A Distributed PCS Based DC Microgrid System for Rural Electrification

Abstract

Various power plants have been applied to increase electrification in remote areas, one of which is the Centralized Off-Grid PV system with AC micro grid. Although it has been widely used, this system has several drawbacks, including network losses, land, and synchronization with other power plants. A Power Conditioner System (PCS) based distributed generation system with DC micro grid has been proposed to overcome that deficiency. This DC microgrid system consists of multiple Solar DC Towers, each with solar panels, batteries and PCS connected to their respective loads. In the previous papers, an evaluation of the performance of individual PCS has been carried out in several aspects. In contrast, the performance of the entire DC micro grid system when working in multi-point has not been thoroughly tested. In this paper, the performance of a DC microgrid is evaluated in a multi-point system with PV as the primary source. A prototype of a DC microgrid system with two Solar DC Towers has been developed. The system's performance against solar irradiation and its overall efficiency has been tested. The system has also been tested to meet load requirements under various conditions from various sources, including taking and sending power to the DC micro grid with power-sharing mode. The evaluation shows that this DC microgrid system can work appropriately with good system performance, although it can still be improved in the future.