Microgrid System Reliability

This chapter presents the reliability evaluation of a microgrid system considering the intermittency effect of renewable energy sources such as wind. One of the main objectives of constructing a microgrid system is to ensure reliable power supply to loads in the microgrid. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate the reliability of power generation of the microgrid under various uncertainties. This is due to the stochastically varying wind speed and change in microgrid operational modes which are the major factors to influence the generating capacity of the individual generating unit in the microgrid. Reliability models of various subsystems of a 3-MW wind generation system are developed. The impact of stochastically varying wind speed to generate power by the wind turbine system is accounted in developing sub-system reliability model. A microgrid system reliability (MSR) model is developed by integrating the reliability models of wind turbine systems using the system reliability concept. A Monte Carlo simulation technique is utilized to implement the developed reliability models of wind generation and microgrid systems in a Matlab environment. The investigation reveals that maximizing the use of wind generation systems and storage units increases the reliability of power generation of the proposed microgrid system in different operating modes.