Voltage and frequency regulation based DG unit in an autonomous microgrid operation using Particle Swarm Optimization

This paper presents an optimal power control strategy, for an inverter based Distributed Generation (DG) unit, in an autonomous microgrid operation based on real-time self-tuning method. This research seeks to improve the quality of power supplied by DG units connected to the grid. Voltage and frequency regulation, dynamic response, steady-state response, and harmonic distortion are the main performance parameters considered, particularly when the microgrid is islanded or under the load change condition. The controller scheme comprises an inner current control loop and an outer power control loop based on a synchronous reference frame and conventional PI regulators. The power controller is designed for voltage-frequency (Vf) power control mode. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is an intelligent searching algorithm that is applied for real-time self-tuning of the power control parameters. In this paper, the proposed strategy is that when the microgrid is islanded or under load change condition, the DG unit adopts the Vf control mode in order to regulate the system voltage and frequency. The simulation results show that the proposed controller provided an excellent response to satisfy the power quality requirements and proved the validity of the proposed strategy. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.