A compact nanogrid with a behavior-tree control for islanded applications and remote areas

This paper proposes a compact nanogrid for home applications, in remote or isolated areas. The nanogrid is designed to easy the installation and to avoid relevant changes to existing equipment nor to the local electric system in the case of existing dwellings. The proposed nanogrid implements a centralized control; a single microcontroller performs low-level controllers of each power converter and dispatches powers in real time. The energy management system governs the nanogrid and applies specially designed rules; the authors propose a behavior tree to formalize these rules. The paper also presents a 1kW single-phase laboratory prototype of the proposed nanogrid along with a cost-effective solution useful for the remote monitoring and control of the nanogrid the nanogrid. Lastly, the paper ends by illustrating how the proposed nanogrid easily integrates with a commercial home automation system.