A Quadratic Programming Based Optimal Power and Battery Dispatch for Grid-Connected Microgrid

In this paper, the concept of end-user-driven microgrid is introduced, and an economic dispatch framework is proposed for optimal power and battery scheduling of such a microgrid. The main advantage is that unlike other centralized approaches reported in the literature, the proposed architecture provides end-user flexibility, optimally manages the battery minimizing the power required from the grid, and at the same time ensures grid-level reliability. The proposed optimal scheduling is first validated on a grid-connected microgrid, including a photovoltaic (PV) farm and a battery, considering the grid as a dispatchable power source. Then, the architecture is compared with one of the existing centralized optimization approaches. To demonstrate the applicability and scalability, the architecture is further evaluated on a modified IEEE 33 bus distribution feeder, including multiple microgrids suitable for real-time implementation. The test results indicate that the approach is optimal, scalable, feasible, improves feeder reliability, and provides maximum utilization of the PV arrays.