IEEE Electrification Magazine - March 2020 - 54

TABLE 1. A summary of the CANREL components.
Components

Description

Power Rating

Grid SIM

Bidirectional inverter-based grid SIM to simulate grid frequency
and voltage abnormalities

270 kVA

Wind SIM

Bidirectional inverter-based wind SIM that dynamically simulates
the active and reactive power output of a wind turbine

100 kW

Actual wind turbine

Vertical-axis wind-turbine generator to generate real wind-generation data

3 kW

PV array system SIM

A software-controlled dc source that simulates I-V and P-V curves
of a PV array system

90 kW

PV inverter

String PV inverters with a maximum power point tracking control
and external PQ curtailment control used for PV SIM

100 kW

Actual roof-top PV system

40 Canadian Solar PV panels CS6P-260P that cover the roof of two front
rooms; equipped with a PV inverter

10 kW

ESS

Lithium-ion battery pack (equipped with a battery management system)
and a bidirectional inverter

200 kW/200 kWh

Diesel generator

Diesel generator that can be operated in isochronous mode, droop mode,
and PQ mode with a remote control

90 kW

Programmable load banks

Two programmable load banks with resistive and inductive load elements,
which can be controlled remotely

200 kW

Capacitor bank

Three-phase capacitor bank to simulate capacitive inrush current
scenarios and provide reactive power

30 kVar

EV charger

EV chargers serving as a test load to assess microgrid resources'
response to electric-vehicle loads

7.2 kW

MCS

Hierarchical MCS to control and optimize microgrid operations

-

dynamic ES technologies, such as supercapacitor or flywheel ES, with a rated power of up to 250 kVA.

Diesel Generator
CANREL has a 90-kW diesel generator directly connected
to the microgrid bus at 600 V with a diesel-engine primemover, synchronous generator, and associated controllers.
The diesel generator has black-start capability to act as a
grid-forming unit and has synchronizing capability to
connect to the grid and grid simulator. The generator can
be operated in isochronous mode, droop mode, and PQ
mode with remote-control capability.

Programmable Load Banks
There are two programmable load banks with a combined capacity of 250 kVA. Each programmable load
bank has resistive (0-100 kW) and inductive (0-75 kVar)
load elements, which can be controlled remotely to simulate step changes in the load with various power factors and can accept various actual load-profile entries.
Three-phase, single-phase, and unbalanced load profiles
can be implemented using the load-bank controller.

Electric Vehicle Charger
Two 7.2-kW electric vehicle chargers are connected to the
microgrid bus serving as a test load to assess microgrid
resources' response to electric vehicle loads.

MCS
The measured data of voltage and current of all of the
aforementioned assets are collected by the data aggregator system and are transferred to the MCS. The MCS
has a hierarchical structure, various layers of controls, a
high-speed control layer to manage microgrid bus voltage and frequency, and a slower long-term control layer
to optimize microgrid operations, i.e., minimization of
cost and maximization of harvested renewable energy.
The EMS is part of the MCS, as discussed in detail in the
section "MCS."

Operating Modes
CANREL can be operated in four modes: 1) islanded,
2) grid-connected using the grid simulator, 3) utility gridconnected, and 4) transition, as described next.

Islanded Mode
Capacitor Bank
The facility has a 30-kVar, three-phase, 600-V capacitor
bank to simulate capacitive inrush current scenarios and
provide Q for certain load profiles.

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I E E E E l e c t r i f i cati o n M agaz ine / MARCH 2020

In this mode, CB 301 in Figure 2 is open, and one of the
grid-forming units, such as the diesel generator or BESS,
has to energize the microgrid bus. Once a grid-forming
unit energizes and establishes the microgrid voltage and
IEEE Electrification Magazine - March 2020

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