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Electronics
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Smart Inverters in Power Grids and Renewable Energy Systems
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Smart Inverters in Power Grids and Renewable Energy Systems

A special issue of Electronics (ISSN 2079-9292). This special issue belongs to the section "Power Electronics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 7345

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Behrooz Mirafzal

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Guest Editor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA
Interests: applications of power electronics in modern energy conversion systems and power grids
Dr. Akanksha Singh

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Guest Editor
Power Systems Engineering Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, USA
Interests: design and control of wide-bandgap-based power converters for grid-connected applications; application of power electronics for grid integration of distributed energy resources
Dr. Aswad Adib

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Electric Energy Systems Integration Group, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Knoxville, TN, USA
Interests: stability of grid-tied power converters; advanced control techniques for smart inverters

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The role of inverters in power grids is diversifying beyond just providing the maximum available power to the utility and local loads. Inverters are required to provide voltage support during grid faults and form a grid during a loss of utility due to possible physical and cyber attacks. Inverters should provide resiliency and stability during internal abnormalities such as failure of semiconductor devices and external abnormalities such as disturbances and weak grid conditions. A smart inverter should be equipped with these capabilities and should be able to govern itself through seamlessly transitioning between its operational modes. A smart inverter in a network of smart inverters should be interconnected through a decentralized or supervisory structure to enhance its situational awareness, which would allow a faster response to grid abnormalities, black-start, and grid-forming commands.

The individual features mentioned above are attracting the attention of many researchers, while the presence of concurrent features leads to new challenges. Therefore, in this Special Issue, prospective authors are invited to submit original contributions and survey papers on the topics encompassing smart inverters. Potential topics include but are not limited to:

  • Detection of and operation under low voltage ride through;
  • Control schemes for grid-forming mode of inverter operation;
  • Corrective actions under internal and external faults;
  • Stability enhancement techniques under weak grids;
  • Seamless transition between inverter modes;
  • Supervisory or decentralized controllers for networked inverters;
  • Enhancing situational awareness of inverters.

Prof. Dr. Behrooz Mirafzal
Dr. Akanksha Singh
Dr. Aswad Adib
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • smart inverter
  • microgrids
  • LVRT
  • fault ride through
  • grid forming
  • resiliency
  • weak grid
  • situational awareness

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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14 pages, 2636 KiB  
Article
Frequency and Voltage Supports by Battery-Fed Smart Inverters in Mixed-Inertia Microgrids
by Mohsen S. Pilehvar and Behrooz Mirafzal
Electronics 2020, 9(11), 1755; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9111755 - 22 Oct 2020
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3309
Abstract
This paper presents a piecewise linear-elliptic (PLE) droop control scheme to improve the dynamic behavior of islanded microgrids. Islanded microgrids are typically vulnerable to voltage and frequency fluctuations, particularly if a combination of high- and low-inertia power generation units are used in a [...] Read more.
This paper presents a piecewise linear-elliptic (PLE) droop control scheme to improve the dynamic behavior of islanded microgrids. Islanded microgrids are typically vulnerable to voltage and frequency fluctuations, particularly if a combination of high- and low-inertia power generation units are used in a microgrid. The intermittent nature of renewable energy sources can cause sudden power mismatches, and thus, voltage and frequency fluctuations. The proposed PLE droop control scheme can be employed in a battery energy storage system (BESS) to effectively mitigate voltage and frequency fluctuations in an islanded microgrid. Though the PLE shape can be implemented for any droop control scheme, it has been applied for active power-frequency (P-f) and reactive power-voltage (Q-v) droops in this paper. In addition, the dynamic response of a battery-fed smart inverter equipped with the proposed PLE droops has been compared with the results obtained from a linear droop control scheme in an islanded microgrid containing high- and low-inertia power-generation units. In this paper, the results of several case studies are presented to confirm the capability of the PLE droop control in mitigating voltage and frequency fluctuations in islanded microgrids. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Inverters in Power Grids and Renewable Energy Systems)
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14 pages, 9736 KiB  
Article
Characterizing the Effect of Conservation Voltage Reduction on the Hosting Capacity of Inverter-Based Distributed Energy Resources
by Alexandre B. Nassif and Ming Dong
Electronics 2020, 9(9), 1517; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9091517 - 16 Sep 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2445
Abstract
The increased adoption of inverter-based distributed energy resources in the form of the mass deployment of renewable generation systems has been a focal goal of many jurisdictions worldwide. Actions taken by local governments have included adapted regulations, financial subsidies, and a variety of [...] Read more.
The increased adoption of inverter-based distributed energy resources in the form of the mass deployment of renewable generation systems has been a focal goal of many jurisdictions worldwide. Actions taken by local governments have included adapted regulations, financial subsidies, and a variety of grants. This has spurred the proliferation of solar generation among residential customers in virtually all provinces of the United States and Canada. Needless to say, these small generators are interfaced with DC–AC inverters, which have evolved tremendously since the formation of working groups targeting the impact of inverter-based generation on the grid. Among the first rules and standards are California’s ISO Rule 21 and the UL1741 SA, which were published in September 2017. IEEE followed suit in 2018 with the revision of IEEE 1547, inspiring virtually all jurisdictions to either adopt these standards or adapt them as their own variants. Among many features, these standards mandate inverters to be fitted with autonomous performance functions, including the constant power factor, voltage-reactive power (Volt-VAR), voltage-active power (Volt-Watt), and grid support functions, as well as provisions for compatibility with control centers. These functions have been demonstrated to increase the nameplate hosting capacity. At the same time, grid modernization strategies have become more prevalent, one of which is the use of conservation voltage reduction. This grid modernization initiative has a great impact on the hosting capacity. Conversely, the increased penetration of distributed energy resources has a negative effect on the conservation voltage reduction, but surprisingly to only a limited extent. The characterization of these impacts is addressed in this paper, with a focus on a case with very high DER penetration and with very long daily sunlight hours. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Inverters in Power Grids and Renewable Energy Systems)
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