Microgrid Design Toolkit (MDT)
The Microgrid Design Toolkit (MDT) is a software tool for microgrid designers that is intended to be used in the early stages of the design process. The tool uses powerful search algorithms to identify and characterize alternative microgrid design decisions in terms of user-defined objectives such as cost, performance, and reliability. Using the MDT, a designer can effectively search through large design spaces for efficient alternative; investigate the simultaneous impacts of several design decisions; derive defensible, quantitative evidence for decisions; gain a quantitative understanding of the tradeoff relationships between design objectives; and gain a quantitative understanding of the trade-offs associated with alternate technological design decisions. The MDT and its underlying technologies have been used by a number of projects and agencies, including the Smart Power Infrastructure Demonstration and Energy Reliability and Security (SPIDERS) project, the City of Hoboken, the NJ backup power system, and the US Marine Corps Expeditionary Energy Office. The MDT was awarded a 2017 R&D 100 award.