Real-time performance enhancement of battery energy storage system in sustainable microgrids using Harris Hawks Optimization

This article presents a novel control strategy for optimizing real-time battery energy storage system (BESS) performance in microgrids. The primary objective is to enhance power-sharing and improve energy management under the uncertainty of renewable energy sources (RES) and load fluctuations. Microgrids with BESS have the potential to enhance the performance metrics of electricity systems, including resilience and sustainability. To achieve this, a rate limiter is employed instead of a conventional low-pass filter (LPF) to ensure seamless BESS discharge and improved power balance among the Microgrid sources. This approach mitigates the challenges associated with unintentional cut-off frequency selection and enhances system stability. However, determining the optimal rate limiter value is crucial, as it significantly impacts BESS reliability and efficiency. To address this, a Harris Hawks optimization (HHO) is proposed to track the reference current of the rate limiter precisely to overcome the problems associated with conventional controllers arising from uncertainties due to system nonlinearities. The proposed method is validated through MATLAB®/Simulink simulations and real-time implementation using a WAVECT® WUC 300 FPGA digital controller. The comparative analysis demonstrates that the HHO-based control strategy effectively reduces voltage overshoots below 5 V and settling time to 0.01 s during uncertainty RES scenarios. Experimental results further validate the superior performance of the proposed controller in dynamic energy management and power-sharing optimization.