Generalities about design and operation of microgrids

Abstract

The need for new generation systems has motivated the development of microgrids. This new concept may provide significant benefits such as losses reduction, high degree of efficiency and reliability to the transmission and distribution networks. This paper presents generalities about microgrids, including general structure and different topologies. Also an original methodology for facilitating its design and evaluation is proposed. Finally, the microgrid located at the Parque Tecnológíco de Guatiguará at the Universidad Industrial de Santander, is analyzed and an operation analysis is included for different operations stages of loads and generation, the performance of operation of storage systems, the interaction with the grid and an energy balance for all the system.