Expansion of Autonomous Microgrids in Active Distribution Networks

This paper presents an approach to transform the active distribution network with distributed energy resources into multiple autonomous microgrids. The distribution network consists of several generation resources and demand entities, that are clustered into autonomous microgrids. The proposed problem is formulated as a bi-level optimization problem that leverages the Eigen decomposition in the graph spectra of the distribution network to determine the boundaries for microgrids and a mixed-integer programming problem that minimizes the expansion cost within microgrids. The presented approach is evaluated in a case study for a distribution network considering the imposed reliability constraints. The outcomes indicate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm to determine the expansion strategies to form autonomous microgrids in active distribution networks.