Virtual power plant-based distributed control strategy for multiple distributed generators

Abstract

A distributed control strategy is developed to control the output of multiple distributed generators (DGs) in a coordinated fashion such that these generators develop into a virtual power plant (VPP) in a distribution network. To this end, cooperative control methodology from network control theory is used to make the VPP converge and operate at an optimal output, which is determined by the DGs' costs and the necessary service assigned by the distribution network. For each DG, the strategy only requires information from its neighbouring units, making communication networks (CNs) among the DGs simple and robust. A set of sufficient conditions under which the proposed method is valid are provided. It is shown that the proposed strategy has the advantages that the corresponding CNs are local and there is no central station collecting global information from the DGs. These features enable the VPP to have both self-organising and adaptive coordination properties. The proposed method is simulated using the IEEE standard 34-bus distribution network. © 2013 The Institution of Engineering and Technology.