Economic Model Predictive Control-Based Strategies for Cost-Effective Supervision of Community Microgrids Considering Battery Lifetime

Community-based microgrid (C-μ Grid) systems are gaining increasing importance nowadays because of the lack of μ Grid public investment and management policies. Technoeconomic analysis shows that C- μ Grid based on a cluster of microgenerators could be an effective solution when individual systems are not feasible. In this paper, the controlling capability of the central controller of the C- μ Grid is improved through an economic model predictive control (EMPC) approach operating at the pricing level that can fulfill the goal of the operational control of the cluster. With a central controller, it is capable of satisfying the demand at prosumer (active energy producer and simultaneous consumer) sides and, at the same time, optimizing the various μ Grid contrasting constraints. Emphasis here has been given to the operational constraints related to the battery lifetime, so that the maintenance and replacement costs would be reduced. A comparative analysis has been carried out between the performance of two systems, one based on an IF-THEN-ELSE heuristic supervision logic (S-LOGIC) and the other based on the proposed EMPC strategy. The analysis has been undertaken in a location in Dublin, Ireland, on the basis of available measured data. Simulation shows the effectiveness of implementing the EMPC approach to optimally manage the system.