Microgrid Infrastructure Modeling for Residential Microgrids

Utility system vulnerabilities to multiple failures and the potential for such failures will increase as demand grows, utility plants are forced to add units at suboptimum locations, and transmission capacity lags the population growth. Microgrids have the advantage of allowing better recovery from disasters as well as to boost utility system performance. By being placed close to the load, the microgrid can be switched into and out of the transmission system. It can also operate independently from the rest of the system for a period of time. This affects the workflow of the disaster recovery and can also alter the economic impact to the utility and the utility's customers. Modeling these system interactions in terms of case study examples demonstrates the potential benefits of using microgrids to improve power delivery and expansion of utility grids within urban areas and the methods of implementing them.