Performance evaluation of PI and PI-PSO in improving power quality of an autonomous microgrid

To achieve optimum quality of power in an autonomous microgrid (MG), a control strategy based on the self-tuning method and synchronous reference frame with PI controller is proposed. In the proposed system, fixed gain values were used for PI controller which are not appropriate for sudden changes in the system i.e. transition of MG to islanding mode, load changes, etc. For tuning of PI controller parameters, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is utilized to get an adaptable operation and to accomplish better power quality. The principal parameters considered here are, regulation of voltage and frequency, steady-state and dynamic response and harmonic distortion, mainly when microgrid is islanded. The performance of PI and PI-PSO is compared in this paper by simulating AC microgrid in MATLAB/Simulink environment. Detailed results of the system are provided in order to authenticate viability of proposed arrangement.