Sustainable energy solutions in Colombia based on isolated DC microgrids
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.redin.20250878Keywords:
Energy transition, levelized cost of energy, net present cost, non-conventional renewable energy sources, non-interconnected zones, regulationAbstract
Nowadays the world’s energy transition is transforming the paradigm of how power systems are being developed. This is causing new alternative systems to be included into these power grids. One of these alternatives is the DC microgrids that, due to their reliability, operability, and control characteristics, are currently considered sustainable solutions within this energy transition. This paper outlines the inclusion of DC microgrids as a technological solution to the problem of Non-Interconnected Zones (NIZ) in Colombia. Specifically, this study presents a detailed comparison of a DC microgrid with respect to an AC microgrid, discusses regulatory issues for the inclusion of these elements in the National Interconnected System (NIS), and evaluates a case study in a NIZ of Colombia such as Vigía del Fuerte in Antioquia. Based on the results, it is clearly deduced that DC microgrids are a feasible and profitable solution in NIZ in Colombia and these DC small-scale grids may decrease the total Net Present Cost (NPC) and the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) by 10% for both, compared to AC microgrids for different microgrid configurations. Additionally, regarding these sustainable initiatives, it is essential to standardize the procedures associated with the commissioning of the microgrids, especially with the aspects of connection, protections, and operational adjustments if required by the regional utility company.
Downloads
References
@article{Marques2022,
title={Renewable energy in sustainable supply chain: A review}, url={https://revistas.udea.edu.co/index.php/ingenieria/article/view/344945},
DOI={10.17533/udea.redin.20210956},
number={104},
journal={Revista Facultad de Ingeniería Universidad de Antioquia}, author={Marques, Eduardo do Carmo and de Almeida Guimarães, Vanessa and de Azevedo-Ferreira, Maxwel and Mancebo Boloy, Ronney Arismel}, year={2022},
month={May},
pages={152–167}
}
@article{Lopez2021,
title={Electric power management in a microgrid analyzing photovoltaic arrays and a turbine-generator system},
url={https://revistas.udea.edu.co/index.php/ingenieria/article/view/344947}, DOI={10.17533/udea.redin.20210951},
number={104},
journal={Revista Facultad de Ingeniería Universidad de Antioquia},
author={López-Meraz, Raúl Alberto and Hernández-Callejo, Luis and Jamed Boza, Luis Omar and Del Ángel Ramos, Jorge Arturo and Marín Hernández, Juan José and Gómez, Victor Alonso},
year={2021},
month={Sep.},
pages={129–139}
}
@incollection{ZULUAGAR21,
title = {Probabilistic {A}nalysis in {DC} {G}rids},
editor = {Alejandro Garcés},
booktitle = {Modeling, Operation, and Analysis of DC Grids},
publisher = {Academic Press},
pages = {175-191},
year = {2021},
isbn = {978-0-12-822101-3},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-822101-3.00012-5},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128221013000125},
author = {Carlos D. {Zuluaga R.}},
keywords = {Bayesian inference, DC grids, Probabilistic power flow},
}
@ARTICLE{Garces18,
author={A. Garc'es},
journal={IEEE Transactions on Power Systems},
title={On the Convergence of {N}ewton's Method in Power Flow Studies for {DC} Microgrids},
year={2018},
volume={33},
number={5},
pages={5770-5777},
keywords={Newton method;Convergence;Microgrids;Master-slave;Mathematical model;Voltage control;Admittance;DC grids;load flow;Newton–Raphson;microgrids;decoupled load flow},
doi={10.1109/TPWRS.2018.2820430},
ISSN={0885-8950},
month={Sept}
}
@article{ZULUAGARIOS22,
title = {Stochastic voltage estimation for islanded DC grids},
journal = {Electric Power Systems Research},
volume = {210},
pages = {108074},
year = {2022},
issn = {0378-7796},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsr.2022.108074},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037877962200298X},
author = {Carlos D. Zuluaga-Ríos and Cristian Guarnizo-Lemus},
keywords = {Stochastic prediction, DC-microgrid state, Linear regression},
}
@Article{Zuluaga22,
AUTHOR = {Zuluaga-Ríos, Carlos D. and Villa-Jaramillo, Alejandro and Saldarriaga-Zuluaga, Sergio D.},
TITLE = {Evaluation of Distributed Generation and Electric Vehicles Hosting Capacity in Islanded DC Grids Considering EV Uncertainty},
JOURNAL = {Energies},
VOLUME = {15},
YEAR = {2022},
NUMBER = {20},
ARTICLE-NUMBER = {7646},
URL = {https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/20/7646},
ISSN = {1996-1073},
DOI = {10.3390/en15207646}
}
@article{Rodriguez2021,
title={A Comprehensive Review of Sustainability in Isolated Colombian Microgrids},
volume={25},
url={https://revistas.udistrital.edu.co/index.php/Tecnura/article/view/18619},
DOI={10.14483/22487638.18619},
number={70},
journal={Tecnura},
author={Rodriguez Zabala, Alejandra and López-García, Dahiana and Carvajal-Quintero, Sandra Ximena and Arango Manrique, Adriana}, year={2021},
month={oct.},
pages={126–145}
}
@techreport{IPSE2022,
author = "IPSE",
title = "Informe de telemetria Abril de 2022",
institution = "Instituto de Planificación y Promoción de Soluciones Energéticas para las Zonas No
Interconectadas",
year = "2022"
}
@article{Quijano19,
author = {Nicanor Quijano and Ang'elica Pedraza and Miguel Vel'asquez and Guillermo Jim'enez Estevez and Ángela Cadena Monroy y Jorge Becerra y Álvaro Ram'irez},
title = {Microrredes aisladas en La Guajira: diseño e implementación},
journal = {Revista de Ingenier'ia},
volume = {0},
number = {48},
year = {2019},
keywords = {Energ'ia, microrredes, La Guajira, Ingenier'ia, solar, e'olica},
issn = {20110049},
url = {https://ojsrevistaing.uniandes.edu.co/ojs/index.php/revista/article/view/998}
}
@article{Lopez2018,
title={Metodolog'ia y evaluaci'on de recursos energ'eticos renovables: implementaci'on de microrredes aisladas},
volume={12},
url={https://revistas.udistrital.edu.co/index.php/visele/article/view/14260}, DOI={10.14483/22484728.14260},
number={2},
journal={Visión electrónica},
author={Lopez Castrillon, Yuri Ulianov and Gaviria Cataño, Fabian Andr'es},
year={2018},
month={dic.},
pages={162–172},
}
@INPROCEEDINGS{Armenta21,
author={Armenta, Santiago and Robinson, Christian and Bernal-Rubio, Kevin and Mar'in, Luis G. and Jim'enez-Estévez, Guillermo and Mendoza, Patricio},
booktitle={2021 IEEE CHILEAN Conference on Electrical, Electronics Engineering, Information and Communication Technologies (CHILECON)},
title={Microgrid planning for isolated communities in Nuquí Colombia – IEEE CHILECON},
year={2021},
volume={},
number={},
pages={1-6},
doi={10.1109/CHILECON54041.2021.9703004}
}
@INPROCEEDINGS{Melo15,
author={Melo, Michael G. and Pantoja, Wendy and Pantoja, Andr'es},
booktitle={2015 IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Latin America (ISGT LATAM)},
title={Model and simulation of a microgrid based on a traditional electrical infrastructure},
year={2015},
volume={},
number={},
pages={695-700},
doi={10.1109/ISGT-LA.2015.7381241}
}
@article{bharath2019,
title={A review on DC microgrid control techniques, applications and trends},
author={Bharath, KR and Krishnan, Mithun M and Kanakasabapathy, P},
journal={International Journal of Renewable Energy Research (IJRER)},
volume={9},
number={3},
pages={1328--1338},
year={2019}
}
@techreport{christensen2011beopt,
title={BEopt™(Building Energy Optimization Tool)},
author={Christensen, Craig and Horowitz, Scott and others},
year={2011},
institution={National Renewable Energy Lab.(NREL), Golden, CO (United States)}
}
@book{farret2006,
title={Integration of alternative sources of energy},
author={Farret, Felix A and Sim{~o}es, Marcelo Godoy},
volume={504},
year={2006},
publisher={Wiley Online Library}
}
@article{gayatri2018,
title={A review of reactive power compensation techniques in microgrids},
author={Gayatri, MTL and Parimi, Alivelu M and Kumar, AV Pavan},
journal={Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews},
volume={81},
pages={1030--1036},
year={2018},
publisher={Elsevier}
}
@article{lotfi2015,
title={AC versus DC microgrid planning},
author={Lotfi, Hossein and Khodaei, Amin},
journal={IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid},
volume={8},
number={1},
pages={296--304},
year={2015},
publisher={IEEE}
}
@article{solanki2017,
title={A sustainable energy management system for isolated microgrids},
author={Solanki, Bharatkumar V and Bhattacharya, Kankar and Ca{~n}izares, Claudio A},
journal={IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy},
volume={8},
number={4},
pages={1507--1517},
year={2017},
publisher={IEEE}
}
@article{strunz2013,
title={DC microgrid for wind and solar power integration},
author={Strunz, Kai and Abbasi, Ehsan and Huu, Duc Nguyen},
journal={IEEE Journal of emerging and selected topics in Power Electronics},
volume={2},
number={1},
pages={115--126},
year={2013},
publisher={IEEE}
}
@article{UPME2020,
title={Plan de expansión de referencia generación - transmisión 2020- 2034},
author={UPME},
journal={Unidad de Planeación Minero Energética},
year={2020},
publisher={Minenergía}
}
@misc{Maps2022,
title = "Vigía del Fuerte",
author = "{Google}",
howpublished = "url{https://www.google.com.co/maps}",
year = 2022,
note = "Accessed: 2022-06-07"
}
@ARTICLE{IEEE9-2019,
author={},
journal={IEEE Std 2030.9-2019},
title={IEEE Recommended Practice for the Planning and Design of the Microgrid},
year={2019},
volume={},
number={},
pages={1-46},
doi={10.1109/IEEESTD.2019.8746836}
}
@article{CIGRE2021,
title={Regulación, normativa y nuevos mercados en microrredes en el sector eléctrico colombiano},
author={CIGRE},
year={2021}
}
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Revista Facultad de Ingeniería Universidad de Antioquia
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Revista Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Antioquia is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en
You are free to:
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
Under the following terms:
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
The material published in the journal can be distributed, copied and exhibited by third parties if the respective credits are given to the journal. No commercial benefit can be obtained and derivative works must be under the same license terms as the original work.
Twitter