Demand-Side Management of Self-Sustained Droop Based Standalone Microgrid Using Conservation Voltage Reduction Strategy

Self-sustained microgrid (MG) carries the potential to replicate a conventional grid network with a smooth and robust control scheme to generate and disseminate power with the integration of diverse renewable sources by employing the voltage source inverter (VSI). The power generation capability is the primary function of VSI in an inverter-based distributed generation (DG). In addition, it is also operated to perform the task of demand-side management with the utilization of the conservation voltage reduction (CVR) strategy. In a conventional distribution network, the CVR strategy is exploited by voltage deduction within permissible range with the support of open-loop schemes, such as tap changers, capacitors, or close-loop schemes, such as supervisory control and data acquisition system. However, the CVR's applicability in a standalone MG is still a viable approach to be delved into and hence, this article intends to employ CVR by utilizing the conventional P-f droop and V-I droop principle in inverter-based DG. The proposed strategy produces voltage compensation according to the degree of voltage or frequency variation and therefore, the degree of voltage reduction is not fixed but it varies with the disturbance. The proposed control mechanism relies on the deviation of the voltage generated by the V-I droop and frequency output provided by the P-f droop during the overloading and peak demand condition. In addition to it, a control methodology is devised to check the coordination between CVR and load shedding strategy to shed load during overloading conditions. The performance testing of the proposed control methodology is being validated through real-time Opal-RT device.