Grid-Forming MMC: A Comparison Between Single- and Dual-Loop Control Approaches

Abstract

This work presents an analysis of the grid-forming Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC), in the frequency domain, when it is controlled through single or dual-loop implementation. The dual-loop approach presents an inner current-loop control gathered with the external voltage-loop control, whereas the single-loop only presents a voltage-loop control for the grid-forming capability. In both cases, the control algorithms were implanted in a natural reference frame, including resonant controllers. The paper follows an impedance-modeling approach for introducing the analytical representation of the MMC in the frequency domain. These representations are, in fact, the linearized Teéenin-equivalent models of the single- and dual-loop grid-forming MMC. The results showed that the inner current-loop control is a feasible approach for damping specific resonant peaks of the Thevenin-equivalent impedance. In other words, the current-control loop adds a resistive parcel in MMC impedance in the frequency range in which the resonant peaks appear. As a consequence, the LC resonance between this impedance and the capacitor bank in the main bus is damped. The article also contains some switching-level EMTDC/PSCAD simulations to validate the work.