Control and Energy Management System in Microgrids

TL;DR

This paper discusses the role of control and energy management systems in microgrids, highlighting their potential to transform energy infrastructure and addressing open questions about economic and operational evaluation.

Contribution

It provides an overview of modern microgrid control and energy management systems, emphasizing their importance and the need for systematic evaluation of benefits and costs.

Findings

Microgrids enable integration of distributed energy resources.

Control systems improve microgrid reliability and efficiency.

Economic evaluation remains an open research area.

Abstract

As a cutting-edge technology, microgrids feature intelligent EMSs and sophisticated control, which will dramatically change our energy infrastructure. The modern microgrids are a relatively recent development with high potential to bring distributed generation, DES devices, controllable loads, communication infrastructure, and many new technologies into the mainstream. As a more controllable and intelligent entity, a microgrid has more growth potential than ever before. However, there are still many open questions, such as the future business models and economics. What is the cost-benefit to the end-user? How should we systematically evaluate the potential benefits and costs of control and energy management in a microgrid?