Decentralized Goal Function-Based Control of DGSs in Microgrid Applications

Control structures governing distributed generation sources (DGSs), utilized in microgrids, have to provide several important functionalities and generally secure stable network operation. The large majority of these control structures are based either on droop (or droop-derived) or other, more advanced, control paradigms. The former are overly simplistic and necessitate control layerization and many extensions for the overall control structure to be applicable in the general case. The latter are either too complex or application-specific, rendering them unfit to be adopted as a general tool for controlling DGSs in microgrids. The control scheme derived in this paper is based on a goal function that simultaneously secures safe and stable operation, respecting voltage amplitude and frequency limits, and precise active power exchange. As such, the proposed control scheme integrates what is traditionally called primary and secondary control of microgrids and enables reliable peer-to-peer power exchange. The control scheme was tested using simulation tools and together with the simulation results, a performance analysis is provided.