Mission Critical Microgrids: The Case of the Alcântara Space Center

César Augusto Santana Castelo Branco, Fabricio Pereira Moraes, Hércules Araújo Oliveira, Pedro Bezerra Leite Neto, Osvaldo Ronald Saavedra, José Gomes de Matos, Clóvis Bosco Mendonça Oliveira, Luiz Antonio de S. Ribeiro, Alexandre Cunha Oliveira, Marcelo Fernado Augusto Júnior, Lucas de Paula Assunção Pinheiro and Rogério Moreira Cazo
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César Augusto Santana Castelo Branco: Department of Electrical Engineering, Electrical Energy Institute, CCET, Federal University of Maranhão, Campus São Luís, Av. dos Portugueses, 1966-Vila Bacanga, São Luís 65080-805, MA, Brazil
Fabricio Pereira Moraes: Department of Electrical Engineering, Electrical Energy Institute, CCET, Federal University of Maranhão, Campus São Luís, Av. dos Portugueses, 1966-Vila Bacanga, São Luís 65080-805, MA, Brazil
Hércules Araújo Oliveira: Department of Electrical Engineering, Electrical Energy Institute, CCET, Federal University of Maranhão, Campus São Luís, Av. dos Portugueses, 1966-Vila Bacanga, São Luís 65080-805, MA, Brazil
Pedro Bezerra Leite Neto: Electrical Engineering Coordination CCEEB/CPBL, Federal University of Maranhão, Balsas 65800-000, MA, Brazil
Osvaldo Ronald Saavedra: Department of Electrical Engineering, Electrical Energy Institute, CCET, Federal University of Maranhão, Campus São Luís, Av. dos Portugueses, 1966-Vila Bacanga, São Luís 65080-805, MA, Brazil
José Gomes de Matos: Department of Electrical Engineering, Electrical Energy Institute, CCET, Federal University of Maranhão, Campus São Luís, Av. dos Portugueses, 1966-Vila Bacanga, São Luís 65080-805, MA, Brazil
Clóvis Bosco Mendonça Oliveira: Department of Electrical Engineering, Electrical Energy Institute, CCET, Federal University of Maranhão, Campus São Luís, Av. dos Portugueses, 1966-Vila Bacanga, São Luís 65080-805, MA, Brazil
Luiz Antonio de S. Ribeiro: Department of Electrical Engineering, Electrical Energy Institute, CCET, Federal University of Maranhão, Campus São Luís, Av. dos Portugueses, 1966-Vila Bacanga, São Luís 65080-805, MA, Brazil
Alexandre Cunha Oliveira: Department Electrical Engineering, Federal University of Campina Grande, R. Aprígio Veloso, 882-Universitário, Campina Grande 58428-830, PB, Brazil
Marcelo Fernado Augusto Júnior: Equatorial Energia, Av. Dep. Luís Eduardo Magalhães, s/n-Cohafuma, São Luís 65071-680, MA, Brazil
Lucas de Paula Assunção Pinheiro: Equatorial Energia, Av. Dep. Luís Eduardo Magalhães, s/n-Cohafuma, São Luís 65071-680, MA, Brazil
Rogério Moreira Cazo: Brazilian Air Force/Alcântara Space Center, Alcântara 65250-000, MA, Brazil

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 9, 1-24

Abstract: This article reports the conception and design of a mission critical microgrid to serve a critical infrastructure application, namely, the Alcântara Space Launch Center, a government military facility in Brazil. The assumptions, general characteristics, requirements and particularities arising from the application are established and discussed in detail. High resilience and energy security are required in critical periods of operation, demanding a power supply infrastructure composed of redundant and dispachable sources capable of supporting n − 1 generation contingencies. Whereas, in the remaining time, economic and environmental aspects take place as main requests. Operation scenarios, on both grid-connected (on-grid) and isolated (off-grid) modes, are formulated as optimization problems and simulations have been performed to analyze these scenarios, which are reported and analyzed here. The off-grid operation, which is clearly more complex, is preferentially addressed, especially in scenarios with contingencies. In this context, the proposed microgrid is conceived to satisfactorily balance requirements such as the economy, pollutant emission reduction, high reliability, resilience and operational security, which are requested by this critical infrastructure application.

Keywords: critical infrastructure; mission critical microgrids; renewable resources; reliability; resilience; operational security; uninterrupted off-grid operation; green operation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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