Theses and Dissertations Collection

In order to improve the resilience of power systems, utilities are interested in developing the capability to form microgrids when abnormal situations occur. In some cases, the microgrid is used to minimize the adverse impacts on the most critical loads, such as hospitals, government offices, and police stations. The costs associated with failure to supply critical loads are significant. Therefore, the ability to create a microgrid largely using existing generation assets with only the addition of control devices can result in improved reliability, greater level of services, and in significant savings during major events. For instance, a significant portion of the power supply to a major city in the northwest region of North America comes through a single 500kV line. If the line goes down, under some circumstances the city grid could go down. The main objective of this thesis is to perform a study establishing the feasibility of forming a microgrid to supply high priority loads in the city, while disconnecting from the main grid and using hydroelectric and solar generation available in the area. These transitions will occur while establishing and maintaining stability of the microgrid. Modeling and analysis of the entire microgrid network is done in Powerworld® simulation software that proved the possibility of forming the microgrid. The model development and validation are described along with the analysis and results of several studies.