Realizing a Smart MicroGrid - Pioneer Canadian Experience

This paper outlines the main accomplishments towards realizing a Smart Microgrid Testbed at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), Burnaby, BC, Canada. The paper describes a methodology to optimally select, site, size, control, and integrate distributed generation and storage units with the existing Campus power system. The proposed approach enables optimal operation of the Campus power system in both grid-tied and autonomous modes of operation. Two control strategies are selected, implemented, and tested to permit the safe and efficient integration and operation of the onsite DER units into the Campus power system during the grid-tied and islanded modes of operation. Moreover, a smart and accurate fault detection, isolation, and service restoration (FDISR) algorithm is proposed and implemented, based on a bidirectional communication infrastructure, to support the Campus power system operation in the presence and absence of the utility bus. Finally, the results of a case studies are reported and analyzed to evaluate the impacts of the proposed power management and control strategies on the performance of the BCIT Microgrid as well as the interaction between different onsite DER units and the utility.