Systems Engineering Commons^™

Optimization Of Islanded Utility-Microgrids After Natural Disasters, Rodney Kizito

Doctoral Dissertations

Natural disasters can cause widespread disturbances/power outages within distribution networks and hinder a utility’s ability to provide uninterrupted power supply to the critical public buildings (e.g., hospitals, grocery stores, fire, police and gas stations) within the utility’s serviced region. Backup generators, which are typically relied on during power interruptions, have limited capacities and have been reported to experience failures during usage. Microgrids, defined as localized power grids that incorporate distributed generators (DGs) and energy storage systems (ESSs) to allow them to operate independent of the main grid (i.e., island mode), can help utilities provide disaster relief power supply to critical …