Configuration, modelling and control of a microgrid for commercial buildings application

Distributed generation with a high penetration of renewable energies has been presented as an alternative for traditional centralized power plants. This distributed generation can be managed by means of microgrids. The microgrid concept can be extended to commercial and residential buildings, where there exist growing opportunities in energy saving and market profit for stakeholders. The aim of this paper is to present an overview of a microgrid for commercial buildings, with integrated control of thermal and electrical aspects, as well as to describe each of the electrical power sources, including a small-signal state-space representation and the control structure of each of the generators. The generators described in this paper are a small permanent magnet wind turbine, a storage unit based on a Li-Ion battery and a combined heat and power (CHP) based on a gas reciprocating engine connected to a synchronous generator.