**Hybrid Microgrid Energy Management and Control Based on Metaheuristic-Driven Vector-Decoupled Algorithm Considering Intermittent Renewable Sources and Electric Vehicles Charging Lot**

#### **Tawfiq M. Aljohani, Ahmed F. Ebrahim and Osama Mohammed \***

Energy Systems Research Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33174, USA; Taljo005@fiu.edu (T.M.A.); aebra003@fiu.edu (A.F.E.)

**\*** Correspondence: mohammed@fiu.edu; Tel.: +1-305-348-3040

Received: 27 March 2020; Accepted: 25 June 2020; Published: 2 July 2020

**Abstract:** Energy managemen<sup>t</sup> and control of hybrid microgrids is a challenging task due to the varying nature of operation between AC and DC components which leads to voltage and frequency issues. This work utilizes a metaheuristic-based vector-decoupled algorithm to balance the control and operation of hybrid microgrids in the presence of stochastic renewable energy sources and electric vehicles charging structure. The AC and DC parts of the microgrid are coupled via a bidirectional interlinking converter, with the AC side connected to a synchronous generator and portable AC loads, while the DC side is connected to a photovoltaic system and an electric vehicle charging system. To properly ensure safe and efficient exchange of power within allowable voltage and frequency levels, the vector-decoupled control parameters of the bidirectional converter are tuned via hybridization of particle swarm optimization and artificial physics optimization. The proposed control algorithm ensures the stability of both voltage and frequency levels during the severe condition of islanding operation and high pulsed demands conditions as well as the variability of renewable source production. The proposed methodology is verified in a state-of-the-art hardware-in-the-loop testbed. The results show robustness and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in managing the real and reactive power exchange between the AC and DC parts of the microgrid within safe and acceptable voltage and frequency levels.

**Keywords:** Energy managemen<sup>t</sup> and control; particle swarm optimization (PSO); hybrid AC/DC microgrid; electric vehicle charging and discharging control; artificial physics optimization (APO)
