  This paper proposes a model predictive control (MPC)-based energy management
system to address communication failures in an islanded microgrid (MG). The
energy management system relies on a communication network to monitor and
control power generation in the units. A communication failure to a unit
inhibits the ability of the MPC to change the power of the unit. However, this
unit is electrically connected to the network and ignoring this aspect could
have adverse effect in the operation of the microgrid. Therefore, this paper
considers an MPC design that includes the electrical connectivity of the unit
during communication failures. This paper also highlights the benefit of
including the lower layer control behaviour of the MG to withstand
communication failures. The proposed approaches are validated with a case
study.
