Enhanced Virtual Inertia Control for Microgrids with High-Penetration Renewables Based on Whale Optimization (original) (raw)

Review on Virtual Inertia Control Topologies for Improving Frequency Stability of Microgrid

Maǧallaẗ al-handasaẗ wa-al-tiknūlūǧiyā, 2022

 RESs connected with the inverter have no physical inertia compared with the synchronous generator.  VSG provides the required inertia under sudden disturbances in a microgrid.  VSG controller emulates droop controller to decrease the frequency deviation. Renewable energy sources (RESs), such as solar and wind power, offer new technologies for meeting the world's energy requirements. The distributed generator (DG) based on RESs has no rotational mass and damping effects compared to the traditional power system with synchronous generators (SG). However, the increasing penetration level of DG based on RESs causes low inertia, a dampening effect on the dynamic performance of the grid, and stability. A solution to improve the frequency stability of such a system is to provide virtual inertia by using virtual synchronous generators (VSG), which can be created by using short-term energy storage and a power inverter, and a suitable control mechanism. The VSG control mimics the dynamics of the rotation SG and enhances the power system's stability. This paper presents an overview of various topologies on virtual inertia, VSG concepts, control techniques, and VSG applications. Finally, the VSG challenges and future research will be discussed.

Enhanced Virtual Inertia Control Based on Derivative Technique to Emulate Simultaneous Inertia and Damping Properties for Microgrid Frequency Regulation

IEEE Access, 2019

Virtual inertia control is considered as an important part of microgrids with high renewable penetration. Virtual inertia emulation based on the derivative of frequency is one of the effective methods for improving system inertia and maintaining frequency stability. However, in this method, the ability to provide virtual damping is usually neglected in its design, and hence, its performance might be insufficient in the system with low damping. Confronted with this issue, this paper proposes a novel design and analysis of virtual inertia control to imitate damping and inertia properties simultaneously to the microgrid, enhancing frequency performance and stability. The proposed virtual inertia control uses the derivative technique to calculate the derivative of frequency for virtual inertia emulation. Trajectory sensitivities have been performed to analyze the dynamic impacts of the virtual inertia and virtual damping variables over the system performance. Time-domain simulations are also presented to evaluate the efficiency of the virtual damping and virtual inertia in enhancing system frequency stability. Finally, the efficiency and robustness of the proposed control technique are compared with the conventional inertia control under a wide range of system operation, including the decrease in system damping and inertia and high integrations of load variation and renewable energy.

Improving Microgrid Frequency Regulation Based on the Virtual Inertia Concept while Considering Communication System Delay

Energies, 2019

Frequency stability is an important issue for the operation of islanded microgrids. Since the upstream grid does not support the islanded microgrids, the power control and frequency regulation encounter serious problems. By increasing the penetration of the renewable energy sources in microgrids, optimizing the parameters of the load frequency controller plays a great role in frequency stability, which is currently being investigated by researchers. The status of loads and generation sources are received by the control center of a microgrid via a communication system and the control center can regulate the output power of renewable energy sources and/or power storage devices. An inherent delay in the communication system or other parts like sensors sampling rates may lead microgrids to have unstable operation states. Reducing the delay in the communication system, as one of the main delay origins, can play an important role in improving fluctuation mitigation, which on the other han...

Self-Adaptive Virtual Inertia Control-Based Fuzzy Logic to Improve Frequency Stability of Microgrid With High Renewable Penetration

IEEE Access, 2019

Maintaining frequency stability of low inertia microgrids with high penetration of renewable energy sources (RESs) is a critical challenge. Solving this challenge, the inertia of microgrids would be enhanced by virtual inertia control-based energy storage systems. However, in such systems, the virtual inertia constant is fixed and selection of its value will significantly affect frequency stability of microgrids under different penetration levels of RESs. Higher frequency oscillations may occur due to the fixed virtual inertia constant or unsuitable selection of its value. To overcome such a problem and provide adaptive inertia control, this paper proposes a self-adaptive virtual inertia control system using fuzzy logic for ensuring stable frequency stabilization, which is required for successful microgrid operation in the presence of high RESs penetration. In this concept, the virtual inertia constant is automatically adjusted based on input signals of real power injection of RESs and system frequency deviations, avoiding unsuitable selection and delivering rapid inertia response. To verify the efficiency of the proposed control method, the contrastive simulation results are compared with the conventional method for serious load disturbances and various rates of RESs penetration. The proposed control method shows remarkable performance in transient response improvement and fast damping of oscillations, preserving robustness of operation. INDEX TERMS Frequency control, fuzzy logic, intelligent control, islanded microgrid, virtual inertia control, virtual synchronous generator

Optimization-Based Fast-Frequency Estimation and Control of Low-Inertia Microgrids

IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion

The lack of inertial response from non-synchronous, inverter-based generation in microgrids makes the power system vulnerable to a large rate of change of frequency (ROCOF) and frequency excursions. Energy storage systems (ESSs) can be utilized to provide fast-frequency support to prevent such large excursions in the system. However, fast-frequency support is a power-intensive application that has a significant impact on the ESS lifetime. In this paper, a framework that allows the ESS operator to provide fast-frequency support as a service is proposed. The framework maintains the desired quality-of-service (limiting the ROCOF and frequency) while taking into account the ESS lifetime and physical limits. The framework utilizes moving horizon estimation (MHE) to estimate the frequency deviation and ROCOF from noisy phaselocked loop (PLL) measurements. These estimates are employed by a model predictive control (MPC) algorithm that computes control actions by solving a finite-horizon, online optimization problem. Additionally, this approach avoids oscillatory behavior induced by delays that are common when using low-pass filters as with traditional derivative-based (virtual inertia) controllers. MATLAB/Simulink simulations on a test system from Cordova, Alaska, show the effectiveness of the MHE-MPC approach to reduce frequency deviations and ROCOF of a low-inertia microgrid.

A New Frequency Control Strategy in an Islanded Microgrid Using Virtual Inertia Control-Based Coefficient Diagram Method

IEEE Access

Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) are growing rapidly and highly penetrated in Microgrids (MGs). As a result of replacement of the synchronous generators with a large amount of RESs, the overall system inertia might be dramatically reduced which negatively affected the MG dynamics and performance in face of uncertainties, leading to weakening of the MG stability, which considers being a serious challenge in such grids. Therefore, in order to cope with this challenge and benefit from a maximum capacity of the RESs, robust control strategy must be applied. Hence, in this paper, a new application of robust virtual inertia control-based Coefficient Diagram Method (CDM) controller is proposed in an islanded MG considering high-level RESs penetration for enhancement the system's validity and robustness in face of disturbances and parametric uncertainties. The proposed controller's proficiency has been checked and compared with H-infinite controller using MATLAB/Simulink which approved that the CDM controller achieved superior dynamic responses in terms of accurate reference frequency tracking and disturbance reduction over H-infinite in all test scenarios. Thus, the proposed controller alleviates the difficulties of H-infinite controller such as the experience and necessary abilities to design the form of the weighting functions for the system. Consequently, the frequency stability is improved and approved that the proposed CDM based virtual inertia controller can significantly support a low-inertia islanded microgrid against RESs and load fluctuations. INDEX TERMS Virtual inertia control, renewable energy sources, Coefficient Diagram Method (CDM), Frequency control.

Applying Virtual Inertia Control Topology to SMES System for Frequency Stability Improvement of Low-Inertia Microgrids Driven by High Renewables

Energies, 2019

To integrate renewable energy into microgrids with a favorable inertia property, a virtual inertia control application is needed. Considering the inertia emulation capabilities, insufficient emulation of inertia power due to the lower and short-term power of storage systems could significantly cause system instability and failure. To enhance such capability, this paper applies a virtual inertia control topology to the superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) technology. The SMES-based virtual inertia control system is implemented in a microgrid with renewables to emulate sufficient inertia power and maintain good system frequency stability. The efficacy and control performance of the proposed control method are compared with those of the traditional virtual inertia control system. Simulation results show that the shortage of system inertia due to renewable penetration is properly compensated by the proposed control method, improving system frequency stability and maintaining the robustness of system operations.

Virtual Inertia Control-Based Model Predictive Control for Microgrid Frequency Stabilization Considering High Renewable Energy Integration

Sustainability, 2017

Renewable energy sources (RESs), such as wind and solar generations, equip inverters to connect to the microgrids. These inverters do not have any rotating mass, thus lowering the overall system inertia. This low system inertia issue could affect the microgrid stability and resiliency in the situation of uncertainties. Today's microgrids will become unstable if the capacity of RESs become larger and larger, leading to the weakening of microgrid stability and resilience. This paper addresses a new concept of a microgrid control incorporating a virtual inertia system based on the model predictive control (MPC) to emulate virtual inertia into the microgrid control loop, thus stabilizing microgrid frequency during high penetration of RESs. The additional controller of virtual inertia is applied to the microgrid, employing MPC with virtual inertia response. System modeling and simulations are carried out using MATLAB/Simulink ® software. The simulation results confirm the superior robustness and frequency stabilization effect of the proposed MPC-based virtual inertia control in comparison to the fuzzy logic system and conventional virtual inertia control in a system with high integration of RESs. The proposed MPC-based virtual inertia control is able to improve the robustness and frequency stabilization of the microgrid effectively.

Designing a new robust control for virtual inertia control in the microgrid with regard to virtual damping

2019

Background and Objectives: Virtual inertia control, as a component of a virtual synchronous generator, is used for the implementation of synchronous generator behaviour in microgrids. In microgrids that include high-capacity distributed generation resources, in addition to virtual inertia, virtual damping can also lead to improvement of frequency stability of the microgrid. The purpose of the control method for the islanded microgrid is to be: 1) robust to the uncertainty of the microgrid parameters. 2) Weaken the disturbances on the islanded microgrid (wind turbine, solar cell, Loads). 3) Improved response speed related to microgrid frequency deviation (reduced settling time). Methods In this paper, designing a new robust control method for controlling virtual inertia in microgrids, with regard to virtual damping, has been attempted. The proposed method has a higher degree of freedom compared to the conventional robust controllers, which provides better control of the system. Resul...

Analysis of Control Strategies Based on Virtual Inertia for the Improvement of Frequency Stability in an Islanded Grid with Wind Generators and Battery Energy Storage Systems

Energies, 2021

Rising levels of non-synchronous generation in power systems are leading to increasing difficulties in primary frequency control. In response, there has been much research effort aimed at providing individual electronic interfaced generators with different frequency response capabilities. There is now a growing research interest in analyzing the interactions among different power system elements that include these features. This paper explores how the implementation of control strategies based on the concept of virtual inertia can help to improve frequency stability. More specifically, the work is focused on islanded systems with high share of wind generation interacting with battery energy storage systems. The paper presents a methodology for modeling a power system with virtual primary frequency control, as an aid to power system planning and operation. The methodology and its implementation are illustrated with a real case study.