A Robust Energy Management Controller for Microgrid Operations Considering Generator's Feasibility and Energy Trading.

For microgrid operations under uncertain environments, the authors have developed the robust energy management controller named REMC that provides advanced supply and demand control by using controllable generators, battery energy storage systems (BESSs), and useful information such as variable renewable energies (VREs) predictions and its confidence intervals. The REMC has the following functions for microgrid operations: (i) simple and reliable VRE/load forecast, (ii) day-ahead generation schedules based on the prediction errors, (iii) real-time generation operation using the feasible regions, and (iv) model predictive based load frequency control, etc. In this paper, first, the authors focus on the function (iii) for MG operation and propose a novel method for checking the generator’s feasible operation regions that effectively treat the uncertainties in a MG. The proposed method enables robust operational monitoring of MG considering the uncertainties. Secondary, operational economics of the MG are focused to consider the sustainability of the community. Here, the authors developed an electricity market simulator that can simulate the reasonable clearing process, incorporating the characteristics of various power producers in the MG under the uncertainties. The proposed scheme realizes to evaluate the MG’s system operation considering both generator’s feasibility and MG’s social welfare for sustainable energy system.