Research on Microgrid and its Application in China

This paper presents the state of the art research and application of microgrid in China, and then introduces the major concerns for the development of microgrid. The research related to microgrid in China arose around 2004, focused on the connection of distributed energy resources (DERs) to grid and its influence on distribution network, and then followed the microgrid concept of Consortium for Electric Reliability Technology Solutions (CERTS). However, the microgrid in China has taken a more active path with the development of DER and the encouragement of the development of smart grid and resource and energy needing. Now, nearly every province in China has typical researches and applications of microgrid. Besides, there are already two major patterns in the development of microgrid, the institute-dominating research and the enterprise-dominating application. Research institutions like Tianjin University, Hefei University of Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Institute of Electrical Engineering (Chinese Academy of Sciences), etc., are leading the research on microgrid. The companies like State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), China Southern Power Grid (CSPG), etc., have accomplished several demonstration projects of microgrid, and give a further boost to its application. At the end of the paper, according to the present situation of the development of microgrid in China, the facing problems and the way to deal with it are put forward.