Optimal planning and operation of microgrids

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Pressing environmental issues, security of energy supply sites, and nuclear power safety concerns drive research and development towards renewable energy sources (RES) worldwide. A key attribute of RES, such as wind and solar resources, is intermittency. RES are not dispatchable, they exhibit large fluctuations, and are uncertain. Means of coping with RES intermittency include coordinated combination of different sources (leveraging e.g., the complementarity of solar and wind sources), and the control of distributed resources (energy storage, programmable loads, and smart appliances). In this context, the scope of this research proposal is to bring solutions for integrating renewables into the current power system by providing the technological breakthroughs to satisfy electrical loads in a reliable yet unsupervised manner. This proposal addresses two main themes: a) Development of advanced control and integration strategies for a single microgrid and b) Optimal planning of microgrids on a region of interest. The developed control strategies will be implemented on the existing microgrid system in Sarnia, Ontario. The proposed approach has the potential to significantly advance and transform the approaches for bringing renewables to the neighbourhood level by bridging the optimal planing and operation of microgrids.