Performance enhancement of hybrid AC/DC microgrid based D-FACTS

This paper introduces a novel hybrid AC/DC microgrid design based on distribution FACTS devices. The objective of this design is to enhance the microgrid operation performance such as stabilize the buses voltage, reduce the feeder losses, improve the power factor and mitigate the harmonic distortion using the distribution FACTS devices. In the proposed design of microgrid which includes PV, fuel cell, battery, micro gas turbine, wind turbine, and diesel engine within microgrid, Switched Filter Compensator (SFC) is presented as AC-side D-FACTS device and Green Plug Filter Compensator (GPFC) is introduced as DC-side D-FACTS devices. Optimization search method based particle swarm optimization (PSO) is developed to optimize the control gains of D-FACTS controllers to achieve an effective integration of distributed energy resources technologies within MGs and to achieve higher microgrid performance. The results shown are generated from MATLAB simulation of the presented microgrid, where comparisons of with and without FACTS modules are presented in grid connected and islanding operation modes. Results show superiority and improved performance using the presented distribution FACTS. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.