Integrating distributed energy resources in real-world sector-coupled microgrids: challenges, strategies, and experimental insights

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the state of the art of energy management systems (EMS) in the context of microgrids and focuses on practical applications and challenges in real-life scenarios. The contribution centers around implementation and evaluation of a rule-based EMS within the Smart Energy System Laboratory (SESCL) at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Utilizing a specially developed EMS testbench, the behavior of the system is investigated in scenarios that reflect non-ideal conditions of real components. The real-time measurement campaign includes a systematic evaluation under two different scenarios: high renewable energy generation with low local consumption and vice versa. In addition to demonstrating and quantifying the performance of different EMS operating strategies, the experiments reveal unpredictable behaviors and challenges when integrating simulation-tested systems into practice. These results highlight the complexity associated with the transition from simulation-tested models to real-world applications.