Microgrid Control

SEL microgrid control systems ensure the reliable, resilient delivery of electric power for critical infrastructure in many different areas:

• College campuses—integrate on-campus generation, keep the lights on, and protect critical facilities and research projects.
• Military bases—provide power system reliability and survivability with SEL powerMAX garrison microgrids and mobile tactical microgrids.
• Emergency services—keep hospitals, fire stations, police, and community centers operating during natural disasters and public emergencies.
• Data centers—provide an uninterrupted supply of high-quality electric power to keep servers running and data flowing.
• Manufacturing plants—keep critical processes running, and eliminate costly downtime.
• Commercial centers—keep the lights on and businesses running.
• Utility providers—implement microgrids at the distribution level to integrate DERs, keep emergency services powered, and improve reliability metrics. SEL powerMAX microgrid control systems can be integrated with DERMS and ADMS: Read the technical paper.

SEL powerMAX microgrid control systems quickly and seamlessly island the microgrid if the utility connection fails and automatically resynchronize when it’s time to reconnect. Subcycle, inertia-compensated powerMAX control algorithms prevent blackouts, even when closely timed events occur.

For instance, on a research campus, buildings that house biocontainment facilities cannot be allowed to lose power even momentarily. These facilities (whether a single building or a group of them) may operate like several smaller microgrids nested inside the larger, campus-wide microgrid. While this provides resiliency, it dramatically increases the control complexity. SEL powerMAX microgrid control systems are able to seamlessly handle multiple closely timed events in overlapping control zones.

SEL advanced control systems respond quickly and accurately to the rapidly changing power system dynamics of microgrids. Fast, intelligent load shedding and inertial compensation ensure that generation sources and other critical assets (e.g., transformers and points of common coupling between the utility and inverter-based sources) are protected under all operational conditions.

Strong cybersecurity defenses, with best-in-class secure networking, are integral to every SEL powerMAX microgrid control system.

We design and manufacture our control and protection hardware in the U.S.A., in facilities which we own and operate. All SEL control system components have a ten-year factory warranty—the best in the electric power industry.

A microgrid can automatically manage energy costs based on weather, fuel cost, utility rates, peak load times, and more. These factors can be predetermined or tied to dynamic inputs, such as market prices.

The microgrid control system also generates historical data that can be used for cost impact estimation and load and generation forecasting.

This allows you to implement energy storage and peak-shaving strategies to reduce energy cost and use renewable sources when they’re most advantageous.

Microgrids can include any number of distributed renewable resources and integrate them with other generation sources, giving their owners many options for reducing carbon emissions and pollution.

Wind and solar generation are variable and intermittent, which poses difficult challenges in a system that must supply reliable, consistent power. Aggregating them in a microgrid helps mitigate the problem by combining multiple sources into one generation output that is less variable than any single renewable source.

SEL control systems can proactively manage renewable sources, islanding them when necessary, managing battery storage, and metering and controlling their contribution to the rest of the grid.

SEL microgrid controls allow you to augment existing traditional generation sources (such as natural gas) with wind and solar. This gives you a practical way to tackle emissions reduction at a local level—ensuring reliable, high-quality electric power with a smaller environmental footprint.

In addition to our powerMAX microgrid control systems, SEL offers a robust distributed control solution that is suitable for smaller microgrids with a simple bus configuration.

We partner closely with microgrid owners and their contractors and integrators in planning, testing, and commissioning the control system. Our collaborative process sets clear, mutual expectations and a solid plan up front, so you can trust that there won’t be change orders, delays, or surprise costs on the back end.

Every SEL microgrid control system is specifically engineered to meet your desired energy management and economic outcomes, starting with either a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study or an investment-grade audit.

This affordable study helps define the desired operating philosophy, identify what’s feasible, and outline how the control system design will achieve the desired objectives.

The FEED study findings and recommendations cover topics such as:

• Site survey and document review covering the existing power system and any risks and limitations.
• Specifications for procurement of control, protection, and other equipment.
• Detailed description of the control solution, providing clear expectations for what will be delivered.
• Scope of work and a detailed price quotation.

With the FEED study in hand, you will be able to make an informed decision on what your ROI will look like when you move forward with your microgrid project.

We treat every powerMAX microgrid control system like a custom solution, specifically engineered to integrate with existing resources, protect valuable primary equipment, ensure safety, and achieve your desired economic and energy management outcomes.

SEL ensures system reliability through comprehensive hardware-in-the-loop testing performed in our Real Time Digital Simulator (RTDS) facility. Our customers are always invited to participate.

With the actual SEL hardware that will control your system installed in the RTDS test bed, we use our extensive library of validated power system models to run a multitude of tests—including scenarios too disastrous to test in the field—and verify that the microgrid controls perform exactly as designed, even under adverse conditions.

This testing process also helps us simplify commissioning the system, so there are no delays or unforeseen costs in the field.

Independent third-party evaluations—and performance in installations around the world—verify the effectiveness and reliability of SEL powerMAX microgrid systems.

SEL is the top vendor of microgrid control systems in the Guidehouse Insights 2021 microgrid controls leaderboard report, which evaluates the strengths of the world’s 16 leading microgrid control system providers.

The Guidehouse Insights leaderboard report evaluates microgrid control vendors on 12 metrics—including islanding ability, controls functionality, pricing, geographic reach, and market staying power—to arrive at composite scores for strategy and execution.

Navigant Research (now Guidehouse Insights) also recognized SEL as the industry leader in its 2018 leaderboard report.

In 2017, SEL powerMAX was recognized as the top-performing control system at a microgrid symposium hosted by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and the MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

Later that year, a powerMAX microgrid control system won a rigorous, 21-week procurement competition held by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

SEL outperformed the competition by achieving economical operation and superior stability under a wide array of difficult operating conditions. A powerMAX microgrid control system is now installed at the NREL Energy Systems Integration Facility, where it is used to test emerging microgrid technologies.

See how SEL powerMAX microgrid control systems integrate with a distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) and advanced distribution management system (ADMS) to help optimize the operational state of the wider distribution grid.