IDENTIFICATION NUMBER: 351

Study on Power Quality Control in Multiple

Renewable Energy Hybrid MicroGrid System
Xiangjun Li, Member, IEEE, Yu-Jin Song, Member, IEEE, Soo-Bin Han, Member, IEEE

AbstractCompounding the various kinds of power sources
would impact the quality of power supply within the MicroGrid
and cause many control problems to be dealt with. This paper
focuses on the stability of MicroGrid operation and discusses the
control techniques of combining micro turbine and Fuel cell,
Hydrogen tank, and Electrolyzer system hybrid System (FHES)
to expand the MicroGrid system s ability for solving power
quality issue of frequency fluctuation. The paper examines the
feasibility of FHES control, especially dynamic control of
electrolyzer system, to secure real power balance and enhance
the operation capability of handling frequency fluctuation. It is
presented that the Proposed PC control and monitoring system
can be considered as a means of power quality control to improve
the frequency fluctuation caused by a random power fluctuation
on generation and load sides and to relax a tie line power flow
fluctuation by the frequency one on the interconnected
MicroGrid local power system.
Index Termspower quality control, MicroGrid, renewable
energy, electrolyzer system, frequency fluctuation, distributed
generation

NOMENCLATURE
PCMS
PQC
CMD
UG
WP
PV
MT
FC
PEMFC
HOGEN
CAN
ES
H2T
FHES
SoC
PG
PL
PWP
PPV

PC Control and Monitoring System

Power Quality Control
Command
Utility Grid
Wind Power
PhotoVoltaic
Micro Turbine
Fuel Cell
Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell
Hydrogen generator
Control Area Network
Electrolyzer System
Hydrogen Tank
FC, H2T, and ES hybrid system
State of Charge
Generated real power
System load
Wind power output
PV power output

Xiangjun Li, Yu-Jin Song, Soo-Bin Han ware with the National Research
Lib. of Electric Energy and Lighting Center, Korea Institute of Energy
Research (KIER), Daejeon, Korea (e-mail: xjli79@hotmail.com).

978-1-4244-2190-9/07/$25.00 2007 IEEE

PFC
PMT
PES
PHousing
PiniWP
PiniPV
PiniMT
PiniFC
PiniES
PiniHousing
Ptie
Ptie_ref
Xtie

f0
P
P_ref
f
PPV
PFC
PMT
Ptie
dPWP
dPPV
dPHousing
KMT
M
D
KFC
KES
TFC
TES
Base
Sw.

2000

FC power output
MT power output
Load power of ES
Load power of Housing
Initial WP output
Initial PV output
Initial MT output
Initial FC output
Initial ES load power
Initial housing load
Tie line power
Scheduled Ptie
Tie line reactance
Relative phase angle between UG and MG
System frequency
Real power unbalance
Expected P in MicroGrid
Frequency deviation
Change in PV output
Change in FC output
Change in MT output
Difference between Ptie and Ptie_ref
Standard deviation for WP output
Standard deviation for PV output
Standard deviation for housing real power
Droop property of MT output
Inertia constant
Damping coefficient
Gain for FC
Gain for ES
Time constant of FC
Time constant of ES
Base capacity of MicroGrid system
On/Off switch (1 or 0)
I. INTRODUCTION

LTHOUGH an effective use of renewable energy attracts

a great deal of attention globally to cope with the
environmental and resource problems, especially, to reduce
CO2 emission, an inappropriate application of distributed
generators can be a cause of insecure power supply for
example,. MicroGrid is one of the expected local power
supply system that consists of distributed generators, loads,
power storage devices and heat recovery equipments etc[1] [2].
Main features of MicroGrid system are:

PowerTech 2007

by PC control and monitoring system through CAN composed

communication network. Therefore, the electrolyzer system
has controllability condition to compensate system real power
unbalance.
This paper is organized as follows. Section II presents the
formulation of power change by frequency fluctuation and that
of random power fluctuation at generation and load sides.
Section III presents the considered MicroGrid power system
model. Simulation results are discussed in Section IV. Section
V is the conclusion.

Utility Gird

VCB

WP

FC

TR
PV
H2 T

PCMS

MT

ES
Housing

H2

Fig. 1 MicroGrid Network

(1) it can be operated independently from conventional UG,
(2) it can make use of power and heat sources collectively,
(3) it can be interconnected to the utility grid at one point.
In this paper, a MicroGrid system comprising of PC control
and monitoring system, micro turbine aimed to supply base
load, electrolyzer system to manufacture hydrogen, hydrogen
tank and renewable energy used generators such as wind
power, photovoltaic, proton exchange membrane fuel cell etc.
is considered. That is, we use a generation system of 25kW
photovoltaic, 100kW wind power, 5kW proton exchange
membrane fuel cell and load controllable electrolyzer system
and housing load etc. as a model MicroGrid system (see
Fig.1).
We assume that energy obtained from the wind power and
photovoltaic is mainly used to produce hydrogen, which is
stored in the hydrogen tank to be converted back to electricity
in the proton exchange membrane fuel cell. On the other hand,
when MicroGrid is isolated from utility gird and wind power
and photovoltaic etc. are unable to supply base load containing
the electrolyzer system and the housing load, micro turbine
will be committed to supply them.
Wind and photovoltaic generators have the characteristic of
instable power output. Therefore, a sudden real power
unbalance and a large frequency fluctuation are easy to occur
in such renewable energy hybrid small-scale local power
system. And it is sometimes not sufficient to reduce the fast
frequency fluctuation by means of only applying dynamic
control of micro turbine.
Moreover, because the main power line interconnected to
the utility grid is designed to use 380V three-phase AC line,
handling a DC or AC source to the AC grid would lead to
harmonic distortion on voltages and currents. Thus
compounding the various kinds of power sources would
impact the quality of power supply within the MicroGrid and
cause many control problems to be dealt with.
This paper focuses on the stability of MicroGrid operation
and proposes a control means of combining micro turbine and
a fuel cell, hydrogen tank, and electrolyzer system hybrid one
to deal with the fast frequency fluctuation and the sudden real
power unbalance and accordingly maintain the power quality
of frequency.
An electrolyzer system of HOGEN is considered in this
paper[3]. The power consumption (kW) of HOGEN can be
controlled in millisecond level by adjusting the pressure in the
customer piping system. The pressure control can be realized

2001

II. FORMULATION FOR POWER QUALITY CONTROL

Since frequency fluctuation, f, is mainly effected by the
undulation of real power, the power quality issue for
frequency stability can be realized by satisfying the real power
supply-demand balance constraint in the MicroGrid power
system. Therefore, an objective function for frequency control
in MicroGrid system is formulized as follows.

'P PG  PL o 0

(1)

where

PG

PWP  PPV  PFC  PMT

PWP  PPV  PFCini  PMTini  ('PFC  'PMT )

PHousin g  PESini  'PES

P L PHousin g  PES

(2)
(3)

subject to
min
max
PFC
d PFC d PFC

(4)

min
max
PMT
d PMT d PMT

(5)

PESmin d PES d PESmax

(6)

As shown in Eqs.(2) and (3), by controlling PFC, PMT,

PES to meet the real-time power fluctuations at generation
(WP, PV) and load (Housing) sides, the Eq.(1) can be
guaranteed.
The PFC and PES are approximated in this paper by a first
order transfer function, referred to the operation of a battery
energy storage facility as shown in ref.[4].

' PFC

K FC
'f
1  T FC s

(7)

' PES

K ES
'f
1  T ES s

(8)

When consider the linear P versus f droop characteristic,

PMT is derived as

' PMT

1
'f
K MT

(9)

Since the is obtained by

2S f 0 ' fdt

(10)

Fig.3. Proposed PCMS structure

Fig.2. Schematic diagram of MicroGrid model system

the Ptie is derived from

Ptie

2Sf 0 'f
sin

s
X tie

(11)

The standard deviations for wind power, photovoltaic, and

housing load etc. are mathematically estimated as[5].

dPWP 0.8 PWP

(12)

dPPV

(13)

dPHousin g

0.7 PPV
0.6 PHousin g

(14)

and these standard deviations are multiplied by a random

output fluctuation derived from the white noise block in
MATLAB/SIMULINK to simulate the real-time random
power fluctuation on the generation and load sides.

Fig.4. PI controller related to P compensation

TABLE I
MICROGRID MODEL PARAMETERS

ES

MT

III. SPECIFICATION OF MICROGRID MODEL

A schematic diagram of the MicroGrid system constructed
by the MATLAB/SIMULINK is shown in Fig.2. The tie line
power and the dynamic behaviors of electrolyzer system, fuel
cell, and micro turbine are assessed by PCMS depending on
the feedback parameter of P.
The schematic diagrams of PCMS and PI controller are
shown in Figs.3 and 4 respectively. The other PI controller
related to Ptie compensation has the regulators of PI2 and PI4
and has a reference value of Ptie_ref. PI1 and PI3 are proposed to
reduce the P and PI2 and PI4 are introduced to alleviate the
Ptie.
The parameters of MicroGrid model and each PI regulators
are shown in Tables I and II. The P and Ptie are measured at
every 5 and 4 seconds respectively by setting input signal
delay time of PI regulators as shown in Fig. 4. Moreover, in
this paper, it is considered that the PEMFC power not attended

2002

Housing

PiniES
PmaxES
PminES
KES
TES

50kW
70kW
30kW
100
60

PiniMT
PmaxMT
PminMT
KMT
M
D
PiniHousing

70kW
100kW
10kW
0.04
10
1
50kW

FC

WP
PV
Tie line
System

PiniFC
PmaxFC
PminFC
KFC
TFC

5kW
5kW
2kW

PiniWP
PmaxWP
PiniPV
PmaxPV
Xtie
f0
Base

15kW
100kW
10kW
25kW
0.072
50Hz
100kW

TABLE II

PI REGULATOR PARAMETERS
PI regulator
Proportional gain
Integral gain

KP
KI

MT output control
PI1
PI2
0.1
0.1
0.5
0.1

ES load control
PI3
PI4
0.1
0.1
0.5
0.1

to the real-time control of P and the PFC is set to a constant

value of 5kW through a 500 seconds test time period.
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS
The initial real power balance in MicroGrid is set to zero at
the simulation starting point as shown in Table I and the
feasibility of the ES dynamic control is examined during 500

Simulation Results for islanding operation (Case A)

0.8

PMT

0.7
0.6

PHousing

0.5

0.6

PHousing

0.5

PES

0.4

PES

0.4
0

100

200
300
time (s)

400

500

Fig.5. Power profile without ES and PI1 control

0.1

with ES

100

0.1

without ES

with PI1

100

200

300

400

500

-0.1

500

without PI1

0
-0.05

time (s)

100

200

300

400

500

time (s)

-0.1

Fig.7. f with or without ES control

Fig.8. f with or without PI1

Simulation Results for utility grid connected operation (Case B)

0.7
0.5

PMT

0.9

PHousing

0.7
kW (p.u.)

0.9

PES

0.3
0.1
0

100

200

PMT
PHousing

0.5

PES

0.3
0.1

Ptie

-0.1

300

400

Ptie

-0.1

500

100

time (s)

0.05

200

300

400

500

time (s)

Fig.9. Power profile without PI2

with PI 2

Fig.10. Power profile with PI2

without PI2

with PI2

0.001

without PI2

0.0005

0
0

100

200

300

400

f (Hz)

Ptie (kW)

400

0.05

-0.2

kW (p.u.)

200
300
time (s)

Fig.6. Power profile with ES and PI1 control

f (Hz)

f (Hz)

PMT

0.7

kW (p.u.)

kW (p.u.)

0.8

500

-0.05

-0.0005

time (s)

-0.1

100

300

400

500

time (s)

-0.001

Fig.11. Ptie fluctuation with or without PI2

200

Fig.12. f with or without PI2

WP, PV, and FC output in both operation models

0.4
kW (p.u.)

P (kW)

0.2
0.0
-0.2
-0.4

100

200

300

400

500

time (s)

0.16
0.14
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04

PWP
PPV
PFC

Fig.13. P by utility grid connected operation

100

200
300
time (s)

400

Fig.14. WP, PV, and FC output

2003

500

Simulation Results for setting TES (Case C)

1
0.8

PHousing

kW ( p.u.)

kW (p.u.)

PMT

0.6
PES

0.4

4
6
time (s)

0.2

PES

0.4

with ES

without ES

0
0

6
time (s)

10

Fig.16. Power profile with ES control

0.1
f (Hz)

PHousing

0.6

10

Fig.15. Power profile without ES control

10

-0.2
-0.3
-0.4

0.8

0.2

0.2

-0.1

PMT

time (s)

Fig.17. f with or without ES control

seconds. The reference parameters of Ptie_ref and P_ref are set
to zero. Simulation results by two operation modes, islanding
operation mode and utility grid connected one, are presented
as follows.
A. Islanding operation
Figs.5 and 6 show the change of real power profile by using
ES and PI1 controls. Figs. 7 and 8 show the frequency
fluctuation for using ES dynamic operation or PI1 regulator
respectively. Comparing Figs. 5 and 6, shows that the PCMS
controls the power consumption of electrolyzer system to relax
load fluctuation and changes the output power of micro turbine
to match the real power balance. As a result, the frequency
fluctuation is improved as shown in Figs 7 and 8.
B. Utility grid connected operation
Figs. 9 and 10 show the change of real power profile by
applying PI2. Comparing Figs. 9 and 10, shows that using PI2
to adjust the power output of micro turbine, the power supply
from utility grid is decreased. The Ptie fluctuation is magnified
in Fig.11.
Fig.12 shows the frequency fluctuation by PI2. It is seen that
the frequency fluctuation is changed slightly by utilizing PI2
and compared with Figs. 7 and 8, in which MicroGrid is
running for islanding mode, the power quality for frequency is
improved by interconnecting the utility grid.
The real power unbalance by utility grid connected operation
is shown in Fig. 13 and the WP, PV, and FC outputs under the
above-mentioned two operation modes are shown in Fig. 14.

2004

C. Discussion for setting TES

For the above-mentioned two cases A and B, the TES was set
to 60 to adjust the power consumption of ES by a slow
response time. At whiles, a fast frequency fluctuation cannot
be repressed adequately by means of governors of generators
and slow response power sources. Since load power of the ES
considered in this paper can be controlled in millisecond level,
the PCMS can adjust the load power rapidly by changing the
TES to a smaller value. Therefore, a case C in which the TES is
set to 1 is discussed below.
In this case, assuming that a 20kW overload are occurred
suddenly at third second to simulate a fast and a large
frequency fluctuation in the MicroGrid system. Figs.15, 16,
and 17 show the power profile and f respectively before and
after the ES dynamic controls are considered. It appears that
the maximum frequency fluctuation of 0.35Hz is improved
effectively by utilizing ESs high response capability for kW
load control.
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a dynamic control method for electrolyzer
system is proposed to secure real power balance and enhance
the operation capability of handling frequency fluctuation.
The content of this paper is summarized as follows.
(1) The output changes of fuel cell and electrolyzer system
are defined by the first order transfer function. The tie
line power and the output change of micro turbine by the
frequency fluctuation are presented.
(2) The fluctuations of frequency and tie line power are
considered for islanding and interconnected operation
modes respectively, to demonstrate the effectiveness of
the proposed dynamic control method. It is concretely
shown that a power quality improvement for frequency
can be expected by actively utilization of the load
controllable electrolyzer system.
(3) PI regulators are used to compensate the power changes
at MicroGrid power system and tie line. The influence
of considering them is also discussed.
(4) It is considered that in shorter special time periods in
which a sudden large frequency fluctuation is happened,
applying smaller TES to control ES load rapidly is a
means to enhance the operation capability of handling
frequency fluctuation.

The efficient use of the FHES considering the SoC of

hydrogen tank and the slow response characteristic of PEM
fuel cell will be studied and the fluctuation of voltage in the
MicroGird system examined in the near future. Furthermore, it
will be discussed that how to determine the unit commitment
of the multiple power sources to obtain an optimal daily
operation schedule for the multiple renewable energy hybrid
MicroGrid power system.

REFERENCES
[1]

[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]

R. H. Lasseter, A. Akhil, C. Marnay, J. Stephens, J. Dagle, R.

Guttromson, A. S. Meliopoilous, R. Yinger, and J. Eto, Integration of
Distributed Energy ResourcesThe CERTS MicroGrid Concept,
CERTS white paper, Apr. 2002.
R. H. Lasseter, and P. Paigi, Microgrid: A Conceptual Solution, in
Proc. 35th Annu. Conf. IEEE PESC04 pp. 4285-4290.
http://www.protonenergy.com
D. Kottick, M. Blau, and D. Edelstein, Battery Energy Storage for
Frequency Regulation in an Island Power System, IEEE Trans.
EnergyConversion, vol. 8, pp. 455-459, Sep. 1993.
M. Matsubara, G. Fujita, T. Shinji, T. Sekine, A. Akisawa, T. Kashiwagi,
and R. Yokoyama, Supply and Demand Control of Dispersed Type
Power Sources in Micro Grid, in Proc. 13th Int..Conf. ISAP05, pp.
67-72.

Xiangjun Li (M07) received the B.E. degree in

electrical engineering from Shenyang University of
Technology, China, in 2001, and the M.E. and Ph. D.
degrees in electrical and electronic engineering from
Kitami Institute of Technology (KIT), Japan, in 2004
and 2006, respectively. Since 2006, he has worked as
a research associate in Electric Energy and Lighting
Center, Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER)
and researched on the control system of fuel cell
hybrid vehicle, including PEMFC system control. His
research interests include power system economics, power system reliability
and renewable energy hybrid vehicle and power systems.

Yu-Jin Song (M99) received his B.S. and M.S.

degree in electrical engineering from Yonsei
University, Seoul, Korea in 1988 and 1991. He
worked on the development of the digital control
system in Daewoo Heavy Industry from 1991 to 1997.
He started the Ph.D. program in electrical engineering
at Texas A&M University in the Fall of 1999 and
received his Ph.D. in August 2004. He worked as a
Research Assistant in the Power Electronics and
Power Quality Laboratory of the Electrical
Engineering Department, conducting research on design of high frequency
link power conversion system for distributed power system and power quality
issues. His research interests are primarily in advanced power electronics
converters applied to distributed power system with renewable energy sources,
power quality issues and soft switching technique.

Soo-Bin Han (M'95) was born in Korea on Jun 9,

1958. He received the B.S. degree in electronic
engineering from Hanyang University, Korea, in
1981, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical
engineering from Korea Advanced Institute of
Science and Technology (KAIST) in 1986 and 1997,
respectively. He has been a Principal Researcher at
Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) since
1986 and now a leader of Electric Energy and
Lighting Center of KIER. His research interests
include electric energy saving/storage technology, hydrogen/fuel cell power
application and new lighting technology.

2005