The importance of model fidelity, update rate and horizon length in model based microgrid control

Abstract

In order to maximize the effectiveness of microgrids sophisticated control strategies are required. In this paper we investigate the performance of a model based power flow optimization controller for a grid connected microgrid consisting of; solar PV, battery storage, thermal generation, and a local electrical load. The controller is based on a mixed integer linear program (MILP) applied in a model predictive control framework (MPC). In the MPC problem formulation there are two design parameters that need to be considered, the update rate of the controller and the number of steps considered in the on-line optimisation problem. Previous work by the authors has demonstrated that the former is..