An overview of DC microgrid operation and control

A microgrid can be defined as power cluster of distributed generation, load, and energy storage device accumulated together in the vicinity to each other. It gives opportunity to utilize renewable energy sources for green and clean environment. As the Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) are located nearby to the load, power transmission losses are minimized. The output of DERs such as PV, fuel cells is DC. In case of wind power, using power electronics devices, DC power can be obtained. The DC terminals are connected to electronic loads, electric vehicles, and batteries which form a Direct Current Microgrid. It is very important to operate and control DCMG in appropriate way to achieve more reliability, cost benefit and enhanced performance. The control objectives of DCMG are a) equal load sharing among DERs in per unit b) maintain terminal voltage constant. In this paper, an overview of literature is covered based on operation and control practices of DCMG. It can be very useful to power system engineers and researchers.