Recently, the IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS) announced the list of winners for the 2022 Prize Paper Award of IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics (TPEL). IEEE TPEL is the most influential academic journal in the field of international power electronics. The Prize Paper Award recognizes papers published in the journal that demonstrate outstanding originality, high writing quality, and significant potential applications in relevant fields. From the 1292 papers formally published throughout the year, TPEL selected 5 First Place Prize Papers, 9 Second Place Prize Papers, and 2 Prize Letters for the 2022 awards.

The paper titled “Priority-Driven Self-Optimizing Power Control Scheme for Interlinking Converters of Hybrid AC/DC Microgrid Clusters in Decentralized Manner,” authored by Dr. Hou Xiaochao (now an Associate Professor at Central South University), Associate Professor Sun Kai (corresponding author), and Associate Professor Zhang Ning from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Applied Electronics (EEA), received the 2022 TPEL Second Place Prize Paper.

The research in this paper focuses on the autonomous operation control of hybrid AC/DC microgrid clusters in new-type power systems. With the rapid integration of highly distributed new energy sources into new-type distribution grids in the form of microgrids, the system exhibits new characteristics such as significant random fluctuation in power flow, high demands for instantaneous balance, and challenges in broad and decentralized control. This calls for a new control mode based on the core principle of self-organized operation control, featuring “interlinking and decentralized self-optimization.” Interlinking converters are crucial devices that connect various sub-microgrids within hybrid AC/DC microgrid clusters, forming the physical foundation for power sharing optimization, uncertainty mitigation, and backup source sharing among microgrids. To address this, the paper proposes a power-interaction-based communication-free self-optimization control strategy for interlinking converters. This strategy fully considers the diverse heterogeneity of multiple sub-microgrids in terms of power capacity, source-load attributes, and load priority. By managing power flow interactions according to the “interlinking and decentralized” principles, interlinking converters act as intelligent edge control devices for flexible control within microgrid clusters. The proposed self-optimization control strategy for interlinking converters introduces a new mode for complex control of hybrid AC/DC microgrid clusters, achieving high-reliable power supply for critical loads and flexible regulation for non-critical loads under fluctuations in power source-load and communication failures. This guarantees enhanced system flexibility and economic optimization under uncertain power source-load conditions. The achievements of this paper offer innovative solutions for the construction and operation of distribution networks in new-type power systems and hold potential for large-scale applications.

Award-winning paper

Scheme of AC/DC hybrid microgrid clusters and interlinking converters

The collaborative authors of this paper also include Associate Professor Teng Fei from Imperial College London, Professor Tim C. Green, and Professor Zhang Xin from Zhejiang University. This work is one of the significant research achievements of the “Tsinghua University-Imperial College London Joint Research Center for Smart Power and Energy Systems” and is supported by the project “Interconnected Operation and Flexible Regulation of Conversion Equipment in Urban Smart Distribution Networks (52061635101)” of the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation -UK International Cooperation Program and the key project “Integrated Design and Optimization Control of New Energy Multi-Energy Complementary CCHP Systems (61733010)” of the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation.

Link to the list of award-winning papers:

https://www.ieee-pels.org/awards/pels-publications/tpel-prize-paper

Link to the full paper: Priority-Driven Self-Optimizing Power Control Scheme for Interlinking Converters of Hybrid AC/DC Microgrid Clusters in Decentralized Manner. Xiaochao Hou; Kai Sun; Ning Zhang; Fei Teng; Xin Zhang; Tim C. Green. Vol. 37, No. 5, May 2022, pp. 5970-5983.

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9632372