Optimal Separation Method of Dynamic Microgrid Operation

The penetration of distributed generation (DG) into the electricity supply mix has increased at the distribution level. The DG size is typically smaller than that of centralized power plants, and thereby the DG is generally decentralized. Thus, this has complicated DG's connection requirements in the grid codes worldwide and brought difficulties in deploying renewable generation. Thus, the paradigm shift at the distribution level brought the concept of microgrids (MG) to reduce the DG's effect on a whole power system. Due to the significant growth of the DG, there has been a need for a methodology to manage MGs to operate MGs optimally and reduce system impact. This paper proposes an optimal separation method of a distribution network consisting of multiple MGs to enable the MGs to respond to unexpected disturbances optimally. To achieve this, the authors enhance a conventional MG-partitioning algorithm by considering supply-demand balance and the minimum number of dispatchable generators in individual MGs. The proposed algorithm's performance was tested using a modified IEEE 33-bus radial distribution system and indicates that the proposed algorithm gains more advantages than the original k-way partitioning scheme.