DC Microgrids and Distribution Systems: An Overview

In this paper, an overview of the most recent advances in DC power systems is presented. Due to the significantly increasing interest that DC power systems have been gaining lately, researchers investigated several of the issues that need to be considered during this transition interval from current conventional power systems into modern smart grids involving DC microgrids. The efforts of these researchers were mostly directed towards studying the feasibility of implementing DC distribution on a given application, some DC distribution design-related aspects such as the system architecture or its voltage level, or the challenges associated with DC power systems protection. These research efforts were categorized, presented, discussed and analyzed in this paper.