Reliability Analysis of a Decentralized Microgrid Control Architecture

Reliability enhancement of microgrids is challenged by environmental and operational failures. Centrally controlled microgrids are susceptible to failures at high probability due to a single-point-of-failure, e.g., the central controller. True decentralization of microgrid architecture entails elimination of the central controller, attaining a parallel configuration for the system. In this paper, decentralized microgrid control architecture is proposed as a solution for reliability degradation over time, and analyzes the reliability aspects of centralized and decentralized control architectures for microgrids. Degree of importance of a single controller in centralized and decentralized architectures is determined and validated by Markov chain models. Results confirm that higher reliability is achieved when true decentralization of control architecture has been adopted. Challenges of implementing a true decentralized control architecture are discussed. Hardware-In-the-Loop simulation results for microgrid controller failure scenarios for both architectures are presented and discussed.