Coupling Adjacent Microgrids and Cluster Formation Under a Look-Ahead Approach Reassuring Optimal Operation and Satisfactory Voltage and Frequency

Microgrids (MGs) are promising approaches to proliferate distributed energy resources for electrification in remote areas. However, to deal with the uncertainties of renewables and energy demand, special measures are required. Energy storages, controllable loads and reconfigurable networks are some of those measures that improve MGs’ flexibility. Another alternative is temporarily coupling the adjacent MGs to support each other and form coupled MGs (CMGs). This paper proposes a look-ahead technique to form CMGs while reassuring the optimal performance of all MGs. Preserving the voltage and frequency of each MG is also another key objective. The proposed optimization approach tries to solve the voltage/frequency problem by forming the CMGs when the local actions (such as energy storages) are inadequate or cost-ineffective. The proposed technique considers the operational cost, technical and environmental aspects, reliability and losses in the CMG formation. This technique is general and can be used for complex topologies and also to form multiple CMGs if deemed more suitable. The performance of the developed technique is validated through extensive numerical analyses in MATLAB.