An online cooperative control strategy for enhancing microgrid participation into electricity market

This paper develops a cooperative control methodology for the online energy management of grid-connected microgrids. The main aim of this methodology is to actively manage the active power outputs of all dispatchable energy sources available within the microgrid as well as the power exchanged with the utility grid so as to match the total load demand at the minimum operating cost. This implies to solve a constrained multi-objective dynamic optimization problem aimed at minimizing the total microgrid operating costs and ensuring the real-time balance within the microgrid in compliance with its technical-operational constraints. Lyapunov's theorem using sensitivity theory is adopted to solve this optimization. To test the performances of the proposed control methodology, several computer simulations corresponding to different operating scenarios have been conducted on the PrInCE Lab experimental microgrid built at the Polytechnic University of Bari.