Publications

Microgrid Design Toolkit (MDT) Technical Documentation and Component Summaries

Arguello, Bryan A.; Eddy, John P.; Gearhart, Jared L.; Jones, Katherine A.

The Microgrid Design Toolkit (MDT) is a decision support software tool for microgrid designers to use during the microgrid design process. The models that support the two main capabilities in MDT are described. The first capability, the Microgrid Sizing Capability (MSC), is used to determine the size and composition of a new microgrid in the early stages of the design process. MSC is a mixed-integer linear program that is focused on developing a microgrid that is economically viable when connected to the grid. The second capability is focused on refining a microgrid design for operation in islanded mode. This second capability relies on two models: the Technology Management Optimization (TMO) model and Performance Reliability Model (PRM). TMO uses a genetic algorithm to create and refine a collection of candidate microgrid designs. It uses PRM, a simulation based reliability model, to assess the performance of these designs. TMO produces a collection of microgrid designs that perform well with respect to one or more performance metrics.