Self-Protective Inverters Against Malicious Setpoints Using Analytical Reference Models

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This article presents the concept of self-protective inverters using steady-state and dynamic reference models. The self-protection strategy inspects incoming setpoints from the utility operator or third-party aggregators using analytical reference models before engaging the setpoints to the inverter's local controller. When a malicious setpoint passes the existing security layers, a smart inverter can examine the integrity of an incoming setpoint in real-time. The efficacy of the self-protection strategy has been tested using a laboratory setup, including a three-phase 3 kVA inverter and a 12 kW regenerative grid emulator. The results verify that the analytical steady-state and dynamic models can provide device-level protection for grid-interactive inverters by preventing harmful setpoints from getting engaged to the local controller.