A holistic model-less approach for the optimal real-time control of power electronics-dominated AC microgrids

Abstract

This paper addresses the problem of optimally operating a set of grid-forming devices in an AC microgrid when a detailed network model is not available. The main aim of the approach is to maximize the power sharing of the controllable grid-forming devices and to maintain the frequency and the nodal voltages of the microgrid as close as possible to their corresponding references. The proposed control architecture is conformed by a local control layer in each grid-forming device that intends to emulate the performance of a synchronous machine and a centralized secondary controller composed of two complementary tools that coordinates the setpoints of the grid-forming devices: an online feedback optimization algorithm and an automatic generation control. The proposed method has been validated through simulations and hardware-in-the-loop tests, evidencing its good performance and robustness under different conditions.