A method of controlling a micro-grid network, wherein the network includes a plurality of distributed energy resources including at least one dispatchable energy resource and at least one intermittent energy resource, wherein at least one distributed energy resource is an energy storage element and at least one of the intermittent energy resources is responsive to environmental conditions to generate power, the method comprising:
- providing a controller comprising a processor, a memory coupled to the processor and an adder, the memory having installed thereon a computer-executable code defining a steady state control module and a dynamic control module;
- recording, in the memory, at least one operational constraint corresponding to each distributed energy resource;
- receiving, by the processor, one or more system wide signals representative of a predicted change to the network, wherein the predicted change comprises an environmental condition prediction;
- periodically generating, in a predetermined frequency, by the steady state control module, a component control signal for each distributed energy resource in a first set of distributed energy resources, including the energy storage element, based on the environmental condition prediction and the at least one operational constraint corresponding to the respective distributed energy resource, wherein the component control signal defines a steady state set-point for each distributed energy resource of the first set of the distributed energy resources;
- receiving, by the processor, one or more network disturbance signals representative of a sudden change within the network;
- selecting, by the dynamic control module, from the plurality of distributed energy resources, a second set of distributed energy resources having respective at least one operational constraints suitable to be engaged to address the sudden change within the network, the second set of distributed energy resources having at least the energy storage element and at least one other type of distributed energy resource in common with the first set of distributed energy resources;
- dynamically generating, by the dynamic control module, a dynamic control signal for each distributed energy resource in the second set of distributed energy resources, based on the one or more network disturbance signals and the at least one operational constraint corresponding to the respective distributed energy resource to address the sudden change within the network, the dynamic control signal defining a set-point perturbation to the respective steady state set-points of each distributed energy resources in the second set of distributed energy resources;
- combining, using the adder, the steady state set-point of each distributed energy resources in the second set of distributed energy resources generated by the steady state control module with the respective set-point perturbation of each distributed energy resources in the second set of distributed energy resources generated by the dynamic control module to generate an overall control signal;
- and
- maintaining a voltage and a frequency of the network within a predetermined range with the overall control signal.