NREL participated in and provided technical input at an evaluation stage of a microgrid controller at EDF’s Concept Grid test facility.
The Concept Grid is a smart-grid test facility designed to anticipate and facilitate the transition from electricity distribution systems to smart grids. The EDF test setup included a 50-kW, 106-kWh battery with an inverter, 12-kW and 8-kW PV inverters, and controllable loads. The EDF evaluation followed NREL hardware-in-the-loop simulations of the performance of the controller, which was carried out by installing the controller in the Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) of NREL.
The project for which the testing was performed aims to develop commercially viable and flexible microgrid controllers that can easily adapt to different end-user applications. Microgrids can create a more resilient electric grid by disconnecting from the main grid during disturbances, such as outages, and operate independently. NREL’s hardware-in-the-loop simulations can confirm the performance of microgrids and microgrid controllers before they are actually deployed.
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