Microgrids have gathered a significant amount of attention within the past decade and becoming an essential asset in the energy industry. The ability to integrate sustainable energy generation methods into the distribution network is one of the main reasons for microgrids popularity. A wide variety of Distributed Generation (DG) including wind and other micro-turbine generation, photovoltaic generation along with energy storage, makes the microgrid viable in both grid-connected and islanded modes while reducing the power losses. There are various technical challenges to be tackled in order to harvest the full potential of microgrids, and protection is one of them. Various solutions were introduced, driven by the development of protection techniques. One of the most promising approaches for microgrid protection is adaptive protection. This paper contains a systematic review on adaptive protection of microgrids, including a wide range of applicability variants, their strengths, and drawbacks. It also explores the state-of-the-art researches that utilize computational intelligence to achieve adaptive protection. These solutions are currently at the verge of totally redefining protection solutions with a more flexible and reliable system that will be applied globally.

Microgrids have been popularized in the past decade because of their ability to add distributed generation into the classic distribution systems. Protection problems are among several other problems that need solutions in order to extract the full capability of these novel networks. This research follows the branches of two major solutions, namely adaptive protection and protection optimization. Adaptive protection implementation with a novel concept of clustering is considered, and protection setting optimization is done using a novel hybrid nature-inspired algorithm. Adaptive protection is utilized to cope with the topology variations, while optimization techniques are used to calculate the protection settings that provide faster fault clearances in coordination with backup protection. A modified IEEE 14 bus system is used as the test system. Validation was done for the fault clearing performance. The selected algorithm was effective than most other algorithms, and the clustering approach for adaptive overcurrent protection was able to reduce the number of relays’ setting groups.

Throughout the past few years, power generation based on wind energy has become a considerable aspect in the present power generation. This has caused an increase in the wind power based research and in this project a wind turbine emulator is developed to simulate wind turbine behavior with a connection to a micro grid in a laboratory environment. Wind turbine characteristics are modelled using a separately excited DC motor for both steady and transient states. DC motor is coupled with a synchronous generator to provide the power output.

Modern society is highly concerned about eco-friendly technologies, including power generation. As a result of this, the microgrid concept has become a rapidly growing trend in this era. The introduction of microgrids offered distinct advantages such as reduced greenhouse gasses and pollutant emissions, high reliability, and minimization of overall energy consumption. Microgrids require dedicated attention for its protection solutions as the classic protection systems cannot be applied directly. These protection problems are mainly due to its drastic fault current level variation when it changes its operation mode from grid-connected mode to islanded mode. The conventional protection system has several issues, including selectivity and sensitivity between these operating modes. Adaptive protection can be used as a better solution for these issues. This paper demonstrates a centralized adaptive directional overcurrent protection system for a ring-type microgrid with a synchronous generator and three-phase inverter-based source. The test system and relay structure are modeled and simulated using MATLAB Simulink. Simulations have been done for three possible configurations considering both grid-connected and islanded modes. The results are obtained to observe the primary and backup relay behavior for different configurations.

Modern distribution networks are more inclined to integrate distributed energy generation (DEG) into their systems. Protection problems occur when using conventional protection solutions on these DEG integrated networks. Optimal coordination of overcurrent relays while minimizing the operating time is one of the popular research interests. Optimization algorithms are used to solve this multi-objective constrained optimization problem. In this paper, various methods of problem formulation in literature are compared to observe their effect on final relay operating times.

The project A Novel, Reconfigurable Architecture for Solar Photovoltaic Microgrids, was initiated to study and implement a reconfigurable Microgrid using Z source inverters (ZSI). In this paper, the MATLAB/Simulink model developed as a test platform before hardware development of three phase ZSI is presented. Simple Boost Control is chosen as the PWM scheme of the ZSI. The control technique was successfully implemented, and the correct switching signal was created. From the simulations, it was recognized that there is 486 V stress on the DC side for a three-level square wave output with maximum voltage of 325 V. A similar model was developed to examine the bidirectional capability of the ZSI. A battery charging scenario is successfully simulated, which supports the project to create a reconfigurable Microgrid using the ZSI.