Game-Theoretic Control of Active Loads in DC Microgrids

Low-inertia dc microgrids often rely on storage devices to buffer energy and handle abrupt load changes. An alternative approach involves the concept of power buffers, power electronics converters with bulky storage components that precede the final point-of-load converters, and decouple the grid and load dynamics. Proper adjustment of the input impedances of power buffers helps to shape the trajectory of the transient imposed on a dc microgrid. A communication network facilitates information exchange among active loads (loads augmented with power buffers). Such group information helps to collectively respond to any load change; an optimal response with the least energy extract from individual buffers. A game-theoretic performance function is defined for active loads. Then, a distributed control policy simultaneously minimizes all performance functions. A low-voltage dc microgrid, simulated in MATLAB/Simulink environment, is used to study the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.