Scalability and Replicability Analysis of an Island Microgrid Concept

Abstract

The evolution in the electrical power network has seen various changes where historical characteristics of centralized generation, fixed loads and uniform power flow have transformed into systems which are decentralized, controllable and facilitate bi-directional power flow. The increase in distributed energy resources (DERs) allow for the increase in microgrid solutions to be implemented in order to ensure uninterruptible supply solutions in areas where system reliability poses as a challenge. This includes electrification of rural networks and islanding solutions where the implementation of highly intrusive electrical infrastructure is not technically feasible or economically justifiable. This paper investigates the potential scalability and replicability effects on the system architecture concept of an island microgrid based on renewable energy resources (RES), battery storage and demand side management (DSM) in order to provide a self-sufficient islanding system. This scalability and replicability analysis (SRA) is done within the InterFlex project. The main objective of the SRA is to scale the microgrid system in order to achieve a theoretical minimum islanding duration of 21 consecutive days based on the existing boundary conditions imposed on the French islands of Lérins. This is achieved through the simulation of the behavior of the network model when these parameters are ‘stressed’. Thereafter, the analysis combines the results to provide a proposed solution based on a worst-case analysis. The paper also investigates the possibility of developing a business model based on the amount of additional flexibility which is available whilst ensuring that the 21 days of islanding duration is sustained. Seasonality is also included in order to observe the dependency of the system variations throughout the year. The results obtained showed that an islanding duration of 21 days is theoretically possible using the well-sized assets. However, the overall system (PV + storage systems) would likely be too cumbersome to be installed on the islands, even with the inclusion of a DSM techniques.