Grid Forming Inverter: Laboratory-Scale Hardware Test Bed Setup and Weak Grid Operation

Conference · Sun Nov 14 04:00:00 EST 2021 · 2021 North American Power Symposium (NAPS)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/naps52732.2021.9654589· OSTI ID:2202786

Mittal, Ratik ^[1]; Miao, Zhixin; Fan, Lingling ^[1]

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1. University of South Florida

In recent times, the concept of grid forming inverters has gained popularity. Grid forming inverters have proven to be a promising alternative to the grid following inverters. In this paper, we present the hardware test bed implementation of grid forming inverter in islanding mode as well as in grid connected mode. The control structure includes inverter-level inner current control and outer voltage control, and plant-level P - f and Q - V droop control. The Q - V droop provides the voltage command, whereas P - f droop provides the frequency command and is also key for the synchronization process. While it is straightforward to set up the test bed for the islanded operation, it is a challenging process to set up the grid-forming inverter in the grid-connected mode. We present the key technologies and demonstrate the start-up process and weak grid operation using the hardware experiment results. Results from EMT model developed in MATLAB/SimPowerSystems are also presented for side-by-side comparison.

• Research Organization: University of South Florida
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
• DOE Contract Number: EE0008771
• OSTI ID: 2202786
• Conference Information: Journal Name: 2021 North American Power Symposium (NAPS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English