A fully distributed active power control method with minimum generation cost in grid-connected microgrids

Microgrids are always connected to utility grid and the grid connection code must be satisfied. Therefore, it´s necessary to control the exchanged active power between microgrids and utility grid on point of common coupling (PCC) by regulating distributed resources (DERs). In this paper, this control problem is formulated firstly. Then a distributed method is proposed to solve this problem with minimum generation cost, which is based on consensus algorithm and no central coordinator is needed. To speed up the power control process, control signals updated with latest local measurements are executed in each iteration step instead of a consensus achieved. Numerical tests are given to illustrate validity and good performance of the proposed method by a comparison to a centralized method. Besides, applicability of the method is also discussed under the condition of communication delays.