Performance Comparative Assessment of Grid Connected Power Converters Control Strategies

Renewable energy sources are generally interfaced with the electric distribution and transmission grid via power converters. The displacement of the traditional generating plants requires the new resources to be involved in the grid control strategy. This has driven the research to the so called grid-supporting control strategies which allow power converters to be involved in the grid voltage and frequency regulation. This paper presents a performance based comparison of three families of converter control strategies: grid-forming, grid-following converters and virtual synchronous machines. The CIGRE medium voltage benchmark system is used as a test bench and the performance of the three strategies are compared each other and with those of a traditional reciprocating generator. The analysis is made thought real-time simulations.