Reliability and Resilience Evaluation of a Stand-Alone Mobile Microgrid-Analysis and Experimental Measurements
Abstract:
As the Department of Defense (DOD) deploys renewable distributed energy resources (DERs) to reduce fossil fuel consumption, microgrids are being evaluated as one way to generate and deliver reliable electric power to stationary and mobile military units. Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) microgrid components are a viable cost-effective option to setup stand-alone microgrid systems to support mobile military units and help drive the transition to a more sustainable yet energy-resilient military. Reliability and resilience are key parameters in determining the effectiveness of microgrids in supporting military missions. Although in the past few years many researchers have presented reliability and resilience models of various complexity, experimental measurements and model validation are not available in the literature for mobile COTS microgrids. The goal of this thesis research is to experimentally assess the reliability and resilience of stand-alone, mobile microgrids that can be carried by one or two individuals and can be easily assembled in the field in support of operations in locations where utility power is not available. Utilizing COTS DERs including batteries, PV arrays and power converters, three different standalone microgrid architectures were designed, analyzed, and tested in the laboratory. Reliability block diagrams, and system fault trees were created per MIL-HDBK-338B, to compare the reliability of the three microgrid configurations.