Autonomous Decentralized Cooperative Control DC Microgrid Deployed in Residential Areas

This paper presents a novel DC microgrid configuration tailored for residential applications, aiming to harness renewable energy and enhance resilience against the growing threats of natural disasters and cyber-physical attacks—factors that increasingly expose the fragility of existing power grid systems. The proposed system employs autonomous decentralized cooperative control and introduces a distinctive battery-integrated DC-baseline architecture, wherein distributed batteries are directly connected to the grid’s baseline. This topology streamlines control: distributed batteries directly connected to the baseline handle forming and maintaining core grid, while DC/DC converters are dedicated solely to power exchange between power devices. A key factor is to employ weak-coupling grid for realizing autonomous decentralized control. By using the configuration, the system minimizes inter-device interference, thereby obtaining control independence of local devices. Comprehensive MATLAB/Simulink simulations of a four-house DC microgrid—modeled on a typical Japanese residential setting—demonstrate that an optimal configuration with 5 kW solar panels and 20 kWh batteries per household can achieve a renewable energy ratio exceeding 50%, while maintaining stable grid operation year-round, even with electric vehicle charging. The proposed system offers a balanced design with an estimated battery lifetime of approximately 25 years, paving the way for sustainable, resilient, and locally governed energy infrastructures.