Reliable and affordable power supply with new microgrid solutions

48 Z REE N°2/2017 LES MICROGRIDSDOSSIER 1 Introduction: advancements in microgrid solutions over 25 years Microgrids include several genera- tors and loads that are operated in a controlled, coordinated way and are either connected to the main grid or operate off-grid. The first pioneering microgrids were taken into operation in the 1990´s. They started to stabilize the grid with adequate control systems when connecting wind turbines to existing Diesel generators on islands – at that time with a focus on Greek islands in Europe and in remote areas in Australia. Microgrid control systems Australian pioneers – then at the PowerCorp company that has become part of ABB in 2011 – developed micro- grid control systems to add high shares of the wind and solar energy to Diesel gene- rators and keep high power quality. First applications were islands and remote off- grid communities all over the world. Since then, in the last 25 years, the team has further developed sophistica- ted microgrid control algorithms, mostly with centralized control algorithms at that time. Based on technology development, the team partnered with power conver- sion system providers to develop the “Power