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This study presents the preliminary experimental implementation and operational integration of a hybrid microgrid combining woody biomass gasification, photovoltaic generation, and lithium-ion battery storage under grid-connected and islanded operating conditions. Building on previous work focused on system feasibility, this work advances toward the integration of a multi-layer microgrid architecture comprising power generation, communication, data acquisition, monitoring, synchronization, and supervisory setpoint dispatch. The implemented system includes a biomass-based synchronous generator rated at 24 kW prime power and 30 kW standby power, supplied by a fixed-bed downdraft gasifier, a 5.39 kWp photovoltaic system, and an 8.52 kWh battery energy storage system. A distributed communication and monitoring infrastructure was implemented to support data acquisition, visualization, and active-power setpoint transmission to the biomass generator under grid-connected operation. Experimental validation was conducted through photovoltaic generation monitoring, battery discharge tests, gasification operation, generator load response, grid synchronization, active-power setpoint tracking, and short-duration islanded operation. The results showed that the biomass-based generator operated stably up to approximately 21 kW, corresponding to 87.5% of its prime rated capacity. During the main islanded interval, the microgrid supplied 13.41 kWh to the load, with 11.87 kWh delivered by the biomass-based generator and 1.70 kWh contributed by the photovoltaic system, while the battery acted mainly as a short-term buffer. The experiments confirmed the feasibility of coordinating biomass generation, photovoltaic power, and battery storage in a real microgrid; however, they also revealed important limitations associated with syngas quality variability, manual syngas–LPG blending, generator frequency deviations, inverter protection settings, and mode-transition transients. These findings show that the practical performance of biomass–PV–battery microgrids is strongly influenced by component-level dynamics and integration constraints that are not fully captured in simulation-based studies. The results provide experimental evidence for the development of more robust supervisory control, synchronization, frequency regulation, and fuel-management strategies for decentralized hybrid renewable microgrids.
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Macías et al. (2026) studied this question.