Senior Design Team sdmay21-46 • mobile microgrid for energy resiliency

Extended power outages and loss of access to emergency communication systems stemming from recent natural disasters, such as the Derecho storms in Iowa, Hurricane Delta, and wildfires in California, demonstrates the need for increased energy resiliency. The emergence of microgrids provides a viable method of enhancing energy resiliency. As such, this project is focused on designing and modeling viable microgrids in a mobile “plug and play” configuration. Each will be capable of providing power to a fiber optic communications hub, approximately a 12 kW constant load, and other elements of critical communications infrastructure.


Our project consists of three major parts:

  1. Collect performance data from an existing 15kW microgrid that is being developed by Iowa State University. This collection will be cloud-based so that the data can be accessed anywhere in real time. This information will be used within the simulations described below.
  2. Create a 800W microgrid (nanogrid) to test the viability of each component within a larger microgrid system. The focus of this nanogrid would be to integrate hydrogen electrolyzers and fuel cells with wind generation, solar generation, and traditional lithium ion batteries. Data would be collected from the nanogrid and utilized to fine tune the simulations in the final part of the project. A control system will be developed to manage the nanogrid and respond to changes in a load.
  3. Create (2) simulations for microgrid designs that could be used to support communications infrastructure in the event of power outage. The design models will be created in Matlab/Simulink using Simscape libraries as well as the data collected from the first two parts of the project to adjust for real-world behaviour. The components within the microgrid will be modeled after purchasable components on the public market. Additionally, weather data from national weather databases will be used to test the potential behaviour of the design. Economic and sustainability analysis will be done on each design to provide a more thorough report about the practicality of each design.