο προτεινόμενος έλεγχος συγκεντρώνει τα επιθυμητά χαρακτηριστικά που αναφέρθηκαν. Αποδεικνύεται, μάλιστα, ιδιαίτερα ευέλικτος και πρακτικός όχι μόνο σε θεωρητικές εφαρμογές αλλά και σε πραγματικά δεδομένα. Το τελευταίο είναι ιδιαίτερα σημαντικό αφού δίνει την δυνατότητα στον μηχανικό με ελάχιστο κόστος και με εύκολο χειρισμό λόγω της ασαφούς λογικής και του ψηφιακού επεξεργαστή να ελέγχει οποιαδήποτε κατανεμημένη παραγωγή (easy engineering) με ελάχιστες διορθωτικές κινήσεις. / Σhe present Ph.d thesis regards to the design and application of the control of the distributed generation (or microsource) so that distributed generation integrates into microgrids at the low voltage side. The design of the control has to achieve the following: 1) Meet the «plug and play» operation mode that implies that a microsource can be added to the microgrid without reengineering the central control and protection of units that are already part of the system. 2) The distributed generation that is a fuel cell system and a wind turbine in this case, have to provide active and reactive power support to the low voltage microgrid in cases of local load disturbances. 3) The distributed generation have to supply the whole demanded power in case of islanding mode of operation either because of a fault at the mean voltage side or because of an intentional disconnection e.g. maintenance work. 4) The transitioning from the interconnected mode to the islanded mode of operation and vice-versa has to be smooth. Due to the intense non linearity of the system, the control design is based on fuzzy logic. The results of this research regard not only to the theoretical design of the above systems via the simulation program Matlab/Simulink but also to the experimental affirmation of the results in the laboratory. Firstly, a fuel cell system combined with a battery bank forming a hybrid system is simulated and integrated into a weak distribution grid. The response of the control system is simulated firstly under a severe step load change under grid connected mode and secondly when a transitioning to islanded operation mode is caused by an upstream supply outage. Also, a study is made in order to ascertain the range of the efficiency of the proposed control for different types of distribution lines. The performance of the control revealed good in all cases. Secondly, the same hybrid system (of bigger nominal power though) and a wind turbine with doubly induction generator are integrated into a microgrid which is connected to a weak distribution grid via the simulation program. The control of the hybrid system remains the same due to the flexibility of fuzzy reasoning. The response of the control system is simulated firstly under a severe step load change under grid connected mode and secondly when a transitioning to islanded operation mode happens and vice-versa when a transitioning from islanded to interconnected operation mode occurs. Also, the transient response of the system is investigated in the cases when the battery bank is part of the microgrid and when it is eliminated. The performance of the control revealed good in all cases. The experimental setup includes a fuel cell system (Ballard& Nexa System) combined with a battery bank. In order to transfer parts of the designed control and integrate them into the experimental setup, the technology of the digital signal control via the digital signal processor (DSP) is exploited. The transfer of the control to the DSP is done through a software program at the minimum costs. The response of the real system is evaluated under a step load. The performance of the control revealed good in all cases.Through a large number of simulation and experimental results, the proposed control proves to meet the desirable requirements that already are mentioned. The proposed controller, also, prove to be particular flexible and practical in real systems. The latter remark makes the designed control suitable in real systems where the engineer tunes the local controller of each distributed generation easier due to fuzzy logic (easy engineering). It has to be reminded, also, that through the digital control technology, the integration of the control by the engineer is at minimum costs.

This thesis has contributed to the design of suitable decision-making techniques for energy management in the smart grid with emphasis on energy efficiency and uncertainty analysis in two smart grid applications. First, an energy trading model among distributed microgrids (MG) is investigated, aiming to improve energy efficiency by forming coalitions to allow local power transfer within each coalition. Then, a more specific scenario is considered that is how to optimally schedule Electric Vehicles (EV) charging in a MG-like charging station, aiming to match as many as EV charging requirements with the uncertain solar energy generation. The solutions proposed in this thesis can give optimal coalition formation patterns for reduced power losses and achieve optimal performance for the charging station. First, several algorithms based on game theory are investigated for the coalition formation of distributed MGs to alleviate the power losses dissipated on the cables due to power transfer. The seller and buyer MGs can make distributed decisions whether to form a coalition with others for energy trading. The simulation results show that game theory based methods that enable cooperation yield a better performance in terms of lower power losses than a non-cooperative approach. This is because by forming local coalitions, power is transferred within a shorter distance and at a lower voltage. Thus, the power losses dissipated on the transmission lines and caused by power conversion at the transformer are both reduced. However, the merge-and-split based cooperative games have an inherent high computational complexity for a large number of players. Then, an efficient framework is established for the power loss minimization problem as a college admissions game that has a much lower computational complexity than the merge-and-split based cooperative games. The seller and buyer MGs take the role of colleges and students in turn and apply for a place in the opposite set following their preference lists and the college MGs’ energy quotas. The simulation results show that the proposed framework demonstrates a comparable power losses reduction to the merge-and-split based algorithms, but runs 700 and 18000 times faster for a network of 10 MGs and 20 MGs, respectively. Finally, the problem of EV charging using various energy sources is studied along with their impact on the charging station’s performance. A multiplier k is introduced to measure the effect of solar prediction uncertainty on the decision-making process of the station. A composite performance index (the Figure of Merit, FoM) is also developed to measure the charging station’s utility, EV users charging requirements and the penalties for turning away new arrivals and for missing charging deadlines. A two-stage admission and scheduling mechanism is further proposed to find the optimal trade-off between accepting EVs and missing charging deadlines by determining the best value of the parameter k under various energy supply scenarios. The numerical evaluations give the solution to the optimization problem and show that some of the key factors such as shorter and longer deadline urgencies of EVs charging requirements, stronger uncertainty of the prediction error, storage capacity and its initial state will not affect significantly the optimal value of the parameter k.

Este trabalho apresenta maneiras de trabalhar com o controle de potência reativa e estabilidade de tensão em microgrids. A estratégia de controle utilizada é o Controle por Tensão Distribuída (Distributed Voltage Control - DVC), ou controle por tensões distribuídas, um laço integral que considera as potências reativas em todas as barras como entradas e as tensões respectivas como sinais de controle. Diferentes estratégias de controle para distribuição de potência foram propostas e analisadas, sempre enfatizando seus aspectos conceituais. O cálculo dos ganhos do controlador, embora fundamental para o sucesso de qualquer estratégia de controle, geralmente não é discutido, e não são dados métodos ou linhas gerais para esta tarefa. Neste trabalho, apresentamos e discutimos diferentes metodologias para o projeto de ganhos de controle em DVC. Além disso, sendo o sistema não-linear, grandes variações de performance podem ser observadas se os mesmos ganhos de controle são usados para todos os pontos de operação, o que motiva a proposta de uma estratégia de programação de ganhos, também apresentada neste trabalho. / This text deals with the control of reactive power distribution and voltage stability in microgrids. The control strategy studied is the Distributed Voltage Control (DVC), an integral loop considering entries as reactive in every bus and the bus voltages as control signals. Different control strategies for power distribution have been proposed and analysed, always emphasising its conceptual aspects; design of the controller’s gains, however fundamental for the success of any control strategy, is usually not discussed, and no methods or guideline are given for this task. In this text we present and discuss different methodologies for tuning the control gains in DVC. Moreover, since power systems are nonlinear, large variations in performance can be observed if the same control gains are used for all operating points, which motivates the proposal of a gain scheduling strategy, also presented in here.

Ces travaux de recherche constituent une contribution à l'étude des interactions entre le réseau électrique et le véhicule électrique (VE) en mode de recharge (Vehicle-to-Grid V2G). La recharge des VEs engendrant des surconsommations variant entre deux et plusieurs dizaines de kilowatts, occasionne des perturbations sur la qualité de l'énergie du réseau auquel ils sont connectés ; la gestion de l'énergie délivrée au VE est donc une priorité pour les différents acteurs industriels qui ont établi les infrastructures de recharge. Dans cette thèse nous proposons d'étudier l'impact des nombreux VEs en mode de recharge sur le déséquilibre en courant et en tension du réseau de distribution basse tension ainsi que sur les stratégies de recharge à mettre en œuvre pour améliorer la qualité de l'énergie, et notamment minimiser les taux de déséquilibre. Nous commençons par définir le besoin de réduire le déséquilibre en courant et en tension dans le réseau résidentiel de basse tension. Ensuite, nous étudions l'impact du taux d'insertion des VEs sur ces déséquilibres en estimant la sensibilité des paramètres statistiques les décrivant. Enfin, nous proposons des stratégies de gestion de la recharge et de la décharge cherchant à minimiser les déséquilibres occasionnés tout en respectant les contraintes de confort, c'est-à-dire de la recharge du VE avant le départ et les limites structurelles du système. / The study of the Vehicle to Grid (V2G) interactions is the main contribution of this research work. To charge an electric vehicle (EV) battery the overloading in low voltage (LV) residential networks is expected to be between 2 kW and maximum 10kW. To avoid power quality deterioration a battery recharge management is a priority for the charging infrastructure business. Our work has been, first, to study the impact of a significant number of EVs in recharge mode on the voltage and current unbalances in a LV residential electric network scenario and second to develop charging strategies to minimize those unbalances.First, we defined why it is important for the LV residential network to minimize the unbalances both in current and in voltage. Then, we studied the impact of different market penetration rates of the EV on the unbalances by estimating the sensibility of the statistical parameters describing them. Finally we developed several charging/discharging strategies in order to minimize the current unbalance by using optimization algorithms in the continuous and discrete domains. Several constraints were formulated in order to preserve power limits and an enough state of charge for the mobility.

Un réseau insulaire est un système fragile et sensible aux variations de charge ou de production notamment d'origine renouvelable et intermittent. Ce problème devient crucial avec l'augmentation dans ces réseaux de production éolien ou PV en remplacement des sources actuelles (diesel, etc.). Cela impacte directement la stabilité du réseau, notamment la fréquence. Les moyens de stockage pourraient dès lors participer au réglage primaire de la fréquence, en limitant des variations après une perturbation. L'objectif de cette thèse consiste ainsi à étudier la participation du stockage pour maintenir la stabilité en fréquence dans un réseau insulaire en augmentant le taux de pénétration d'énergie renouvelable. Un algorithme de dimensionnement et différentes stratégies de contrôle du système de stockage ont ainsi été développés en fonction de variations réellement observées sur un parc PV. Notre étude est séparée en 2 parties. La première partie concerne la modélisation de l'intermittence de la production PV. La puissance PV a ainsi été caractérisée en fonction de son impact sur la variation de la fréquence, afin de définir toute situation critique. Ensuite, la technologie et les critères de dimensionnement du dispositif de stockage et la stratégie de pilotage et de contrôle-commande pour surveiller et contrôler le système de stockage ont été proposés et validées à partir de simulations. Ces stratégies ont été élaborées soit à partir de critères qualitatifs définie dans le domaine temporel, soit à partir d'une stratégie de filtrage fréquentiel des différentes sources. Par ailleurs, pour garantir des critères de robustesse vis-à-vis des incertitudes paramétriques notamment sur la mesure des variations PV, une commande robuste (utilisant un contrôleur H infinie) a été conçu et validé. Les différentes stratégies proposées peuvent plus ou moins réduire la variation de la fréquence suite à perturbation et permettre de réduire significativement la participation de la source principale d'énergie au réglage de la fréquence. Par ailleurs, les résultats ont permis de faire un lien entre le taux de pénétration des énergies renouvelables photovoltaïques dans un micro réseau et la tenue en fréquence dans ce réseau. / Frequency of isolated microgrids is highly sensitive to active power variation of loads and productions because of the inertia equivalent of this grid is small (limited number of thermal generators). Furthermore, the increasing of renewable energy in this grid causes frequency more risky to be instable because of its intermittency of power. In this thesis, energy storage is the selected solution to maintain the frequency stability of isolated microgrids with high penetration rate of renewable energy. It will participate to the primary frequency control which is the first control that takes action to limit the frequency deviation after disturbance. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to design the appropriate size and strategy of energy storage in isolated microgrids with high penetration rate of photovoltaic. Proposed strategies will link to power variation of PV. Therefore, the different situations of photovoltaic power variations and their impacts on the system frequency had been firstly characterized and studied in order to specify the critical situation of frequency variation. Then, different strategies for energy storage and their sizes were defined from these two studies. The strategy limit dPpv diagram and filter strategy were proposed to define the participated power of energy storage in primary frequency control from the measured power variation of PV. Furthermore, controller H infinity which is robust control was also proposed. Finally, energy storage control system was validated by RTLAB (real time simulation) which enable us to simulate the hardware. The results show that energy storage by proposed strategies is able to stabilize frequency of the power system by limiting the frequency deviation to be within an acceptable range after occurrence of any disturbance. The proposed strategies can increase larger participated power of the energy storage with less frequently than the classic droop control.

Este trabalho apresenta maneiras de trabalhar com o controle de potência reativa e estabilidade de tensão em microgrids. A estratégia de controle utilizada é o Controle por Tensão Distribuída (Distributed Voltage Control - DVC), ou controle por tensões distribuídas, um laço integral que considera as potências reativas em todas as barras como entradas e as tensões respectivas como sinais de controle. Diferentes estratégias de controle para distribuição de potência foram propostas e analisadas, sempre enfatizando seus aspectos conceituais. O cálculo dos ganhos do controlador, embora fundamental para o sucesso de qualquer estratégia de controle, geralmente não é discutido, e não são dados métodos ou linhas gerais para esta tarefa. Neste trabalho, apresentamos e discutimos diferentes metodologias para o projeto de ganhos de controle em DVC. Além disso, sendo o sistema não-linear, grandes variações de performance podem ser observadas se os mesmos ganhos de controle são usados para todos os pontos de operação, o que motiva a proposta de uma estratégia de programação de ganhos, também apresentada neste trabalho. / This text deals with the control of reactive power distribution and voltage stability in microgrids. The control strategy studied is the Distributed Voltage Control (DVC), an integral loop considering entries as reactive in every bus and the bus voltages as control signals. Different control strategies for power distribution have been proposed and analysed, always emphasising its conceptual aspects; design of the controller’s gains, however fundamental for the success of any control strategy, is usually not discussed, and no methods or guideline are given for this task. In this text we present and discuss different methodologies for tuning the control gains in DVC. Moreover, since power systems are nonlinear, large variations in performance can be observed if the same control gains are used for all operating points, which motivates the proposal of a gain scheduling strategy, also presented in here.