Frequency-Based Decentralized Conservation Voltage Reduction Incorporated Into Voltage-Current Droop Control for an Inverter-Based Islanded Microgrid

Conservation voltage reduction (CVR) aims to decrease load demands by regulating bus voltages at a low level. This paper proposes a new strategy for decentralized CVR (DCVR), incorporated into the current-based droop control of inverter-interfaced distributed energy resources (IDERs), to improve the operational reliability of an islanded microgrid. An I
_dq
controller is developed as an outer feedback controller for each IDER, consisting of Id-V controllers for the DCVR and I
_d
-ω and I
_q
-V controllers for power sharing. In particular, the I
_d
-V controllers adjust the output voltages of the IDERs in proportion to the frequency variation determined by the I
_d
-ω controllers. This enables the output voltages to be reduced by the same amount, without communication between the IDERs. The I
_q
-V controllers are responsible for reactive power sharing by adjusting the voltages while taking into account the Id-V controllers. Small-signal analysis is used to verify the performance of the proposed DCVR with variation in the I
_d
-ω and Iq-V droop gains. Case studies are also carried out to demonstrate that the DCVR effectively mitigates an increase in the load demand, improving the operational reliability, under various load conditions determined by power factors and load compositions.