Development of a Controller Hardware-in-the-Loop Platform for Microgrid Distributed Control Applications

Microgrids (MGs) are ideally suited for distributed control solutions. However, implementation and validation of the developed distributed control algorithms are quite challenging. In this paper we propose a Controller Hardware-in-the-Loop (CHIL) platform for MG distributed control applications that satisfy the requirements of IEEE Std. 2030.7 for MG control systems. We describe two main features of the proposed platform: 1) a software platform that enables the implementation of control algorithms that have been developed analytically and 2) a real-time MG testbed that replicates practical MG operation environment by using real-time communication network and grid solutions. Implementation and validation of a distributed MG synchronization operation control strategy are used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed CHIL platform.