Isolated and Interconnected Multi-Area Hybrid Power Systems: A Review on Control Strategies

Concerned with the increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to fossil fuels, the entire world is focusing on electricity generation through renewable energy resources. The most advantageous aspect of the distributed renewable sources is to provide the electricity to remote, scattered and the deprived rural areas by developing the hybrid power system at the smaller scale where power transmission through grid extension is not viable due to some economical, technical or environmental constraints for building new transmission lines. An accurate and adequate control strategy becomes inevitable to uphold the smooth operation by restraining the frequency and voltage deviation within its limit ensuring the highest degree of reliability of hybrid power system to provide an adequate power quality. In this paper, a comprehensive review of different control strategies adopted in isolated and interconnected multi-area hybrid power systems is presented.

Optimal load dispatch strategies for a hybrid system using renewable energy sources

Recently, the idea of hybrid power systems (HES) has attracted interest for the electrification of isolated or energy efficient areas. This document examines the modelling and optimal dimensions of a hybrid microgrid using different dispatch strategies. The sizing of the HES components such as Photovoltaic panels, Batteries, Inverter, a Diesel generator has been optimized by three strategies: (i) load tracking, (ii) cycle load, and (iii) combined dispatch. The location of the case study is in a rural community in Ecuador whose load profile is 17 kW. By utilizing HOMER software, optimization for the HES was achieved with the Combined Dispatch strategy (CD) which presented the minimum levels in the net annual cost (NPC), initial capital, levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of $ 90,073.10, $ 21,208 and $ 0.2016 / kWh, respectively. The conclusions offer a guide to consider the resources and generation combination essential for the optimal operation of an island microgrid with different dispatch scenarios.