Computationally efficient and scalable models that describe droop-controlled inverter dynamics are key to modeling, analysis, and control in islanded microgrids. Typical models developed from first ...principles in this domain describe detailed dynamics of the power electronics inverters, as well as the network interactions. Consequently, these models are very involved; they offer limited analytical insights and are computationally expensive when applied to investigate the dynamics of large microgrids with many inverters. This calls for the development of reduced-order models that capture the relevant dynamics of higher order models with a lower dimensional state space while not compromising modeling fidelity. To this end, this paper proposes model-reduction methods based on singular perturbation and Kron reduction to reduce large-signal dynamic models of inverter-based islanded microgrids in temporal and spatial aspects, respectively. The reduced-order models are tested in a modified IEEE 37-bus system and verified to accurately describe the original dynamics with lower computational burden. In addition, we demonstrate that Kron reduction isolates the mutual inverter interactions and the equivalent loads that the inverters have to support in the microgrid - this aspect is leveraged in the systematic selection of droop coefficients to minimize power losses and voltage deviations.
This paper outlines reduced-order models for grid-forming virtual-oscillator-controlled inverters with nested current- and voltage-control loops, and current-limiting action for over-current ...protection. While a variety of model-reduction methods have been proposed to tame complexity in inverter models, previous efforts have not included the impact of current-reference limiting. In addition to acknowledging the current-limiting action, the reduced-order models we outline are tailored to networks with resistive and inductive interconnecting lines. Our analytical approach is centered on a smooth function approximation for the current-reference limiter, participation factor analysis to identify slow- and fast-varying states, and singular perturbation to systematically eliminate the fast states. Computational benefits and accuracy of the reduced-order models are benchmarked via numerical simulations that compare them to higher-order averaged and switched models.
We present a decentralized control strategy that yields switch interleaving for parallel-connected dc-dc buck converters. Compared to state-of-the-art methods that are distributed at best, the ...proposed architecture requires no communication, and hence, presents a variety of advantages with regard to reliability, modularity, and cost. The method is based on the digital implementation of the dynamics of a Liénard-type oscillator circuit as the controller for the converters. Each controller only requires the locally measured output current to synthesize the pulsewidth modulation (PWM) carrier waveform. The intrinsic electrical coupling between converters drives the nonlinear-oscillator-based controllers to converge to an interleaved state with uniform phase spacing across PWM carriers, independent of the number of converters, the load, and initial conditions. We provide analytical guarantees for existence and stability of the interleaved state as well as extensive hardware results for a system of five 120 W 48 V-to-12 V dc-dc buck converters that demonstrate convergence to the interleaved state in the face of a variety of large-signal disturbances.
Virtual oscillator control (VOC) is a decentralized control strategy for islanded microgrids where inverters are regulated to emulate the dynamics of weakly nonlinear oscillators. Compared to droop ...control, which is only well defined in sinusoidal steady state, VOC is a time-domain controller that enables interconnected inverters to stabilize arbitrary initial conditions to a synchronized sinusoidal limit cycle. However, the nonlinear oscillators that are elemental to VOC cannot be designed with conventional linear-control design methods. We address this challenge by applying averaging- and perturbation-based nonlinear analysis methods to extract the sinusoidal steady-state and harmonic behavior of such oscillators. The averaged models reveal conclusive links between real- and reactive-power outputs and the terminal-voltage dynamics. Similarly, the perturbation methods aid in quantifying higher order harmonics. The resultant models are then leveraged to formulate a design procedure for VOC such that the inverter satisfies standard ac performance specifications related to voltage regulation, frequency regulation, dynamic response, and harmonic content. Experimental results for a single-phase 750 VA, 120 V laboratory prototype demonstrate the validity of the design approach. They also demonstrate that droop laws are, in fact, embedded within the equilibria of the nonlinear-oscillator dynamics. This establishes the backward compatibility of VOC in that, while acting on time-domain waveforms, it subsumes droop control in sinusoidal steady state.
This paper develops an approach to enable the optimal participation of distributed energy resources (DERs) in inertial- and primary-frequency response alongside conventional synchronous generators. ...Leveraging a reduced-order model description of frequency dynamics, DERs' synthetic inertias and droop coefficients are designed to meet time-domain performance objectives of frequency overshoot and steady-state regulation. Furthermore, an optimization-based method centered around classical economic dispatch is developed to ensure that DERs share the power injections for inertial- and primary-frequency response in proportion to their power ratings. Simulations for a modified New England test-case system composed of ten synchronous generators and six instances of the IEEE 37-node test feeder with frequency-responsive DERs validate the design strategy.
Low-voltage distribution feeders were designed to sustain unidirectional power flows to residential neighborhoods. The increased penetration of roof-top photovoltaic (PV) systems has highlighted ...pressing needs to address power quality and reliability concerns, especially when PV generation exceeds the household demand. A systematic method for determining the active- and reactive-power set points for PV inverters in residential systems is proposed in this paper, with the objective of optimizing the operation of the distribution feeder and ensuring voltage regulation. Binary PV-inverter selection variables and nonlinear power-flow relations render the optimal inverter dispatch problem nonconvex and NP-hard. Nevertheless, sparsity-promoting regularization approaches and semidefinite relaxation techniques are leveraged to obtain a computationally feasible convex reformulation. The merits of the proposed approach are demonstrated using real-world PV-generation and load-profile data for an illustrative low-voltage residential distribution system.
This paper considers future distribution networks featuring inverter-interfaced photovoltaic (PV) systems, and addresses the synthesis of feedback controllers that seek real- and reactive-power ...inverter setpoints corresponding to AC optimal power flow (OPF) solutions. The objective is to bridge the temporal gap between long-term system optimization and real-time inverter control, and enable seamless PV-owner participation without compromising system efficiency and stability. The design of the controllers is grounded on a dual ε-subgradient method, while semidefinite programming relaxations are advocated to bypass the non-convexity of AC OPF formulations. Global convergence of inverter output powers is analytically established for diminishing stepsize rules for cases where: i) computational limits dictate asynchronous updates of the controller signals, and ii) inverter reference inputs may be updated at a faster rate than the power-output settling time.
Power systems without fuel Taylor, Josh A.; Dhople, Sairaj V.; Callaway, Duncan S.
Renewable & sustainable energy reviews,
05/2016, Letnik:
57
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The finiteness of fossil fuels implies that future electric power systems may predominantly source energy from fuel-free renewable resources like wind and solar. Evidently, these power systems ...without fuel will be environmentally benign, sustainable, and subject to milder failure scenarios. Many of these advantages were projected decades ago with the definition of the soft energy path, which describes a future where all energy is provided by numerous small, simple, and diverse renewable sources. Here we provide a thorough investigation of power systems without any fuel-based generation from technical and economic standpoints. The paper is organized by timescale and covers issues like the irrelevance of unit commitment in networks without large, fuel-based generators, the dubiousness of nodal pricing without fuel costs, and the need for new system-level models and control methods for semiconductor-based energy-conversion interfaces.
The automatic generation control (AGC) system is temporally situated between economic dispatch and synchronous generator dynamics, and its primary role is to regulate frequency within and tie-line ...flows between control areas. Given appropriate choice of participation factors (feed-forward controller gains that govern the disaggregation of the area-level power requirement to individual generators), the AGC can be engineered to nudge system dynamics toward a steady-state operating point corresponding to economic optimality. This paper establishes necessary and sufficient conditions under which a widely accepted choice of participation factors guarantees the alignment of steady-state synchronous generator outputs with a global minimum of a prototypical economic dispatch problem. In so doing, it resolves several ambiguities and formalizes technical assumptions governing the role of the standard AGC architecture in the context of economic dispatch and steady-state operation. Numerical case studies tailored to a modified version of the New England 39-bus 10-machine test system validate the theoretical results.
This paper focuses on power distribution systems with inverter-interfaced renewable energy sources (RESs), and develops a distributed control framework to steer the RES output powers to solutions of ...ac optimal power flow (OPF) problems. The design of the distributed control algorithm is based on suitable linear approximation of the ac power-flow equations, and leverages the so-called alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM). Convergence of the RES-inverter output powers to solutions of the approximate ac OPF problem is established under suitable conditions on the mismatches between the commanded setpoints and actual RES output powers. Overall, since the proposed scheme can be cast as an ADMM with inexact primal and dual updates, the convergence results can be applied to more general distributed optimization settings.
PDF
