The Design and Testing of a Cooperatively Owned and Operated Microgrid

Front of the meter microgrids that are utilized by electric cooperatives improve the resiliency and reliability of the communities they serve when islanded, and they improve affordability to a broader number of stakeholders when they are utilized for their grid services. However, these advantages cannot be realized without rigorously designing and testing the microgrid, including the interoperability of the numerous components that together compose the microgrid control system (MGCS). This paper reviews the design of a cooperatively owned and operated microgrid and compares it to the existing 2030 series of standards, including the microgrid's situational hierarchy of control (SHOC). The paper also presents the framework used in the evaluation of the microgrid in electromagnetic transient software and the sequence of operations during field testing. The paper culminates in explaining the layout, use cases, and practical results of a high-fidelity control hardware-in-the-loop (CHIL) iteration of the field installed MGCS, which includes the microgrid controller (MGC) and protection control relays, as well as a data concentrator that is used for the digital real time simulator communications. Finally, future work of the CHIL instance of the MGCS is also provided in the conclusion of the paper.