Microgrid powered by renewable sources to obtain the resilience in an urban settlement: a case study

Nowadays microgrid technologies play a relevant role in the research field as well as in the commercial market. The opportunity to provide electricity in wide areas without using centralized electrical infrastructure networks is a reliable key for achieving the European Union sustainability goals. In this regard, the proposed research aims at describing an electric microgrid configuration powered by a photovoltaic system, supplying three school buildings located in the Centre of Italy. Additionally, the resilience theme is deeply investigated, analyzing the use of an emergency generator system in case of electric grid blackouts. Matlab/Simulink was chosen to simulate the users’ energy demand as well as to calculate the microgrid performance. Results show that almost the total consumption of the microgrid is covered by the photovoltaic system, and the use of an emergency generator system allows energy resilience and moderate economic savings for the community.