Managing Microgrids: Variable Energy Integration and Distribution [Book Reviews]

Microgrid Dynamics and Control By Hassan Bevrani, Bruno Francois, and Toshifumi Ise Utilities around the world are gradually moving toward distributed renewable energy sources to reduce their carbon footprints and meet energy demands. Microgrids offer an efficient way to in tegrate renewable variable energy sources into the grid and address local reliability concerns. The increased use of distributed variable energy resources and a changing electric market can stress transmission systems. It is becoming necessary to account for system changes that result from the following factors: ✔ growth in utilizing variable energy resources, such as wind and solar ✔ flow pattern changes and bidirectional flows on certain paths ✔ system maintenance work compressed into a few months, which minimizes adverse market impacts while continuing to avoid power outages during critical operational periods ✔ restrictions due to deratings and the replacement of aging infrastructure ✔ steadily increasing energy transfers as power is bought and sold to meet load, especially during periods of fuel scarcity or major price differences between systems ✔ f luctuating demand that requires an increased response and additional distributed energy resources ✔ retiring old generation facilities that are located close to load centers. Microgrids are the building blocks of smart grids. They can provide solutions to some major system problems and defer the need for large-scale system and distribution-system capital improvements. The load, generation, and storage components are very close to each other in a microgrid, which further reduces operating expenses by decreasing the use of, and associated losses from, the transmission system. A properly designed microgrid also greatly improves reliability. However, engineers must first have the ability to study microgrids and integrate them with the overall system. Microgrid Dynamics and Control is required reading for anyone interested in comprehensively learning about all aspects of microgrid modeling, operation, and control. This book covers the modeling of different equipment used in the microgrid and the controls required to operate the system reliably. It begins with a discussion of the modeling of renewable energy sources, including solar, wind, hydro, biofuel, and geothermal, and then shifts to cover the fundamentals of primary and secondary control mechanisms. The interconnected and isolated operating modes of a microgrid are also fully addressed. Modeling concepts that are required for interconnecting the main grid with the microgrid are discussed as well as simulation results. Stability equations used to assess dynamic performance and an efficient approach to hierarchical control are presented. DC micogrids have recently become a major area of interest to electric bo ok re vi ew s