Master/Slave Power-Based Control of Low-Voltage Microgrids

The chapter deals with the control of low-voltage microgrids with master/slave architecture, where distributed energy resources (DERs) interface to the grid by means of conventional current-driven inverters (Energy Gateways EGs, slave units), and a voltagedriven grid-interactive inverter (Utility Interface UI, master unit) governs the interaction between the utility and the microgrid at their point of common coupling. The active and reactive power sharing among EGs and UI is achieved by the power-based control, a technique which pursues both local (DER level) and global (microgrid level) optimization goals. Its implementation is flexible, scalable, and requires asynchronous communication infrastructure with limited bit rate.