Cooperative control of smart micro-grids based on conservative power commands

Smart micro-grids offer a new and wide application domain for power electronics. In fact, every distributed energy resource (DER) includes an electronic power processor (EPP) capable to control the active and reactive power flow from/to the distribution grid. If such EPPs perform cooperatively, they have the capability to fully exploit every local energy source while improving both power quality and distribution efficiency. This is of particular relevance in low-voltage residential micro-grids, where a plethora of small DERs may be active at the same time and the co-ordination of their operation can greatly improve the micro-grid performance. A simple and effective solution to achieve cooperative operation of EPPs is described in the paper. It makes use of a control method which requires power data exchange within the micro-grid and provides quasi-minimum distribution losses and local voltage support.