A procedure for evaluating microgrids technical and economic feasibility issues

Microgrids exploitation is one of the most useful and efficient ways of integrating Distribution Generation (DG) technologies. Microgrids allow to realize a coordinate control of different DG facilities, and to provide proper control strategies to the distribution grid. In this paper, economical involvements affecting decisions of realization of microgrids are assessed. Furthermore, a procedure for economical evaluation of microgrids is proposed, aiming to minimize costs in the presence of different constraints. The procedure is applied to a test system representing a cluster of residential final users and services, and various cases are analyzed, in order to account for different choices for energy supply.