Abstract
Nowadays, the development of smart grids has been the focus of attention due
to its advantages for power systems. One of the aspects of smart grids defined by using
distributed generation (DG) in a low voltage network is a microgrid (MG). Based on its
operational states, MG can operate in different configurations such as grid-connected mode
or off-grid mode. The switching between these states is one of the challenging issues in
this technical area. The fault currents in different buses have higher value compared to
islanded mode of MG when the MG is connected to the main grid, which influences the
protection equipment. In this situation, some electrical devices may be damaged due to the
fault currents. Application of a fault current limiter (FCL) is considered as an effective way
to overcome this challenge. The optimal size of these FCLs can optimize the performance
of an MG. In this paper, an index for FCL size optimization has been used. In addition,
two optimization algorithms (Bat Algorithm and Cuckoo Search Algorithm) have been
applied to the problem. The application of an FCL has been studied in grid-connected and
islanded-mode. In addition, the application of the capacitor bank in both modes has been
investigated. The results of simulations carried out by MATLAB have been presented and
compared.
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Authors and Affiliations
Ali Asghar Khodadoost Arani