A Novel Grid-Forming Controller Based Upon DC-Side Dynamics

This paper includes a comprehensive review of existing literature on grid forming (GFM) control methodologies highlighting their merits and limitations. Conventional approaches are heavily influenced by natural and controlled behaviour of synchronous machine. Consequently, fast-acting power-electronic converters are forced to mimic the slow-acting behaviour of synchronous machines while ignoring the converter’s intrinsic characteristics. Furthermore, prevalent GFM controllers assume an ideal dc-side circuitry or use separate dc and ac-side controllers without proper coordination despite dc-side limitations over ac-side power variations. Given the identified gap in the literature, the study detailed in this paper develops a novel grid-forming controller that is explicitly based on dc-side quantities for active power regulation, without relying on ac-side measurements. Comparative performance analyses are conducted between a conventional and the proposed GFM controller using an EMT program.