Current challenges and future trends in the field of communication architectures for microgrids

Abstract

The concept of microgrid has emerged as a feasible answer to cope with the increasing number of distributed renewable energy sources which are being introduced into the electrical grid. The microgrid communication network should guarantee a complete and bidirectional connectivity among the microgrid resources, a high reliability and a feasible interoperability. This is in a contrast to the current electrical grid structure which is characterized by the lack of connectivity, being a centralized-unidirectional system. In this paper a review of the microgrids information and communication technologies (ICT) is shown. In addition, a guideline for the transition from the current communication systems to the future generation of microgrid communications is provided. This paper contains a systematic review of the most suitable communication network topologies, technologies and protocols for smart microgrids. It is concluded that a new generation of peer-to-peer communication systems is required towards a dynamic smart microgrid. Potential future research about communications of the next microgrid generation is also identified.

Proposal of the Communication Layer for a Renewable Energy Microgrid Testbed

“…Thus, it is a geographically distributed system, a robust communication layer, or the middle layer, must provide reliability to the control equipment in order to prevent that any failure or disturbance affects the controllers to act accordingly to its programmable logic [6]. This layer is responsible to interconnect the first and third layer, Power Equipment Layer and Control Layer, respectively.…”

“…Geographically distributed systems have issues such as different latencies and bandwidth, therefore a time synchronization to ensure that all microgrid components agree on the timestamp [6].…”

Efficient Event Notification Middleware for Smart Microgrids Over P2P Networks

“…Although agents can be structured forming decentralized topologies, they cannot act simultaneously as servers and clients, which results in a lack of agent proactivity. The connectivity between them is not carried out by creating virtual links (overlays), which cause lack of self-discovery and self-healing capabilities [34]. To overcome these limitations, [25], [26] propose a Data Distribution Service (DDS) middleware.…”

Comparative Analysis of P2P Architectures for Energy Trading and Sharing

“…From the review conducted, communication is seen as one of the enablers of MG management and control, as it routes information among MG subsystems. One of the ways communication and control among MG is modeled in the literature is through multi-agent system (MAS) [35], which has the following limitations on efficient and optimal management of SMG [35,36]: (1) agents do not really have decision capabilities resulting in less proactive interactions; (2) although distribution of components exist, there is little decentralization among the agents; and (3) agent cannot simultaneously communicate with other agents. Agents interaction is a client-server approach resulting in a lack of agent proactivity.…”