Inertia Emulation Research Articles

Guest Editorial Control and Grid Integration of MW-Range Wind and Solar Energy Conversion Systems

The papers in this special section focus on control and power grid integration of MW-range wind and solar energy conversion systems. Globally, the energy provided by intermittent sources has been steadily increasing. For instance, the electrical energy now supplied worldwide by wind turbines has increased by a factor of more than three with respect to the 2008 figure. Solar-based energy generation has increased by more than ten times over the same period. In total, worldwide electrical energy consumption increased by approximately 6340 TWh from 2003 to 2013. Of that increase, about 11% was covered by a combination of wind power (564.8 TWh) and solar power (122.8 TWh). To meet the challenges created by intermittent energy generation sources, grid operators have increasingly demanded more stringent technical requirements for the connection and operation of grid-connected intermittent energy systems, for instance concerning fault ride through capability, voltage and frequency support, inertia emulation, etc. These considerations, combined with an ever-increasing push for lower cost, higher efficiency and higher reliability, are leading to a steady technological evolution in the areas related to intermittent energy conversion systems. Ongoing developments include new or improved high-voltage converters, power converters with higher power density, control systems to provide ride-through capability, implementation of redundancy schemes to provide more reliable generation systems, and the use of high-voltage direct current (HVdc) links for the connection of large off-shore intermittent energy systems. In all of these technological advances, industrial electronics is undeniably a key core contributor.

Inertia Emulation in AC/DC Interconnected Power Systems Using Derivative Technique Considering Frequency Measurement Effects

Virtual inertia is known as an inevitable part of the modern power systems with high penetration of renewable energy. Recent trend of research is oriented in different methods of emulating the inertia to increase the sustainability of the system. In the case of dynamic performance of power systems especially in Automatic Generation Control (AGC) issue, there are concerns considering the matter of virtual inertia. This paper proposes an approach for analyzing the dynamic effects of virtual inertia in two-area AC/DC interconnected AGC power systems. Derivative control technique is used for higher level control application of inertia emulation. This method of inertia emulation is developed for two-area AGC system, which is connected by parallel AC/DC transmission systems. Based on the proposed technique, the dynamic effect of inertia emulated by storage devices for frequency and active power control are evaluated. The effects of frequency measurement delay and phase-locked loop effect are also considered by introducing a second-order function. Simulations performed by MATLAB software demonstrate how virtual inertia emulation can effectively improve the performance of the power system. A detailed eigenvalue analysis is also performed to support the positive effects of the proposed method.

Rapid Active Power Control of Photovoltaic Systems for Grid Frequency Support

As deployment of power electronic coupled generation such as photovoltaic (PV) systems increases, grid operators have shown increasing interest in calling on inverter-coupled generation to help mitigate frequency contingency events by rapidly surging active power into the grid. When responding to contingency events, the faster the active power is provided, the more effective it may be for arresting the frequency event. This paper proposes a predictive PV inverter control method for very fast and accurate control of active power. This rapid active power control (RAPC) method will increase the effectiveness of various higher-level controls designed to mitigate grid frequency contingency events, including fast power-frequency droop, inertia emulation, and fast frequency response, without the need for energy storage. The RAPC method, coupled with a maximum power point estimation method, is implemented in a prototype PV inverter connected to a PV array. The prototype inverter’s response to various frequency events is experimentally confirmed to be fast (beginning within 2 line cycles and completing within 4.5 line cycles of a severe test event) and accurate (below 2% steady-state error).

Hybrid Controller for Wind Turbine Generators to Ensure Adequate Frequency Response in Power Networks

Converter-interfaced power sources (CIPS) are hybrid control systems as they may switch between multiple operating modes. Due to increasing penetration, the hybrid behavior of CIPS, such as, wind turbine generators (WTG), may have significant impact on power system dynamics. In this paper, the frequency dynamics under inertia emulation and primary support from WTG is studied. A mode switching for WTG to ensure adequate frequency response is proposed. The switching instants are determined by our proposed concept of a region of safety (ROS), which is the initial set of safe trajectories. The barrier certificate methodology is employed to derive a new algorithm to obtain and enlarge the ROS for the given desired safe limits and the worst-case disturbance scenarios. Then critical switching instants and a safe recovery procedure are found. In addition, the emulated inertia and load-damping effect is derived in the time frame of inertia and primary frequency response, respectively. The theoretical results under critical cases are consistent with simulations and can be used as guidance for practical control design.

ESO-Based Inertia Emulation and Rotor Speed Recovery Control for DFIGs

In recent years, with the ever increasing penetration of wind generation, great concerns have been raised since the constantly decline of system's inertia may considerably deteriorate the frequency stability of power system. In this regard, an inertial response control technique is proposed to enable wind generators to provide the power system with controlled inertia in need via releasing energy to or absorbing energy from the system. In this paper, an extended state observer (ESO)-based inertia emulation controller (InEC) is proposed for doubly-fed induction generators (DFIGs), which is shown to be robust to measurement noise and changing working conditions. In addition, to mitigate potential adverse impacts of rotor speed recovery control (RSRC) of DFIGs on system frequency, an ESO-based RSRC is derived, allowing a schedulable dynamic of speed recovery. Experiments carried out on a power hardware-in-loop testbed manifest that the proposed controllers outperform the traditional proportional-differential type InEC and proportional-integral type RSRC in performance and robustness.

Synchronous Power Control of Grid-Connected Power Converters under Asymmetrical Grid Fault

Control of grid-connected power converters is continuously developing to meet the grid codes, according to which the generation units should keep connected to the grid and further provide ancillary services, such as voltage and frequency support, negative sequence current injection, inertia emulation, etc. A virtual admittance controller is proposed in this paper for the objective of voltage support under asymmetrical grid faults. By using independent and selective admittances for positive and negative sequence current injection, the unbalanced voltage can be significantly compensated during asymmetrical faults. The controller is based on the generic control framework of the synchronous power controller (SPC), which is able to control a power converter with emulated and improved synchronous generator characteristics. Simulation and experimental results based on two paralleled 100 kW grid-connected power converters demonstrate the controller to be effective in supporting unbalanced voltage sags.

A novel approach to frequency support in a wind integrated power system

This paper discusses the impact of wind penetration on frequency control of a thermal dominated system considering Generation Rate Constraints (GRC) and dead band non-linearities. The hidden inertia emulation and coordinated operation of conventional power generation systems with wind energy can effectively alleviate the frequency excursions during sudden load disturbances. Conventional energy storage device like Flywheel Energy Storage (FES) system can be used in conjunction with wind integrated power system to overcome the intermittent nature of power generation. Thyristor Controlled Series Compensator (TCSC) is found to be effective in damping low frequency oscillations in weak tie-lines and supplement the frequency regulation. A stochastic population based evolutionary computation technique - Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is used to tune the controller gains. A strategy comprising inertia control, coordinated operation of conventional generation units with wind energy and TCSC-FES has been proposed to enhance the frequency regulation which is effective in controlling low frequency oscillations as established by the simulation results.

Inertial response with improved variable recovery behaviour provided by type 4 WTs

Requirements for inertial response (IR) from wind turbines (WTs) have been implemented or drafted by power systems (PSs) operators worldwide. This is a response to the replacement of conventional power plants using synchronous generators by non-synchronous, power electronics-based generation and the resulting effect on frequency dynamics in the case of contingency events. The additional active power provided during operation in IR mode must be drawn from the rotating masses. A re-acceleration accompanied by reduced active power output follows the activation phase. The allowed depth and duration of the post-inertial recovery will be regulated in future versions of grid codes, e.g. in Quebec and Ireland. This study describes an improved version of an IR control system that enables a more PSs-friendly provision of such short-term frequency support. The new controls allow adjusting the duration of the recovery period. Potential negative effects of IR from WTs on the PS in the form of a second frequency nadir during the recovery phase can be minimised. The outcome of simulations and of field testing will be presented. All results shown in this study include the initial and the future inertia emulation performance which allows easy comparison of the two controls.

Frequency support characteristics of grid‐interactive power converters based on the synchronous power controller

Grid-interactive converters with primary frequency control and inertia emulation have emerged and are promising for future renewable generation plants because of the contribution in power system stabilisation. This study gives a synchronous active power control solution for grid-interactive converters, as a way to emulate synchronous generators for inerita characteristics and load sharing. As design considerations, the virtual angle stability and transient response are both analysed, and the detailed implementation structure is also given without entailing any difficulty in practice. The analytical and experimental validation of frequency support characteristics differentiates the work from other publications on generator emulation control. The 10 kW simulation and experimental frequency sweep tests on a regenerative source test bed present good performance of the proposed control in showing inertia and droop characteristics, as well as the controllable transient response.

Impact of Distributed Generation Grid Code Requirements on Islanding Detection in LV Networks

The recent growing diffusion of dispersed generation in low voltage (LV) distribution networks is entailing new rules to make local generators participate in network stability. Consequently, national and international grid codes, which define the connection rules for stability and safety of electrical power systems, have been updated requiring distributed generators and electrical storage systems to supply stabilizing contributions. In this scenario, specific attention to the uncontrolled islanding issue has to be addressed since currently required anti-islanding protection systems, based on relays locally measuring voltage and frequency, could no longer be suitable. In this paper, the effects on the interface protection performance of different LV generators’ stabilizing functions are analysed. The study takes into account existing requirements, such as the generators’ active power regulation (according to the measured frequency) and reactive power regulation (depending on the local measured voltage). In addition, the paper focuses on other stabilizing features under discussion, derived from the medium voltage (MV) distribution network grid codes or proposed in the literature, such as fast voltage support (FVS) and inertia emulation. Stabilizing functions have been reproduced in the DIgSILENT PowerFactory 2016 software environment, making use of its native programming language. Later, they are tested both alone and together, aiming to obtain a comprehensive analysis on their impact on the anti-islanding protection effectiveness. Through dynamic simulations in several network scenarios the paper demonstrates the detrimental impact that such stabilizing regulations may have on loss-of-main protection effectiveness, leading to an increased risk of unintentional islanding.

Equivalence of Primary Control Strategies for AC and DC Microgrids

Microgrid frequency and voltage regulation is a challenging task, as classical generators with rotational inertia are usually replaced by converter-interfaced systems that inherently do not provide any inertial response. The aim of this paper is to analyse and compare autonomous primary control techniques for alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) microgrids that improve this transient behaviour. In this context, a virtual synchronous machine (VSM) technique is investigated for AC microgrids, and its behaviour for different values of emulated inertia and droop slopes is tested. Regarding DC microgrids, a virtual-impedance-based algorithm inspired by the operation concept of VSMs is proposed. The results demonstrate that the proposed strategy can be configured to have an analogous behaviour to VSM techniques by varying the control parameters of the integrated virtual-impedances. This means that the steady-state and transient behaviour of converters employing these strategies can be configured independently. As shown in the simulations, this is an interesting feature that could be, for instance, employed for the integration of different dynamic generation or storage systems, such as batteries or supercapacitors.

Distributed virtual inertia based control of multiple photovoltaic systems in autonomous microgrid

The large inertia of a traditional power system slows down system U+02BC s frequency response but also allows decent time for controlling the system. Since an autonomous renewable microgrid usually has much smaller inertia, the control system must be very fast and accurate to fight against the small inertia and uncertainties. To reduce the demanding requirements on control, this paper proposes to increase the inertia of photovoltaic U+0028 PV U+0029 system through inertia emulation. The inertia emulation is realized by controlling the charging U+002F discharging of the direct current U+0028 DC U+0029-link capacitor over a certain range and adjusting the PV generation when it is feasible and U+002F or necessary. By well designing the inertia, the DC-link capacitor parameters and the control range, the negative impact of inertia emulation on energy efficiency can be reduced. The proposed algorithm can be integrated with distributed generation setting algorithms to improve dynamic performance and lower implementation requirements. Simulation studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed solution.

Synchronous Power Controller With Flexible Droop Characteristics for Renewable Power Generation Systems

The increasing amount of renewable power generation systems is a challenging issue for the control and operation of the electrical networks. One of the main issues is their lack of inertia, which is becoming a greater problem as much as the share of the power plants based on traditional synchronous generators gets reduced. In this regard, the new grid codes ask these plants to provide new functionalities such as the frequency support and inertia emulation. In this paper, a synchronous power controller for grid-connected converters is proposed as a good solution for the renewable generation systems with energy storage. It provides inertia, damping, and flexible droop characteristics. Different from the faithful replication of the swing equation of synchronous machines, an alternative control structure is proposed, by which the damping and inherent droop slope can be configured independently to meet the requirements in both dynamics and frequency regulations. Analysis and experimental results are both shown to validate the proposed controller.

Session details: Special Issue on the 2016 Greenmetrics Workshop

Session details: Special Issue on the 2016 Greenmetrics Workshop

Stability improvement of the interconnection of weak AC zones by synchronverter-based HVDC link

The interconnection of weak electric power grids opens new issues into power system stability and control. This paper proposes a control strategy of HVDC transmission yielding increased power transfer capacity and enhanced transient stability of weak interconnected systems. The proposed control is a recently developed synchronverter-based control and emulation of the HVDC link (SHVDC). Methodologically, the transient stability of the neighboring zone is a priori taken into account at the design level of the control. The parameters of the SHVDC regulators are tuned based on a specific residues method. The performances of the control strategy are analyzed by the power transfer limit Plim. when the interconnection is a pure DC link, and by both the Plim. and the Critical Clearing Time (CCT) when the interconnection is a hybrid DC/AC link. The study further investigates the impact of the inertia emulation that the synchronverter provides, and of the tuned control parameters on Plim.. The proposed control is tested in comparison to the standard vector control. The simulation results indicate that the synchronverter based control improves both the dynamic transfer capacity and the transient stability of weak interconnected power systems.

Gas assisted doubly fed induction generator with ramp rate controller

All the sources are required to supply the scheduled power to the system as directed by the system operator, within a time frame of operation. The fluctuating nature of wind makes supplying the scheduled power a challenging task. To address this, gas turbines are proposed to augment the wind generator to work as buffer owing to their high ramping capability. However, the cost of gas turbine increases with increased ramp rates, whereas, operating efficiency and the life time decreases. Hence, to relieve the buffering gas turbines from higher ramp rate requirements, emulation of inertia of the wind generator is proposed in this paper. The controller is designed to operate in inertia emulation mode whenever there is a retardation of rotor of the wind turbine and the proposed ramp controller will be in action only for first few seconds after the fall in wind speed. While emulating the inertia, the performance of the proposed control philosophy with different ramp rates is investigated in this paper. Guide lines for the selection of the ramp duration and ramp rate for seamless transition from inertia emulation mode to maximum power extraction mode are also suggested in this paper.

Impact of Tie-Line Power on Inter-Area Modes With Increased Penetration of Wind Power

This paper studies the impact of displacing conventional synchronous generators with wind turbine generators (WTGs) on the damping of inter-area modes. The impact of tie-line power, which can be beneficial or detrimental with increased wind penetration on the damping of the inter-area mode in a two-area test system, is investigated. It is seen that the inter-area modes are more prone to instability when areas with high wind penetrations export power to remote areas. Furthermore, the performance of supplementary controllers in WTGs (i.e., terminal voltage control and inertia emulation) on the inter-area modes are evaluated. The results show that the controllers can mitigate the possible adverse effects of increased penetration of wind power on the inter-area modes. The results of the studies on the two area system are used to guide a study on a 14-generator model of the Australian grid.

Synchronous mode operation of DFIG based wind turbines for improvement of power system inertia

Inertia emulation methods exist to compensate for the reduced inertial support provided by doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) based wind turbines. Instead of emulating inertia, this paper proposes to temporarily convert DFIGs to synchronous generators, enabling supply of real inertia to the system. In order to achieve this, the voltage supplied to the DFIG rotor needs to be made independent of the grid frequency. Feeding the rotor with a fixed dc voltage while it is rotating at synchronous speed enables the DFIG to operate in synchronism with the grid and couple the inertia of its rotating mass to the power system. The rotor side converter of a DFIG can be controlled to function as the dc voltage source, allowing convenient switching between the two operation modes according to system requirements.

Analysis of derivative control based virtual inertia in multi‐area high‐voltage direct current interconnected power systems

Due to increasing level of power converter-based component and consequently the lack of inertia, automatic generation control (AGC) of interconnected systems is experiencing different challenges. To cope with this challenging issue, a derivative control-based virtual inertia for simulating the dynamic effects of inertia emulations by HVDC (high-voltage direct current) interconnected systems is introduced and reflected in the multi-area AGC system. Derivative control technique is used for higher level applications of inertia emulation. The virtual inertia will add an additional degree of freedom to the system dynamics which makes a considerable improvement on first overshoot responses in addition to damping characteristics of HVDC links. Complete trajectory sensitivities are used to analyse the effects of virtual inertia and derivative control gains on the system stability. The effectiveness of the proposed concept on dynamic improvements is tested through Matlab simulation of two-area test system for different contingencies.

A one-degree-of-freedom assistive exoskeleton with inertia compensation: the effects on the agility of leg swing motion.

Many of the current implementations of exoskeletons for the lower extremities are conceived to either augment the user's load-carrying capabilities or reduce muscle activation during walking. Comparatively little research has been conducted on enabling an exoskeleton to increase the agility of lower-limb movements. One obstacle in this regard is the inertia of the exoskeleton's mechanism, which tends to reduce the natural frequency of the human limbs. A control method is presented that produces an approximate compensation of the inertia of an exoskeleton's mechanism. The controller was tested on a statically mounted, single-degree-of-freedom (DOF) exoskeleton that assists knee flexion and extension. Test subjects performed multiple series of leg-swing movements in the context of a computer-based, sprint-like task. A large initial acceleration of the leg was needed for the subjects to track a virtual target on a computer screen. The uncompensated inertia of the exoskeleton mechanism slowed down the transient response of the subjects' limb, in comparison with trials performed without the exoskeleton. The subsequent use of emulated inertia compensation on the exoskeleton allowed the subjects to improve their transient response for the same task.