Power management and optimization concept for DC microgrids

This paper presents a power management concept for DC microgrids where the DC bus voltage is used as the mean of communications between the microgrid components. It is proposed that the energy storage system always controls the DC bus voltage independently of the microgrid mode of operation and sets its value based on power and energy management rules to activate responses from the other components. The proposed concept will eliminate time critical control mode changes resulting from grid disturbances or energy management conditions. Furthermore, the concept enables the use of individual and flexible generation and consumption patterns for each component in the microgrid that can be set to minimize the operating cost of the installation.