Smart Loads for Power Quality and Battery Lifetime Improvement in Nanogrids

Low-inertia power generation units make nanogrids vulnerable to voltage and power fluctuations leading to unreliable operation and stability deterioration. Smart load is a potential solution for dealing with these stability challenges and improving the power quality in nanogrids. This paper proposes a configuration and control scheme for smart loads to regulate the voltage of critical loads, and consequently compensate the active and reactive power imbalances between generation side and critical load demand in nanogrids. The proposed smart load is capable of mitigating voltage and power oscillations caused by load variations, fluctuations in power generation, abnormal grid conditions, etc. Moreover, implementation of the proposed smart load configuration results in size reduction and lifetime improvement of central battery bank in nanogrids. Several case studies are carried out to validate the viability of the proposed configuration and control scheme for smart loads.