Sustainable Development Microgrid Advanced Control and Protection System

A low-voltage DC Microgrid can be used to supply sensitive electronic loads, since it combines the advantages of using a DC supply for electronic loads, and using local generation to supply sensitive loads. A commercial power system which can benefit from using a DC Microgrid is data center. The lower losses due to fewer power conversion steps results in less heat which need to be cooled, and therefore the operation costs are lowered. A protection system design for low-voltage DC Microgrid has been proposed and different protection devices and operation control methods have been presented. Moreover, different fault types and their impact on the system have been analyzed. The type of protection that can be used depends on the sensitivity of the components in the Microgrid. Detection methods for different components have been suggested in order to achieve a fast and accurate fault clearing. An experimental small-scale dc power system has been used to supply different loads, both during normal and fault conditions. A three-phase two-level voltage source converter in series with a Buck converter was used to interconnect the AC and the DC power systems.