Aggregate load-frequency control of a wind-hydro autonomous microgrid

This paper presents an aggregate load-frequency controller for an autonomous microgrid (MG) with wind and hydro renewable energy sources. A micro-hydro power plant with a synchronous generator (SG) and a wind power plant with an induction generator (IG) supply the MG. Both generators directly feed power into the grid without the use of additional power electronics interfaces, thus the solution becoming robust, reliable and cost-effective. An original electronic load controller (ELC) regulates the MG frequency by a centralized load-frequency control method, which is based on a combination of smart load (SL) and battery energy storage system (BESS). SL and BESS provides the active power balance for various events that such systems encounter in real situations, both in cases of energy excess production and energy shortage. Moreover, the proposed ELC includes an ancillary function to compensate the power unbalance produced by the uneven distribution of the single-phase loads on the MG phases, without the use of extra hardware components. A laboratory-scale prototype is used for experimentally assessment of the proposed solutions. The experimental results emphasize the effectiveness of the ELC while also showing its limitations.