Cutting Campus Energy Costs with Hierarchical Control: The Economical and Reliable Operation of a Microgrid

in this article, we discuss microgrid objectives and present options for microgrid operations and their monitoring and control in the context of a functional system at the illinois institute of technology (iit) in Chicago. the microgrid represents a multitier hierarchical control of self-sustaining energy infrastructure with islanding and resynchronization, self-healing, and demand response capabilities. the intelligent high-reliability distribution system (HRDS) at iit is equipped with phasor measurement units (PMUs) for real-time monitoring, nondispatchable renewable energy production, as well as conventional and dispatchable energy resources.