A Hybrid Communication Platform for Multi-Microgrid Energy Management System Optimization

This paper proposes the communication platform for Multi-Microgrid (MMG) Energy Management System (EMS) using combination of communication protocols in a hierarchical architecture. There is an Internet of Things (IoT) gateway designed in the proposed platform, which aims to connect multiple Microgrids to each other. Through the designed communication platform, bi-directional data exchange among the MGs for the optimal operation of the MGs could be achieved. Due to the high number of devices required to communicate in MMG optimization problems, a cloud-based server, which enables extensive data sharing and analysis of the collected data, is employed in this work. Modbus protocol is used for the local communication level, i.e. communications between the devices within an individual MG and the MG Central Controller (MGCC). Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol is adopted for communications between MGCCs and cloud. Furthermore, HTTP requests are the main communication method for interactions with the cloud channels. A virtual wide Area Network emulator (WANem machine) is adopted to emulate network latency in the system. In case of high latency in the network, MGCC takes action on delivering the optimization results for its Microgrid. The efficiency of the implemented platform for the EMS performance of the MMG is shown by comparing the total cost related to the MMG operation in centralized and distributed modes.