## 5 Performance Evaluation

Table 5: Node location, type and distributed energy resources (DER) nominal power an in [26]. However, both simulated scenarios have a low energy efficiency and a new approach to optimize microgrid operation is proposed. The hybrid methodology automatically adapts the communication network load due to grid operation status and load shedding (see dotted magenta line). The communication is no longer considered a priority load, as shown in Table 2, and, now, it fits the grid needs to achieve maximum energy efficiency. As a way to achieve maximum energy efficiency, the proposed hybrid method assumes four different stages for the communication load. After the disturbance at Bus 800, as shown in Figure 2b, the EMS changes its status to normal operation mode and the communication network, which supports medium priority loads enters in soft sleep mode, and the communication load from low priority loads enters in long sleep modes. At 11:00 a.m., the EMS changes the grid operation status to emergency  
Figure 2: **(a)** comparison of power consumption for several methodologies; (**b**) comparison of state of charge for several methodologies. mode, shedding low priority loads and the fossil-based sources are turned on continuously to increase the power generation. The hybrid methodology increases the microgrid survivals time in 190 min compared with the full active systems method (compare the dotted magenta line with dotted blue line) and almost 110 min compared with the sleep modes implementation (see the dotted red line and dotted magenta line). The EMS manage control adapts its operation due to system changes, taking action to save more energy. The proposed hybrid technique evaluates the new demand management conditions described in Tables 3 and 4. Figure 3 shows the power consumption of highest priority customers of each simulated scenario. The results show an improvement in the overall performance of the hybrid system compared to the one with active communications. The system adaptation due to changes in the operation status increases the overall energy supply availability. As a way to exemplify the hybrid methodology efficiency, the power consumption per square meter for each simulated scenario is calculated from Equation (2). Figure 4 shows the consumed energy over the testbed scenario. A better energy efficiency is achieved with the hybrid methodology, which means less power consumption per square kilometer. This goal is only possible due to the EMS control management, which adapts accordingly microgrid operation status changes for most of the time. The proposed method has, in general, a good efficiency and provides more grid autonomy compared with the other methodologies. As a way to establish a reliable communication link, the system reliability must be high and the communication link always active. However, due to intermittent sources of energy, the system must shed loads to achieve greater resiliency. Thus, with lack of power and the shutdown of some base stations' devices, the communication network becomes less reliable, losing communication skills. At 1:45 p.m., the EMS changes its operation status from emergency to critical mode operation. At this moment, the low and medium priority customers are shed, as their communication network. Thus, if any disturbance happens in any given period, there is a need to wait for the BS to wake up and take the proper actions. According to Table 3, the communication system will not be able to perform activities related to particular smart applications, due to the incompatibility of the response time and the wake up time. At this point, the trade-off between energy efficiency and intelligent microgrid applications becomes evident. Figure 3: Comparison of power consumption from the highest priority customers. From Figure 5, the system reliability can be observed at each operation mode over time. The loss in the system reliability is evident due to the energy saving actions taken by the EMS control, in order to optimize and maximize the supply time.