LPV-MPC fault-tolerant energy management strategy for renewable microgrids

This paper presents a solution for the Fault-Tolerant Energy Management problem of renewable energy microgrids. This solution is a Energy Management System (EMS) derived from a Model Predictive Controller (MPC) synthesized upon a Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) prediction model. This model describes the energy-generation process in both healthy and faulty operation conditions. The MPC is tuned to adequately coordinate the operation of the microgrid, aiming to optimally use its energetic resources, enlarge the renewable generation share and guarantee maximal efficiency and profit, despite the presence of faults (or even failures) in its subsystems. The quantification of the level of faults in the energy system is provided by an extended-state LPV fault estimation observer that works in parallel to the MPC. The proposed EMS, that acts at an hourly rate, finds time-varying control policies, that are passed as energy-generation set-points for the lower-layer subsystems, with respect to operational constraints, internal demands and taking into account the future (estimation) behaviour of the renewables. To validate the proposed fault-tolerant control scheme, a realistic, high-fidelity case study from the Brazilian sugarcane industry is considered. The achieved simulation results assess the effectiveness and qualities of the proposed energy management strategy; an overall good behaviour is exhibited in both faulty and healthy energy-generation conditions.