creator Che, Liang advisor Shahidehpour, Mohammad Distributed Energy Resource (DER) which includes distributed generation (DG), distributed storage system, and adjustable loads is a key component in microgrid operations. Microgrids could be clustered at distribution levels to enhance the economics and the reliability of small DGs such as microturbines and wind generation turbines as well as DGs with power electronic interfaces such as photovoltaic (PV) arrays and fuel cells. Microgrid is a small electric power system integrated with on-site DERs to serve all or some portion of the local load which is connected to the utility grid through the point of common coupling (PCC). Microgrids can operate in both grid-connected mode and island mode. The structure and components of hierarchical control for a microgrid at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) are discussed and analyzed. Case studies would address the reliable and economic operation of IIT microgrid. The simulation results of IIT microgrid operation demonstrate that the hierarchical control and the coordination strategy of distributed energy resources (DERs) is an effective way of optimizing the economic operation and the reliability of microgrids. The protection is one of the crucial challenges of microgrid operation. Traditional protection schemes for radial distribution networks will not work successfully in microgrids without much modification. The protection scheme of IIT microgrid is discussed. Based on the fault current contributed by synchronous generators in island mode, the IIT microgrid adopts a localized differential protection scheme with adaptive xiv relay settings which feature a multi-level backup protection strategy. The proposed protection scheme would utilize the looped structure of IIT microgrid for enhancing the reliability of microgrid operation. The simulation results of IIT microgrid protection show the effectiveness of the proposed protection scheme. Submitted by Liana Khananashvili (khananashvili@iit.edu) on 2013-11-13T20:06:20Z No. of bitstreams: 1 MS Thesis_Liang Che_Jul.2013.pdf: 5883751 bytes, checksum: d803bf36cd159aaf0504bf0e9fb65a65 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2013-11-13T20:06:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MS Thesis_Liang Che_Jul.2013.pdf: 5883751 bytes, checksum: d803bf36cd159aaf0504bf0e9fb65a65 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-07 M.S. in Electrical Engineering, July 2013 2013 2013-07 http://hdl.handle.net/10560/3145 en Thesis born digital application/pdf In Copyright http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/ Restricted Access ECE / Electrical and Computer Engineering Illinois Institute of Technology Affiliated department