Optimal power flow in microgrids using event-triggered optimization

Microgrids usually have limited power generation capacity, and are networked together to meet the small area´s load demand in a cooperative way. This paper considers using an event-triggered distributed optimization algorithm to solve the optimal power flow (OPF) problem in microgrids. Under event-triggering, each subsystem broadcasts its state to its neighbors when a local error signal exceeds a state dependent threshold. We develop an event-triggered distributed optimization algorithm for the OPF problem and proves its convergence. Simulations are done for the CERTS microgrid model using MATLAB/SimPower. Preliminary simulation results show that our algorithm solves the OPF problem in a distributed way with relatively infrequent communication between neighboring subsystems. This greatly relaxes the requirement on a highly reliable communication system in existing OPF algorithms.