# Thesis Proposal: Yan Jiang

When:
November 5, 2020 @ 3:00 pm
2020-11-05T15:00:00-05:00
2020-11-05T15:15:00-05:00

Note: This is a virtual presentation. Here is the link for where the presentation will be taking place.

Title: Leveraging Inverter-Based Frequency Control in Low-Inertia Power Systems

Abstract: The shift from conventional synchronous generation to renewable converter-interfaced sources has led to a noticeable degradation of power system frequency dynamics. Fortunately, recent technology advancements in power electronics and electric storage facilitate the potential to enable higher renewable energy penetration by means of inverter-interfaced storage units. With proper control approaches, fast inverter dynamics can ensure the rapid response of storage units to mitigate degradation. A straightforward choice is to emulate the damping effect and/or inertial response of synchronous generators through droop control or virtual inertia, yet they do not necessarily fully exploit the benefits of inverter-interfaced storage units. For instance, droop control sacrifices steady-state effort share to improve dynamic performance, while virtual inertia amplifies frequency measurement noise. This work thus seeks to challenge this naive choice of mimicking synchronous generator characteristics and instead advocate for a principled control design perspective. To achieve this goal, we build our analysis upon quantifying power network dynamic performance using $\mathcal L_2$ and $\mathcal L_\infty$ norms so as to perform a systematic study evaluating the effect of different control approaches on both frequency response metrics and storage economic metrics. The main contributions of this project will be as follows: (i) We will propose a novel dynamic droop control approach, for grid following inverters, that can be tuned to achieve low noise sensitivity, fast synchronization, and Nadir elimination, without affecting the steady-state performance; (ii) We will propose a new frequency shaping control approach that allows to trade-off between the rate of change of frequency (RoCoF) and storage conrol effort; (iii) We will further extend the proposed solutions to operate in a grid-forming setting that is suitable for a non-stiff power grid where the amplitude and frequency of grid voltage is not well-regulated.

Committee Members

Enrique Mallada (Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Pablo A. Iglesias (Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Dennice F. Gayme (Department of Mechanical Engineering)