Flexible Distribution of Energy and Storage Resources: Integrating These Resources into a Microgrid

Industrial power systems in the mining and metal industries typically comprise several large and fluctuating loads, such as crushers, excavators, shovels, and steel mills. Flexible distribution of energy and storage resources (FDERS) is a proposed new framework for reliably regulating the quickly varying loads supplied by a network of multiple smaller-rated distributed energy resources (DERs), especially when power from the main grid is not available. It was inspired by the cooperative V-shape formation of flocks of birds and the peloton/echelon formation of cycling racing teams for extending their endurance limits. Similar ideas applied to integrating DERs can extend sustainability through increased resource lifetime, optimal energy storage deployment, enhanced controllability, and improved system robustness.