Real-Time Distributed Control of Low-Voltage Grids With Dynamic Optimal Power Dispatch of Renewable Energy Sources

An optimal approach to power dispatch is introduced, which combines the flexibility of distributed control with online calculation of dynamic power flow. For this purpose, an efficient linear approximation of power flow is integrated into a model predictive control framework. A distributed operation strategy is developed to indirectly control the nodal voltages as well as to determine the optimal dispatch of renewable energy generation and storage in real time. The efficiency of the approximated power flow is assessed by simulation using a realistic 40 node rural power grid. Finally, the feasibility of the distributed control is demonstrated in a real-time implementation by experimental results obtained from a hardware grid.