ABSTRACT Microgrids offer a viable solution to power outages by integrating distributed energy resources (DERs) to ensure a reliable, localised power supply. This paper presents a two‐layered power management system (PMS) for a microgrid cluster, utilising a wide area measurement system (WAMS) to enhance operational reliability. In the proposed two‐layer PMS, the first layer implements a centralized PMS for individual microgrid operation and the second layer employs a supervisory PMS for microgrid cluster management. The proposed PMS addresses the critical challenge of power imbalance arising from rapid load fluctuations and the stochastic nature of renewable‐based DERs. The system is implemented on a modified IEEE 33‐bus test system, configured as a microgrid cluster comprising residential and commercial microgrids. Two algorithms, a load prioritization algorithm (LPA) and a conventional load shedding algorithm (LSA), are developed and implemented within the phasor data concentrator (PDC) to manage power deficit and surplus. Both algorithms facilitate the power transactions by prioritising loads according to a priority factor and their performance is compared against each other. To ensure practical equivalence to real distribution systems, diverse load categories are incorporated. The system is validated through comprehensive case studies in MATLAB/Simulink and also demonstrated via real‐time validation using an OPAL‐RT (OP4510).
Khare et al. (Thu,) studied this question.