As microgrids become essential infrastructure for modern power systems, hybrid AC/DC architectures are gaining prominence for their ability to leverage the strengths of both network types while minimizing drawbacks. These hybrid systems typically use Bidirectional Interlink Power Converters (BILPCs) to coordinate between separate AC and DC subgrids, but managing energy storage across both domains presents significant control challenges.
Researchers have developed a distributed control framework specifically designed for battery energy storage systems in hybrid microgrids operating under an Energy Internet paradigm. The system employs multi-agent technology coordinated through cloud computing to optimize state-of-charge balancing, proportional power sharing, and voltage/frequency restoration across both subgrids.
A key innovation is the framework's flexibility in handling multiple parallel BILPCs. Rather than requiring centralized control, the system uses decentralized secondary control schemes that allow batteries to respond dynamically to local conditions while maintaining grid stability. This distributed approach eliminates single points of failure and enables plug-and-play functionality, allowing operators to add or remove battery units without redesigning the entire control architecture.
The framework addresses practical implementation concerns, particularly communication delays that can undermine performance in distributed systems. Stability analysis confirms that the proposed scheme maintains robust operation even when network latency is present.
Simulation results validate the approach's ability to simultaneously manage multiple technical objectives: AC subgrid voltage and frequency regulation, DC subgrid voltage stability, proportional power distribution among parallel converters, and balanced battery charging states. The research demonstrates that treating AC and DC subgrids as integrated systems rather than isolated networks enables superior performance.
As communities increasingly deploy hybrid microgrids to support renewable energy integration and resilience, this distributed control methodology offers operators a scalable, practical tool for optimizing battery storage while maintaining the flexibility that modern power systems demand.
