Supervisor:
Juan C. Vasquez

Co-Supervisor:
Josep M. Guerrero

Assessment Committee:
Subham Sahoo (chair)
Associate Professor Muhammad Majid Gulzar, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM)
Professor Hamid Reza Shaker, Center for Energy Informatics, University of Southern Denmark

Moderator:
Sanjay Chaudhary

Abstract:

Microgrids significantly contribute to lowering dependence on fossil fuels
and moving towards decarbonization of power systems by integrating
renewable energy resources. MGs can enable the localized power generation and consumption towards clean energy transitions and a sustainable, resilient system. Even though the concept of microgrid has been extensively investigated to address energy sustainability and reliability disputes, several critical issues remain unresolved. For example, power outages in the main grid resulting from natural disasters, including tsunamis, floods, and earthquakes, can severely disrupt human life as usual and pose significant threats to human safety. These events introduce additional challenges related to the application of advanced control approaches, operating reliability, and vulnerability. Natural disasters often have an extensive impact on the electrical power system infrastructure and linked communication networks.
In many cases, such incidents lead to complete main grid blackouts, and
conventional generation plants close down as a protective measure to ensure operational safety.
In such scenarios, Mobile (ad-hoc) microgrids offer a viable short-term
emergency solution by supplying critical loads, such as potable water
pumping, and health camps in disaster-affected areas. Despite their potential, achieving resilience during severe grid disturbances remains a significant technical challenge for microgrids, particularly in enhancing their resilience and integrating renewable resources into the modern electric grid. Therefore, the development of robust and adaptive energy systems is essential to ensure continued operation, minimizing the risk of total power system collapse and enabling faster recovery and restoration of essential services.
Accordingly, this Ph.D. study focuses on the planning and operational
management system of microgrids to reinforce resilience in front of natural
disasters. The study includes the optimal planning (sizing/sitting) of mobile
and community microgrids to support essential services, such as medical
facilities, and ensure clean water availability in disaster-prone regions, having as the case study being the Lombok Island located in Indonesia. The system validation includes microgrid modeling and optimization methods while evaluating the Resilience Indexes using a 72-hour outage scenario.
Furthermore, a novel Operational Management System (OMS) has been
developed to optimize microgrid operations, prioritizing critical loads during
disasters. The research framework for the OMS is divided into two key
aspects: (1) resilience evaluation of renewable-based microgrids considering
diverse load profiles and operational uncertainties, and (2) a hierarchical
operational management for networked microgrids to improve system
resilience through mobile energy storage integration. The resilience index
assessment is conducted using 72-hour and 24-hour outage scenarios,
respectively.
This Ph.D. project was aligned to the research project entitled "Microgrid
Technologies for Remote Indonesian Islands (TECH-IN)", aiming to enhance
energy resilience and ensure a reliable electricity supply under natural
disasters.

Keywords: Microgrids, Renewable Energy Sources, Natural Disasters,
Planning, Operational Management Systems, Resilience, Ad-Hoc/Mobile
Microgrids, Community Microgrids, Networked Microgrids, Resilience Index.