Distributed Control for Transient Stability in Microgrids
The power grid, as a whole, is composed of heterogeneous power generators and loads. In steady state, the frequency and voltage of the grid are constant, with all the power produced being consumed. If a mismatch between the produced and consumed power occurs, the system deviates from the synchronized steady state. During such transients, a control is required to maintain the network equilibrium state within a tight margin. The main goal here is transient stability. The transient stability characteristics can be improved by applying distributed communication and cooperative control. Distributed architectures are flexible, versatile, reliable and to a certain extent robust to failures of individual units. Endowing each power-generating unit with communication and computation capabilities turns it into an intelligent agent, which can implement multi-agent distributed control to achieve common goals of maintaining the voltage and frequency reference in spite of varying loads and possible failures of individual power generating units.
Your tasks
The student should work on the design of distributed control aimed at guaranteeing transient stability
(in terms of frequency) in power systems, particularly microgrids. Microgrids are technical systems
composed of diverse power generation units (often associated with renewable power sources), and
energy storage technologies which supply a group of local consumers. These systems can operate in
grid-connected mode, when connected to a functioning power-grid, and in islanded mode, when
disconnected from it. A distributed control should be designed assuming communication and physical
interconnection topology do not necessarily coincide. Finally, the candidate will assess the potential of
developed distributed control concepts and their impact on system’s stability during transients in the
direct simulative comparison with the uncontrolled use-case. A suitable candidate should have a solid
background in control theory and dynamical systems.
Further information
The work is jointly supervised by Czech Technical University in Prague (Kristian Hengster-Movric,
Ph.D, Advanced Algorithms for Control and Communication Group) and RWTH Aachen (Dr. -Ing.
Martina Josevski, Institute Automation of Complex Power Systems). Candidates participating in the
Double Degree Program (T.I.M.E) are especially encouraged to apply.