An Optimal Mix of Wind and Solar Power Plants in a Microgrid

Introduction

One of the ways for wind and solar power plant integration in power system could be established through microgrid concept. Microgrids, being organized as a one functional entity, provide the possibility of local optimization of renewable energy production as a way to tackle large scale wind and solar power plant integration issues.

Approach

A methodology for optimization of installed capacity of wind and solar power plants in a microgrid is developed. Two different approaches are considered: with and without demand side management. The optimization criterion is the minimization of energy transfer rate between electrical power system and connected microgrid.

Main body of abstract

Intermittent renewable energy sources (RES), like solar and wind power plants, significantly affect the performance of electrical power system (EPS) regarding its voltage profile, power losses and required level of system operating reserves. Their influence is the result of combined distributed renewable generation and load profile of the consumers connected to EPS. Time dependent load diagrams and weather conditions of the available solar and wind resources are independent of one another. In this article time dependent RES generation and load profiles have been statistically analyzed and the conditions under which these profiles are maximally correlated are considered with one year time horizon, so as to achieve their best compatibility. Hence, the power system is observed as a collection of microgrids, which are mutually independent functional entities regarding RES integration. Each of these microgrids has specific characteristics regarding availability of renewable energy sources, as well as load demand, so it represents an optimization space independent of the rest of the power system.

Conclusion

A methodology for optimization of total rated capacity and individual share of solar and wind power plants to achieve maximum compatibility of renewable energy generation with load demand in considering microgrid has been developed. The possibility of load control in the microgrid as a way of additional RES hosting capacity improvement has been analyzed. The obtained results are all verified on real microgrid and measurement data about solar insolation and wind speed.


Learning objectives
This paper introduces an approach for maximization of RES hosting capacity and power system performance in the setting of large scale wind and solar power plant integration.