UC Irvine

The need for exceptional grid reliability and resiliency has become ever more important with the increasing dependence on electrical power in the digital age and more frequent and severe weather events resulting in a disturbance in power delivery. Using on-site energy sources, microgrids have been proven to enhance the reliability and resiliency of critical loads and overall protection during grid outages. With the focused attention on microgrid implementation, this dissertation addresses achieving high reliability and resiliency for two distinct applications: (1) a classic microgrid, and (2) utility distribution feeders operated as a microgrid, both of which are modeled with an IEEE 2030.7 compliant microgrid controller enhanced with self-healing capabilities. The University of California Irvine Microgrid serves as the classic microgrid, and two 12kV circuit feeders at the Southern California Edison 66kV MacArthur substation serve as utility distribution feeder microgrids.The study first enhances and tests the self-healing capabilities of the controller. Second, the efficacy of the enhanced controller is tested for the classic microgrid to assess the impact on reliability and resiliency while islanded, including the utility of battery electric buses as a resiliency attribute during islanded operations. Third, the of the concept of managing utility distribution feeders is assessed in terms of energy sustainability, restoration, and energization with various distributed energy resources within the system including a fuel cell generator, demand response, and vehicle-to-grid energy support. The results show that (1) the reliability and resiliency of critical loads can be enhanced by interconnected circuits with rapidly dispatched switching, (2) firm power generation in combination with demand response are essential in supporting an islanded microgrid, and (3) plug-in electric vehicles including battery electric buses can both enhance resiliency and serve as a flexible energy resource by enabling Mobility Services+ for both an islanded microgrid (e.g., hospitals, fire stations, grocery stores) and a distribution feeder. Examples include the deployment of battery electric buses to serve critical loads within the microgrid, serve as a blackstart resource should the microgrid prime power generator trip, and support community assets outside the microgrid.