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Model Specification of Droop-Controlled, Grid-Forming Inverters - PNNL-V3
Model Specification of Droop-Controlled, Grid-Forming Inverters - PNNL-V3
Model Specification of
Droop-Controlled, Grid-
Forming Inverters
(GFMDRP_A)
December 2021
P, Q, I φ
Fig. 1 Basic model of grid-forming inverter.
The coupling reactance, XL, is important for the droop controller design. By properly sizing XL,
for example, between 0.05 and 0.15 pu on an inverter rating base, the inverter output active
power, P, and reactive power, Q, can be approximately decoupled. As shown by (1) to (3), P is
approximately linear with the phase angle difference δP, and Q is approximately linear with E.
The well-developed droop control is based on this decoupling characteristic.
p = E − V (1)
EV EV
P= sin p p (2)
XL XL
E 2 − EV cos p E(E − V )
Q= (3)
XL XL
1
phase angle δE. When interfacing with the network solver, the voltage source will be converted
to its Norton equivalent current source, as shown in Fig. 2 (b).
XL V δV V δV
P, Q, I φ P, Q, I φ
E δE IN φN YL
(a) (b)
Fig. 2 Inverter equivalent circuits. (a) Inverter internal voltage source and the coupling
reactance. (b) Norton equivalent current source.
2
The P-f droop control ensures that the phase angles of multiple grid-forming inverters are
synchronized during normal operations. When two grid-forming inverters operate in parallel
under P-f droop control, any disturbance causes an increase in the output power of one inverter.
This, causes its P-f droop control to reduce the angular frequency ω of the internal voltage so
that the phase angle, δdroop, is reduced, preventing the inverter from further increasing its output
power. This negative-feedback control mechanism guarantees the synchronization when
multiple grid-forming inverters work in parallel. In addition, the controller shown in Fig. 3 (a) also
prevents the output power of the inverter from exceeding Pmax or dropping below Pmin. The P-f
droop control also achieves load sharing between grid-forming inverters.
The Q-V droop control prevents large circulating reactive power between grid-forming inverters.
As shown in Fig. 3 (b), the Q-V droop control can either directly regulate the inverter internal
voltage Edroop, or regulate the point of interconnection (POI) voltage V by regulating Edroop
through a proportional-integral controller. The VFlag will determine which control mode will be
selected. In addition, there is a Qmax and Qmin controller to prevent the inverter reactive power
output from exceeding Qmax or dropping below Qmin.
Pinv ω δdroop
-
mp ω0 1/s
+ ++
Pset
+ ω
0 +
Pmax ω0
kppmax
+- +
0 +
kipmax/s
Pinv +
+
kipmax/s
0
Pmin +- kppmax ++
0
(a)
3
VFlag Emax
Vset Edroop
0
Qinv +
mq - Emin
+
Emax
Vref + Edroop
0 1 kpv
Qmax - ++
+- kpqmax + Emin
Vinv Emax
0 +
kiqmax/s kiv/s
Qinv +
Emin
+
kiqmax/s
0
Qmin +- +
+
kpqmax
0
(b)
Fig. 3 Droop control. (a) P-f droop control and overload mitigation control. (b) Q-V droop control.
When interacting with the transmission network solver, the per unit values of P, Q, V on the
system rating base returned by the network solver need to be converted to the per unit values
on the inverter rating base and pass through a low-pass filter as shown by (4) to (6), where Sbase
is the base value of the system rating, Mbase is the base value of the inverter rating, and Pinv ,
Qinv , and Vinv are the per unit values of inverter output active power, reactive power, and voltage
magnitude on the inverter rating base. The outputs of the controller, Edroop and δdroop, are used to
determine the inverter internal voltage EδE.
1 S
Pinv = P base
1 + TPf s M base (4)
1 S
Qinv = Q base
1 + TQf s M base (5)
1
Vinv = V
1 + TVf s (6)
4
current I will be limited at Imax during faults, but its phase angle φ will remain unchanged
compared to the case without the fault current limiting function. Once the fault is cleared, the
inverter output current will drop below Imax so that the operation mode will autonomously switch
back to the droop control mode.
E E
I N N = (8)
jX L
1
YL = (9)
XL
The flowchart in Fig. 5 shows the process of how the developed positive-sequence phasor
model interacts with the transmission network solver.
5
P, Q, V δV, I φ
Droop Control
(Fig. 3)
Edroop δdroop
V δV, I Fault Current Limiting
(Fig. 4)
E δE
Inverter Internal
Voltage Source
Eq. (7)-(8)
Norton Equivalent
Circuit (Fig. 2)
IN φ N , Y L
Network Solver
No
Converged ?
Yes
Fig. 5 Interaction between the grid-forming inverter model and the transmission network solver.
References
[1] Y. Lin et al., "Research roadmap on grid-forming inverters," National Renewable Energy Lab.(NREL),
Golden, CO (United States), 2020.
[2] R. Lasseter, Z. Chen, and D. Pattabiraman, "Grid-Forming Inverters: A Critical Asset for the Power Grid,"
IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics, pp. 1-1, 2019, doi:
10.1109/JESTPE.2019.2959271.
[3] R. H. Lasseter et al., "CERTS Microgrid Laboratory Test Bed," IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, vol.
26, no. 1, pp. 325-332, 2011
[4] M. C. Chandorkar, D. M. Divan, and R. Adapa, "Control of parallel connected inverters in stand -alone AC
supply systems," in Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting, 1991 .
[5] B. J. Pierre et al., "Bulk Power System Dynamics with Varying Levels of Synchronous Generators and Grid-
Forming Power Inverters," in the 46th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, Chicago, Illinois, USA,
2019.
[6] M. E. Elkhatib, W. Du, and R. H. Lasseter, "Evaluation of Inverter-based Grid Frequency Support using
Frequency-Watt and Grid-Forming PV Inverters," in 2018 IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting
(PESGM)
[7] W. Du, Y. Liu, R. Huang, K. F. Tuffner, J. Xie, and Z. Huang, "Positive-Sequence Phasor Modeling of
Droop-Controlled, Grid-Forming Inverters with Fault Current Limiting Function," IEEE PES Innovative
Smart Grid Technologies (ISGT) North America (NA) Meeting, 2022.
6
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National Laboratory
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