Renewable energy utilization using low power microgrid system

Abstract

The rising concerns over the environmental impacts of conventional power plants pave the way for better utilization of renewable energy sources. The smarter networks like microgrids fed with renewable sources are being employed across the globe. Compared to conventional power plants, Microgrid operations are eco-friendly and better quality power is delivered to the consumers. But the increased penetration of these microgrids weakens the overall power system inertia which declines the power system stability. This paper presents a low power microgrid system to solve this problem. In contrast with usual microgrids, the proposed microgrid operates in islanded mode during normal operating conditions. It is operated in grid connected mode only when the output from renewable sources is insufficient for meeting the load demand. Better utilization of renewable energies with minimal stability impacts can be achieved with the proposed scheme.