Microgrid Control/Coordination Co-Design (MicroC3)

North Carolina State University (NC State) will radically change how future microgrids are designed by developing a suite of microgrid control/coordination co-design tools capable of performing systematic design of an optimized microgrid, given a set of design objectives and performance constraints. The team will develop a well-documented co-design engineering process supported by a tool suite that yields optimal equipment selection, guarantees system stability, evaluates system dynamics, and delivers an integrated coordination/control and communication software/hardware architecture with a concrete implementation validated in high-fidelity simulations. The team will also deliver an open-source microgrid control integration platform: a hardware device with sensing, actuation capabilities and networked, embedded software that can realize the outputs of the design flow in a concrete, physical form. Such automated implementation of control and communication architecture into the operational environment is expected to significantly reduce the cost of microgrid deployment.