IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - May/June 2017 - 69

Genset
410 kVA

BESS
Genset 752 kWh
Back Up 200 kW
275 kVA (per 3 h)

PV
Plant
200 kW

Wind
Turbine
30 kW

Load
RES

Genset
BESS
BESSActualSOC

250
200

150
~

100
50

P_max_day ≈ 105 ± 10 kW
Dem_day ≈ 2,050 ± 300 kWh

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23

380 V

Demand

-50
-100
-150

(a)

(b)

figure 3. The Ollagüe microgrid: (a) a microgrid diagram and (b) black start capability.

summer months, the temperature can be greater than 40 ºC,
causing consumers to use air-conditioning equipment that
makes the summer seasonal demand more than six times
greater than winter. Thus, the dimensioning of the resource
mix was a critical task. This installed capacity in the Puertecitos microgrid makes it a highly flexible system able to
provide power supply for different scenarios. Figure 5 shows
the seasonal variation of demand behavior in the Puertecitos
microgrid, with (a) a low demand scenario and (b) the summer peak season.

Battery PV Power
Bank
Plant
522 kWh
55 kW

Inverter
100 kW

Wind
Power Plant
5 kW

Diesel
Genset
75 kVA

=
~

Lessons and Methodological Approach
From our experiences with these microgrids, different lessons about the resilience capabilities of distribution systems
are summarized below.
✔ The engagement of the local community in the design, operation, and maintenance of a microgrid allows a for a cost-effective provision of a power supply
with resilient characteristics and with high social
acceptance rates. Thus, new business models and pricing schemes can be developed for users in a distribution system.
✔ Dependency on a single energy source can be avoided when microgrids are adequately designed; the
incorporation of local distributed energy resources
offers the opportunity to endure disturbances when
a resource is not available. For instance, in the Huatacondo case, when the wind turbine was offline
because of a huge storm, the microgrid did not lose
its functionality.
✔ Microgrids incorporate security characteristics that facilitate a quick and robust response to specific disturbances
such as black start capability, load control, and voltage/
frequency control features that allow the system to remain within the operational standards without risk for
may/june 2017

Consumption
20 Households

figure 4. A diagram of the Puertecitos microgrid.

the local community. This was observed on the Ollagüe
microgrid when a major fault occurred, and the system
quickly returned to operation.
✔ Extreme environmental conditions, as is the case of
Puertecitos and Ollague (involving both daily and seasonal temperature variations of up to 20 ºC), converge
in technical solutions with high flexibility.
✔ Demand response and active community participation are also significant characteristics of isolated microgrids that contribute to the resilience of the whole
system. In the Huatacondo case, during the "venida,"
community members also reduced their energy consumption so the stocked fuel and the local energy resources were enough to cover electricity consumption.
✔ All the resilience features identified at the microgrid
level, from the economic point of view, are related to
capital expenditures. This means that there is little
ieee power & energy magazine

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - May/June 2017