Primary and secondary control in DC microgrids: a review

• Published in: Journal of modern power systems and clean energy Vol. 7; no. 2; pp. 227 - 242
• Main Authors: GAO, Fei, KANG, Ren, CAO, Jun, YANG, Tao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Singapore 01.03.2019; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE); IEEE
• Subjects: Control methods; Current distribution; DC microgrids; Direct current; Distributed generation; Droop control; Electric power grids; Electrical engineering; Electrical Machines and Networks; Energy; Energy storage; Energy Systems; Power efficiency; Power Electronics; Power sharing; Primary control; Renewable and Green Energy; Secondary control; Power sharing; Primary control; DC microgrids; Secondary control; Droop control
• ISSN: 2196-5625; 2196-5420; 2196-5420
• DOI: 10.1007/s40565-018-0466-5

With the rapid development of power electronics technology, microgrid (MG) concept has been widely accepted in the field of electrical engineering. Due to the advantages of direct current (DC) distribution systems such as reduced losses and easy integration with energy storage resources, DC MGs have drawn increasing attentions nowadays. With the increase of distributed generation, a DC MG consisting of multiple sources is a hot research topic. The challenge in such a multi-source DC MG is to provide voltage support and good power sharing performance. As the control strategy plays an important role in ensuring MG’s power quality and efficiency, a comprehensive review of the state-of-art control approaches in DC MGs is necessary. This paper provides an overview of the primary and secondary control methods under the hierarchical control architecture for DC MGs. Specifically, inner loop and droop control approaches in primary control are reviewed. Centralized, distributed, and decentralized approach based secondary control is discussed in details. Key findings and future trends are also presented at last.