International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 3, Issue 8, August 2013 1

ISSN 2250-3153

Design of Micro-grid System Based on Renewable Power

Generation Units
Dr.K.Ravichandrudu1, M.Manasa2, [Link] Babu3,G.V.P.Anjaneyulu4
1,2,3
Krishnaveni Engineering College for women, Narasaraopet, Ap,India
4
Reaserch scholar,SVU College of Engineering,S.V.U.,Thirupati

Abstract- Micro-grid system is currently a conceptual restricted due to the capacity limitation of the
solution to fulfill the commitment of reliable power delivery distribution networks and their unidirectional power flow
for future power systems. Renewable power sources such as behaviour [2, 4, 5]. Such barriers have motivated researchers
wind and hydro offer the best potential for emission free to find an alternative conceptual solution to enhance the
power for future micro-grid systems. This paper presents a distributed generation integration into the distribution networks.
micro-grid system based on wind and hydro power sources An alternative approach called “Micro-grid” was proposed in
and addresses issues related to operation, control, and 2001 as a means of integrating more distributed generations
stability of the system. The micro-grid system investigated in into the distribution networks [5].
this paper represents a case study in Newfoundland, Canada. It Distributed generation in micro-grid operation provides
consists of a small hydro generation unit and a wind farm benefits to the utility operators, distributed generation owners
that contains nine variable- speed, double-fed induction and consumers in terms of reliable power supply, transmission
generator based wind turbines. Using Matlab/Simulink, the loss compensation, reduction in transmission system expansion
system is modeled and simulated to identify the technical and enhancement of renewable power penetration.
issues involved in the operation of a micro-grid system based on A review of the existing literature reveals that the first
renewable power generation units. The operational modes, micro-grid architecture was proposed by R. H. Lasseter
technical challenges and a brief outline of conceptual [5, 6], and called CERTS micro-grid. The CERTS micro-
approaches to addressing some of the technical issues are grid generally assumes converter-interfaced distributed
presented for further investigation. generation units based on both renewable and non-renewable
power sources. Barnes et al [8] also proposed a micro-grid
Index Terms- Renewable power generation, Distributed system under the frame of the European project “Micro-grids”.
generation, Micro-grid, Simulation The European micro-grid architecture con- sists of two PV
generators, one wind turbine, battery storage, controllable
loads and a controlled interconnection for the local low
I. NOMENCLATURE voltage grid. The NEDO in Japan proposed three micro-grid
CERTS = Consortium for electric reliability techno- logy projects in 2003 [9, 10]. The first NEDO micro-grid
solutions (1.7MW) system comprises different kinds of fuel cells
FC = Fuel cell such as MCFC, PAFC, SOFC, and photovoltaic (PV)
HGU = Hydro generation unit system and battery stor- [Link] second NEDO micro-grid
MG = Micro-grid (610kW) configuration consists of PV, WT, biomass and
MCFC = Molten carbonate fuel cell battery storage. The third NEDO micro- grid (750kW)
NEDO = New energy and industrial technology development system consists of PV, WT, MCFC, biogas and battery
organization bank, which has very low percentage (13 percent) of renewable
NPEP = Newfoundland power energy plan energy generation. Micro-grid research in Canada has started in
PV = Photovoltaic universities with the cooperation of the CANMET energy
PCC = Point of common coupling technology center at Varennes [9]. This research group has
PAFC = Phosphoric acid fuel cell identi- fied industry cases, such as the isolated Ramea wind-
SOFC = Solid oxide fuel cell diesel micro- grid system, and the Fortis Alberta grid-tied micro-
WT = Wind turbine grid system for investigation. Canada’s micro-grid research and
WPGS = Wind power generation system development also evolved to develop a test bed for industrial-
grade prototype testing and performance evaluation [9]. A study
of micro-grid dynamic behavior, along with the control of the
micro-generation units is performed by F. Kateraie [7]. This
II. INTRODUCTION
micro-grid system is based on the benchmark system of the IEEE
The demand for more power combined with interest in Standard 399-1997 [11], which consists of three generation units
clean technologies has driven researchers to develop distributed comprising a diesel generator or a gas turbine generator, an
power generation systems using renewable energy sources [1-3]. electronically interfaced distributed generation and a fixed
On the other hand, the integration of a large number of speed wind power generator. Research on micro-grid systems
distributed gener- ations into distribution network is

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ISSN 2250-3153

is also found in literature, where the generation units and loads through a 21 km transmission line. The wind turbines are
combination are arbitrarily assumed [12-16]. connected to bus 2 using its own transmission lines and a
The diverse micro-generation units in a micro-grid system 12.5/66kV, 30 MVA power transformer. Load bus-II is
and the desire to integrate more clean power in future power connected to bus 2 and the power is delivered to the load
network has led to a focus on a micro-grid system based on using a 66/12.5kV, 4 MVA power transformer. Load bus-I is
renewable power generation units in this research. As a whole, connected to bus 1 and the power is delivered to the load
the characteristics of a micro-gri system depend on the size using a 66/12.5kV, 5 MVA power transformer. The HGU
and nature of the micro- generation units in the micro-grid, as is connected to bus 1 using a 6.9/66kV, 8MVA power
well as the site, and the availability of the primary energy transformer. A conventional synchronous generator, equipped
resources on the site, especially for renewable power sources. with IEEE standard excitation and governor system, is used for
Therefore, taking an existing real system is the better the HGU. A 66kV,1000 MVA grid is connected to bus 1.
approach to investigate the micro-grid system issues rather Both power generation systems operate in grid connected mode.
than assuming or taking a hypothetical system. The objective The automatic isolated operation of the HGU is not the
of this research is to investigate the system behavior and current practice of the utility owner, and the WPGS is not
technical issues of a micro-grid system contains renewable power allowed to operate in isolated mode. In the event that the grid
generation units in Newfoundland. power is lost due to faults or scheduled maintenance, a black out
Considering these reasons, the technical challenges and would result until the HGU comes in operation. Even with the
methods for addressing them for the system shown in Figure 1 HGU in operation, some load shedding may be necessary since
have not been investigated yet. This paper investigates the the HGU would not be able to meet the load demand.
technical challenges as- sociated with the wind farm and hydro Therefore, the consequences of the grid outage are the key
generation based micro-grid system. In order to classify the drivers which dictate the operational modes of the micro- grid
technical challenges for the micro- grid system under system.
investigation, three operational modes (Figure2) are considered:
(a) grid connected system, (b) isolated system with wind power
generation, and (c) isolated system without wind power IV. OPERATIONAL MODES OF THE MICRO - GRID
generation. SYSTEM
Technical issues such as control, power balance strategies,
oper- ation, protection and storage techniques differ from one
micro-grid to another. The main reasons are the integration of
high number of distributed power generation units near to
the electrical loads, the nature and size of the micro-generation
units, and availability of primary energy sources for renewable
power generation units.

V. MODELING AND SIMULATION

The components of the identified system are modeled
using MATLAB/SIMULINK software tool. The HGU model is
the com- bination of the model of synchronous generator, hydro
Fig. 1 The micro-grid system currently under investigation turbine and turbine governor system, and excitation system. The
synchronous machine electrical system is modeled in a d-q rotor
reference frame with the dynamics of stator, rotor and damper
windings [17]. The synchronous machine parameters are
obtained from Newfoundland Power, Canada and from [18].
Hydro turbine and turbine governor system model is given in
[19]. The parameters for the hydro turbine and penstock are
obtained from Newfoundland Power, Canada. The WPGS model
consists of dynamic model of nine variable- speed doubly-fed
Fig. 2 Micro-grid operational modes induction generator based wind turbines. Vestas-90 wind turbine
parameters are used in the developed wind turbine rotor model
[20]. The induction machine electrical system is modeled in a d-q
III. THE MICRO -GRID SYSTEM synchronously rotating reference frame [17]. Generator
parameters are obtained from [20, 21].
The schematic of the micro-grid system shown in Figure 1 The utility grid is represented by an equivalent model of
consists of a HGU, a WPGS, and two load areas represented as 66kV three phase voltage source with the short-circuit capacity
Load-I (3.94 MW, .9 MVar) and Load-II (2.82 MW, 0.84 MVar). of 1000 MVA and the reactance to resistance ratio of 22.2 [11].
The two load areas are connected through a 20.12 km
transmission line and the two generating systems are connected

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ISSN 2250-3153

A constant impedance load model is used in the system. the power generation and consumption is not balanced in the
The parameter information about the line, transformer and load micro-grid system. Figure 4(b) and 4(c) show the power
are obtained from the utility company, Newfoundland Power. contribution by the two generation units into the micro-gird,
Simulations for three operational modes (Fig. 2) are while assuming only one wind turbine is in operation in the
performed and the simulation results are presented in the WPGS after t=5 seconds. As HGU is the firm power generation
following sections. The measurements presented in the system, it is decided to operate the HGU during the entire
simulation results are in per unit, while the base power is 27 operation. However, the operation of WPGS with one or more
MVA. The simulation was performed for a 60 seconds interval. wind turbines is decided based on load demand. Voltage at
The wind speed model [22] is used as the wind profile for the bus 1 is shown in Figure-4(d) which decreases after grid
wind turbine rotor. WPGS with no output power represents the disconnection. This indicates the lack of sufficient reactive
lack of sufficient wind velocity to generate electric power. The power in the micro-grid system, which was actually supplied by
grid is isolated from the system at t=5 seconds because of a the grid in the grid connected mode. More than one wind
fault or regular maintenance in the transmission systems. turbine operating in the WPGS will deliver more active power
The fault in the grid transmission systems (unintentional in the micro-grid system than the load demand. In such
islanding) or their regular maintenance (intentional islanding) case, the reactive power demand will also increase in the
is simulated using a three phase circuit breaker with specific micro-grid system which results in more reduction in voltage
time settings. level at different locations in the micro-grid system.

A. Mode-I: Grid connected mode C. Mode-III: Isolated system without wind power generation
The simulation results for Mode-I are represented in The system operation follows the Mode-I until t=5
Figures 3(a- d), while WPGS and HGU are connected to seconds. However, at t=5 seconds, the grid is isolated from
the grid. No initial transient indicates the steady-state operation the system.
of the system in grid connected mode. Figure 3(a) shows the
wind speed profile provided into the wind turbine rotor. Figure
3(c) and 3(b) show the generated power by the HGU, and by
the WPGS, while nine wind turbines are in operation. The
output of the WPGS varies due to the wind speed variation.
Figure 3(d) represents the voltage at bus 1 which is in its rated
value. These results indicate that the operation of the HGU and
WPGS in grid connected mode is dictated by the grid with
the expected system voltages and frequency set by the grid.

Fig. 4. (a) Micro-grid frequency (Hz), (b) WPGS output

power, (c) HGU output power, (d) Voltage at bus 1

Concurrently, the WPGS has no output power as there is

insufficient wind resource to produce electricity. This mode of
operation is simulated, and the results are shown in Figure 5(a-d).
Figure 5(a) shows the micro-grid frequency, which is not
Fig. 3 (a) Wind speed profile, (b) WPGS output power, (c) tolerable by the system. This also indicates that the power
HGU output power, (d) Voltage at bus 1 generation and consumption in micro-grid system is not
balanced. Figure 5(c) shows the HGU output power and the
B. Mode-II: Isolated system with wind power generation zero output power from the WPGS is shown in Figure 5(b).
The system operation follows the Mode-I until t=5 The voltage level at bus 1 is shown in Figure 5(d) which is
seconds. much lower than its rated value.
After t=5 seconds, the grid is isolated from the system. This indicates the requirement for reactive power in the
Figure micro-grid system. As the WPGS is not able to deliver power
4(a) shows the micro-grid frequency, which is not in an (Fig. 5(b)) after t=5 seconds due to the lack of sufficient wind,
acceptable range for the micro-grid operation. This indicates that

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ISSN 2250-3153

the requirement of additional power from a reliable storage monitoring system is also required to monitor micro-grid system
system is essential. state and decide the necessary control action for an operational
Based on simulation results, the issues related to micro-grid mode. The required control schemes development for the
operation of the system under investigation can be summarized proposed micro-grid system is currently under investigation by
as: the authors.
• Active power imbalance and/or variation occurs in
isolated micro-grid mode when wind power is available. A VII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
control scheme is required to maintain active power balance by This work is supported by a research grant from the
storing or dumping surplus power. Motor-pump sets can be used National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of
to pump water using surplus power. However, a dump load is Canada, the Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF) Canada, and
required to achieve better accuracy in power-frequency balance. Memorial Univer- sity of Newfoundland. The author also would
• Active power imbalance will occur between generation like to acknowledge the utility company, Newfoundland Power,
units and loads when wind power is not available in Canada for providing system data and information presented in
isolated micro- grid mode. A suitable storage system along with this paper.
a control scheme is required to maintain power-frequency
balance.
• Reactive power is required during isolated micro-grid
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