Adaptive Virtual Inertia Control of Distributed Generator for Dynamic Frequency Support in Microgrid

Oct 22, 2026

Uploaded by Eliana

The distributed generator based on power electronic converters lacks inherent inertial response, making system stability challenging under frequency disturbances. A flexible virtual synchronous generator (FVSG) strategy with adaptive inertia is proposed to provide fast, smooth inertial response. The method links the equivalent inertia coefficient to the system frequency fluctuation rate using a function of frequency change rate within the VSG control. Matlab/Simulink simulations validate improved dynamic frequency performance under disturbance.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages5

Reading Time13 min

AccessFree to download

I. Introduction

II. Virtual Synchronous Generator Control of Distributed Generator

A. Overall control

B. Active power-frequency control

Adaptive Virtual Inertia Control of Distributed Generator for Dynamic Frequency Support in Microgrid Jianhui Meng, Yi Wang, Chao Fu, Hui Wang State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources North China Electric Power University Baoding, China [mengjianhui2008@163.com](mengjianhui2008@163.com) Abstract—The distributed generator based on power electronic converters has no inherent inertial response like that from the rotating mass of the conventional synchronous generator. The control scheme of Virtual Synchronous Generator (VSG) is anticipated to improve the distributed generator system stability by imitating the behavior of the synchronous generator including the system inertia. Unlike a real synchronous generator, the equivalent inertia of the distributed generator using VSG can be controlled in a wide range with the system frequency variation. In order to explore this feature for providing a fast and smooth inertial response, a flexible virtual synchronous generator control (FVSG) strategy with adaptive inertia is proposed. By fully considering the relationship between system inertia and frequency fluctuation rate, a calculation method adopting a function of the frequency change rate to achieve an adaptive inertia coefficient is presented and introduced to the VSG control. A simulation system using Matlab/Simulink is implemented to validate the proposed FVSG control strategy on improving the system dynamic frequency performances. Keywords—Microgrid; distributed generator; virtual synchronous generator; adaptive inertia; frequency support. I. INTRODUCTION The capacity of distributed energy resources (DER) in power system is increasing rapidly, and a high penetration level will bring new influences and challenges to the stable operation of power system [1, 2] . Compared to the conventional power plants, in which the synchronous generators (SG) dominate, the converter-based DER units have either very small or no rotating mass which is beneficial to the grid frequency stability [3-5] . With the growing of the DER penetration level, total rotating masses decrease, resulting in larger frequency fluctuations when active power disturbance occurs. Consequently, low inertia threatens the grid’s dynamic performance and stability seriously [6-8] . A solution towards increasing grid inertia is to emulate the behavior of a real synchronous generator by properly controlling a power electronic inverter together with energy storage units. This concept is known as virtual synchronous generator (VSG) or virtual synchronous machine (VSM), and Project Supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2016MS85) . it was first presented in [9] to improve the grid stability. Anew VSG control strategy which can be operated in both gridconnected and autonomous modes was proposed in [10], and the performance was verified based on Eigen-analysis in MATLAB. Furthermore, there are also several papers exploring the VSG control schemes [11-13] . Additionally, parameters selection and related application of the VSG are investigated in [14, 15] . Some advantages of using the VSG control for power electronic inverter are verified in these studies. Compared to the actual synchronous generator, the VSG has no actual rotor system. And its control parameters, such as inertia coefficient, can be adjusted, easily. Thus, the VSG is more flexible than a conventional synchronous generator. Consequently, it will be more important to adjust inertia coefficient parameter according to the change of the grid system. The purpose of this study is to investigate a new flexible virtual synchronous generator (FVSG) control scheme based on previous literature to achieve better grid frequency response. With the proposed FVSG control, the key parameter of inertia coefficient can be adjusted with the frequency change rate adaptively. Then the frequency response under disturbance can be impro

FAQs

Why does a distributed generator need virtual inertia for frequency support?

Converter-based distributed generators have little or no rotating mass, so they lack inherent inertial response. This makes frequency fluctuations larger during active power disturbances, threatening dynamic performance and stability.

What is the main idea of the proposed FVSG control strategy?

The strategy introduces a flexible virtual synchronous generator with adaptive inertia. It uses the relationship between system inertia and the frequency fluctuation rate to compute an adaptive inertia coefficient for VSG control.

How is the effectiveness of the FVSG approach verified?

A Matlab/Simulink simulation system is implemented to validate that the proposed FVSG control improves the system’s dynamic frequency performance under disturbance.

Oct 22, 2026

Uploaded by Eliana