Date of Award

6-2022

Document Type

Open Access

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Electrical Engineering

First Advisor

Luke Dosiek

Keywords

Microgrids, Simulink, Phasor Domain, Stability, Energy Storage, Load Flow Analysis, Batteries, Flywheels, PV, Wind Turbine

Abstract

Microgrids are a hot topic in industry at the moment due to their ability to help integrate renewables into the national grid. However, they are mainly used in urban settings, despite the stability benefits they could provide to rural communities. This research aims to help expand microgrids into a rural context by building a streamlined, phasor-domain model of a microgrid in MATLAB-Simulink’s toolbox Simscape Electrical and using it to evaluate three energy storage options: a national grid connection, battery, and flywheel. My capstone involved testing models of these three solutions by subjecting my overall microgrid to faults typical of a rural setting. The design requirements for this project were split into two parts. First were the simulation specifications for the overall model, which had to accurately simulate the critical components of a microgrid: traditional diesel generation, wind and solar generation, a connection to the national grid, electrical load, and of course some form of energy storage. Second were the performance requirements for power service and quality, which were evaluated for a variety of fault scenarios and at each important element of the microgrid model. These included measures of power factor and microgrid voltage, voltage angle, and frequency. Both simulation and performance metrics were evaluated through direct observation of simulation output through scopes. It was found that my model was an accurate portrayal of the phasor-domain, power-flow behavior of all three types of energy storage and a general microgrid. In this same domain, all three types of energy storage performed similarly and were superior to having no energy storage at all. There were some issues with the phasor domain limiting the scope of my simulation, especially with the flywheel model. These limitations did not prevent me from reaching meaningful results, and they also provide ample opportunities for future work on real-time simulation and additional energy storage types.

Comments

See additional files for MATLAB simulation.

Additional Files
PennockCAppendix3_AdditionalFiles.zip (1756 kB)
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Rights Statement

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted.