Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

Renewable energy, such as wind and solar, has many attractive features and we should use them whenever possible. However, their dynamic characteristics are drastically different from those of conventional energy sources, because of their environmental dependent nature. One viable way to make effective use of the renewable sources of uncontrollable nature is to aggregate them with storage devices to form a local sub-grid. This sub-grid is often referred to as a microgrid. The microgrid can operate independently on its own to supply local loads or connect to a utility grid for power exchange. There are many control issues and problems in coordinating different energy sources to achieve a stable, economical and efficient operational environment. The main research efforts in our Distributed Generation (DG) Lab are to find solutions to these problems. Over the past ten years, significant efforts have been made in our DG lab to assess the suitability of several distributed energy sources within a microgrid. The sources include: solar arrays, wind turbines, fuel cell power modules, separately driven synchronous generators. Theoretical analysis and computer simulations have been carried out to investigate scenarios when different energy sources are integrated in a microgrid. We have also acquired the physical setups of the above energy sources. In addition, power electronic interfaces have also been established. However, in order to advance the research further, we need to create a common backbone to integrate these energy sources together physically to validate our research results experimentally and to move the research from the lab to practical world. The request equipment is a custom built AC bus facility for this purpose. Six HQPs will be trained on this facility immediately. When complete, this microgrid with integrated energy sources can leverage additional industrial supports and has potential to generate intellectual properties.