Lessons learned from microgrid implementation at electric utility

In recent years, the topic of microgrids has become one of the most commonly debated issues at numerous conferences. Microgrids gained even more traction after hurricanes Harvey and Irma knocked out the power to almost 10 million people in southeast US. The development and advances in technology, communications and distributed intelligence during the last decade have enabled the creation of microgrid test beds, that utilize distributed generation (DG) sources such as solar or wind farms, diesel or natural gas generators, batteries, fuel cells, combined heat and power (CHP) and others. Since 2015, Duke Energy's Emerging Technologies Office has engineered, developed, installed, and commissioned three phases of its Mount Holly microgrid in North Carolina, with the main objective of trying to understand and investigate the engineering challenges of design, construction, commissioning and maintenance and operation of the microgrid, along with the development of distributed intelligence platform capabilities associated with microgrid control. This paper reflects the lessons learned from the implementation and operation of Mount Holly microgrid at Duke Energy.