Small Signal Stability Analysis of Microgrids Considering Comprehensive Load Models – A Sensitivity Based Approach Sayed Mohammad Amelian System and Energy Study Center Monenco Iran Consulting Engineers Tehran, Iran amelian.mohammad@monenco.com Abstract— Microgrid concept provides an appropriate context for installing distributed generation resources and providing reliability and power quality for sensitive loads. Most of the literature have analyzed the effects of different power control strategies of inverter-based distributed energy resources on the stability of microgrids and only a few of them have addressed various load models in their formulation and analysis. This paper proposes a well-structured formulation for state-space representation of comprehensive static and dynamic load models in an islanded microgrids environment. Impact of considering induction motor models on root loci of eigenvalues is analyzed and sensitivity calculation is performed to account for the effect of different load model parameters on system oscillatory modes. Keywords- Microgrid, state-space model, small-signal stability, sensitivity analysis, induction motor. I. INTRODUCTION Microgrids are absorbing more attention as they enable integration of renewable and distributed energy resources in power systems [1]. An important issue in islanded microgrids, however, is still to maintain stability confronting various disturbances in islanded mode, because distributed generations (DG) are usually operating near their maximum capacity and besides, in microgrids with inverter-based DGs, there is lack of inertia and system oscillations becomes a problem. Hence, small-signal stability of the system is of great concern [2]. Many publications have proposed different formulation for state-space representations of islanded microgrids to analyze its small-signal stability [2],[3]. Their focus, however, has been mainly on different power control methods and how these affect system's stability. Therefore, in almost all of them, the simplest static models are considered for load modeling [2]. However, evidences exist from the analysis of large power systems that dynamic loads are a source of added oscillation and destabilization as it was demonstrated in [4] that a reduced, simple system is more prone to instability when induction motors are considered. The IEEE Task Force reported that the lack of induction motors in the load models could be the reason for a major inconsistency between simulations and field measured data [5]. Almost all of the early works on microgrids have considered different static load models, only, and studied load model effects on transient response of system during transfer from grid-connected to islanded mode [6], during fault occurrence in microgrid [7], on non-detection zones of islanding detection techniques [8]. Small-signal stability analysis of microgrid based on perturbation theory considering only dynamic load models with uncertainty of microgrid parameters is studied in [9]. Composite load modeling in an islanded microgrid has been addressed in [10], but static load type is only regarded as constant impedance, and besides, the formulation is somehow complex as it wants to model induction motor dynamics in a similar way with those of the network, and there is not any clear conclusion about the effect of different load model parameters on system stability. This paper advances one of the mainly used state-space representations for microgrids with inverter-base DGs and incorporates detailed static and dynamic load models, i.e., composite load models into the formulation by a wellstructured method. Next, small-signal-based comparison is made between two cases of considering simple RL load types and full-order induction motor models. In addition, sensitivity analysis is performed to conclude about the effect of different load model parameters on system's eigenvalues as a measure of system stability in terms of damping and stability margin. II. GENERAL MICROGRID MODEL A systematic approach for constructing microgrid model, adopted from [2], is used in this paper. It divides the whole system into three major sub-modules; inverter, network and load. It is considered that state-less impedance models of the network are inadequate for use with inverter models which include high frequency modes. Instead a dynamic model of the network is formed on the common reference frame. A. Inverter-Based Source Model In this approach, all of the DG resources are considered to be interfaced to the grid through inverters. Each inverter is modeled on its individual reference frame whose rotation frequency is set by its local power sharing controller. The inverter model includes dynamic equations of power controller, voltage and current controllers, output filter, and coupling inductor. It has an outer power loop based on droop control to share the fundamental real and reactive powers with other DGs. Internal voltage and current controllers, designed to decline high frequency disturbances and damp the output LC filter to avoid resonance with external network. The statespace model of an individual inverter is constructed by including the controllers, output filter and coupling inductor on a synchronous reference frame. One of the inverters' frames can be arbitrarily chosen as the common reference frame and all other inverters are translated to this frame. To allow simpler system representation, d-q axis components of voltages and currents are used to form system equations. Reference frame of one of the inverters is taken as the common frame. To translate the variables from an individual inverter reference frame into the common frame, an angle δ is defined for each inverter as the angle between an individual inverter reference frame and the common reference frame. com The output variables of an inverter are the output currents represented as a vector. Using the transformation technique, the small-signal output current on the common reference frame can be obtained. Similarly, the input signal to the inverter model is the bus voltage which is expressed on the common reference frame. It is to be noted that the inverter whose reference frame is taken as the common reference frame has to provide its reference frequency Δωcom to all of the sub-modules of the model. The compact form of linearized state-space model of each inverter can be written as follows: x invi A INV i x invi B INV i v bDQi B i com com i C INV i i x invi oDQi C INV ci where there are 13 states, three inputs (d-q components of bus voltage and common frame frequency), and two outputs (d-q components of output current) in each inverter model: x invi [ i , Pi , Q i , dqi , dqi , i ldqi , v odqi , i odqi ]T A mg A INV B INV R N M INV C INV c B 1NET R N M INV C INV c B 2 NET C INV B 1LOA D R N M INV C INV c B 2OA D C INV Details of state space matrices (AINVi, BINVi, Biωcom, CINVωi, and CINVci) can be found in [2]. The modeling approach continues to form a sub-model of all the individual DG inverters and combine them with the network and individual load models: x INV A INV x INV B INV i oDQ C INV c x INV v bDQ Again, state space matrices (AINV, BINV, CINV) are formed from the above-mentioned matrices and detailed in [2]. B. Network and RL-Type Load Models State equations of network and loads are represented on the common reference frame. State equations of line current connected between two nodes are written based on basic circuit theories, then linearized, and finally combined to form the small-signal state-space model of the network: i lineDQ A NET i lineDQ B 1NET v bDQ B 2 NET where precise array combination of state and input matrices (A and Bs) can be found in [2], and they are mainly formed by branch impedances and operation point currents. Similarly, the small-signal state-space model of generally considered RL loads is formed: i loadDQ A load i loadDQ B1LOAD v bDQ B 2 LOAD where, again, the precise array combination of state and input matrices (A and Bs) can be found in [2], and they are mainly formed by load impedances and operation point currents. C. Complete Microgrid Model As can be seen from (3)-(5), node voltages are treated as inputs to each subsystem. To ensure the node voltage is well defined, a virtual resistor is assumed between each node and ground with sufficiently large resistance, such that its introduction would have minimum influence on system's dynamic stability. Finally, the complete microgrid smallsignal state-space model and hence the system state matrix can be obtained as follows: x INV i lineDQ A mg i loadDQ x INV i lineDQ i loadDQ The complete system state matrix Amg is given in (7). B INV R N M NET A NET B 1NET R N M NET B 1LOA D R N M NET B 1NET R N M load A load B 1LOA D R N M load B INV R N M NET III. LOAD MODELING In an islanded microgrid with inverter DGs, voltage and frequency changes occur very often, due to lack of inertia and reactive power production, whereas DG resources are usually of small capacity and aimed to produce as much as active power they can. Therefore, detailed modeling of voltage and frequency dependency of the loads seems to be necessary for precise analysis of system behavior, confronting disturbances. Therefore, in this section, first, static load type modeling based on standard models is provided. Next, a complete induction motor model is presented for dynamic parts of loads. Finally, the composite load model is presented and embedded in the systematic formulation of the previous section. A. Static Load Model For static load models, general model presented in [5] is used (reactive part of the load is also modeled by correspondingly same formulae and parameters): P V V K Pz ( ) 2 K Pi ( ) K Pp P0 V0 V0 V n K P 1 ( ) pv 1 (1 n pf 1 (f f 0 )) V0 Figure 1. Equivalent circuit of a symmetrical induction machine with balanced source in an arbitrary reference frame. As a result, complete 5-order model of induction motors is considered here. Fig. 1 shows equivalent circuit of a symmetrical induction motor in an arbitrary reference frame. Principal equations of the model are: V n K P 2 ( ) pv 2 (1 n pf 2 (f f 0 )) V0 where K Pz 1 (K Pi K Pp K P1 K P 2 ). Parameters KPi, KPp, KP1, KP2, npv1, npv2, npf1, and npf2 represent the static characteristics of loads. Voltage magnitude of connecting bus is represented by V, consisting of DQ components in synchronous reference frame. Powers, current and voltage components are related together as following: VQ VD Q 2 V 2 V V V i Q P Q2 Q D2 V V iD P where i D Y v 11 Y v 12 v D Y f 1 i Y v .v Y f .f f Y v 21 Y v 22 v Q Y f 2 Q where Yv11-Yv22, Yf1, and Yf2 can be found in the appendix. B. Dynamic Load Model- Induction Motor Model Most of the dynamic load models are based on induction motor model [11]. In these models, usually used for conventional power systems, stator circuit transients are neglected due to the fact that time constants of rotating machines are much larger than those of the electrical branches. In the case of microgrid, however, as DG resources are mostly connected through inverters, whose response times are very small and network dynamics would influence the system stability, this assumption doesn’t seem to be correct, anymore. d ds R s i ds qs v ds b dt d dr r qr v dr R r i dr b dt d qs dt d qr dt R s i qs v b ds qs R r i qr r dr v qr b d r 1 T e T m 2H dt ds X s X m i ds X m i dr Re-arranging the equations and linearizing them for smallsignal state-space representation, we could obtain: 1 b 1 b 1 b 1 b 1 b dr X m i ds X r X m i dr qs X s X m i qs X m i qr qr X m i qs X r X m i qr ψ, ω, X, and i are flux, speed, reactance, and current symbols, respectively, where subscripts s, r, and m denote stator, rotor, and magnetizing branch variables, respectively, and ωb is the base angular speed. Also, Te and Tm are electrical and mechanical torques, defined by the following equations: T e qr i dr dr i qr T m T 0 ( r ) b Substituting fluxes in (11) by the current components, linearizing and re-arranging them into the state-space form, we obtain: x IM A IM x IM B 1IM v B 2 IM y C IM x IM where xIM is the model’s space vector consisting of stator and rotor d-q current components as well as mechanical speed, Δv is the stator voltage vector as model’s input, and y is the stator currents vector as model’s output: T x IM i ds , i dr , i qs , i qr , r T v v ds , v qs T y i ds , i qs State matrix AIM, input matrices B1IM and B2IM, and output matrix CIM can be found in the appendix. C. Composite Load Model Combining static and induction motor models from (10) and (14), final composite load model can be obtained: i load i static i IM Y v .v Y f .f C IM x IM Replacing this equation in (6), we will have: v bDQ R N [M INV i oDQ M NET i lineDQ M load (Y v .v bDQ Y f .f C IM x IM )] v bDQ R NS [M INV i oDQ M NET i lineDQ M load Y f .f C IM x IM ] where R NS (I 2 m 2 m R N M loadY v )1 R N . IV. MODAL AND SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS Once the complete small-signal model has been formed, eigenvalues (or modes) could be identified that indicate the frequency and damping of the system oscillations. Sensitivity analysis is then conducted which provides the sensitivity of different modes to the load model parameters and points out the role of each in forming of these modes. States associated with modes that are not of interest in a particular problem can then be considered for removal from the model in order to simplify the analysis. This represents a systematic approach to finding appropriate model parameters and avoids the danger of neglecting a system feature that later turns out to be important. Sensitivity factor is the measure of the association between system parameters and modes and is equal to sensitivity of the eigenvalue λi to the parameter Kj of the system state matrix. Sensitivity factors can be calculated using A as system state matrix, ωi and i, as right and left eigenvectors, respectively: A iT i K j i K j iT i Right eigenvector gives the mode shape, i.e., the relative activity of the state variables when a particular mode is excited. The left eigenvector identifies which combination of the original state variables displays only the ith mode. V. Figure 2. Sample medium voltage microgrid ANALYSIS RESULTS A medium voltage distribution network with DG resources is used for analysis of the derived model. Modeling is performed in Matlab program. Capacities of DG resources and system information (lines and loads) are detailed in [12]. Using the state-space modeling of sections II and III, small signal stability analysis of the microgrid with detailed load models will be performed and sensitivity analysis will also be accomplished as in section IV. As there are lots of publication relating to critical modes of islanded microgrids associated with inverter power controls, here we will focus on system modes which are directly attributed to load models [2],[3]. Typical values for load model parameters are used as of corresponding benchmark values in [5]. Fig. 3 shows the microgrid eigenvalues participated mostly by the loads that are completely modeled as induction motors in this case. For each load, there are five eigenvalues (two complex conjugate pairs and one real). The pairs with frequency close to the rated value (2π×50 Hz=314 rad/s) are related to stator windings. Their frequency is closer to nominal value specially in larger motors case. Real part of this pair is larger in small motors, which shows better damping of lower rated motors’ disturbances. The other pair is attributed to the rotor circuit and its real part as well as its frequency decrease with the increase of motor capacity. This represents lower damping and more influence on system dynamics. The only real eigenvalue is related to mechanical part of the motors. 300 200 Imaginary 100 Rotor Modes Stator Modes 0 Mechanical Modes -100 -200 -300 -16 -14 -12 -10 -8 Real -6 -4 -2 Figure 3. System modes participated by induction motor states 0 Sensitivity analysis of the microgrid critical modes with regard to load model parameters is performed next. Using (18), the sensitivity of each critical mode is calculated related to each load model parameter and the calculated values are summed for each single parameter. Result of this analysis is important as it implies which of the load model parameters are more effective on the islanded microgrid stability and hence should be accurately modeled and valued, when planning and operating microgrids with certain types of consumers. Table II presents the sensitivity of critical models to induction motor parameters, which are obtained considering 100% dynamic models for differently rated industrial loads. It can be seen that in all the cases, sensitivity to the rotor resistance (Rr) is the largest and to the magnetizing reactance (Xm) is the lowest. In addition, total sensitivity is larger for load no. 5, which was anticipated as it is bigger than the other two, hence affects the system dynamics more. TABLE I. CHANGE OF MODES AFTER CONSIDERING INDUCTION MOTOR LOAD MODEL Eigenvalue No. Load (kW) RL Load Model 3 350 -129.917 ± j313.2126 Induction Motor Load Model 5 507.5 -23.6918 ± j311.899 7 53.9 -195.7602 ± j313.2167 Load Number 3 5 7 TABLE III. Changes of root loci of the critical modes are presented at last to show the parameter effects, visually. Loads no. 3, 5, 7 are modeled as differently rated induction motors and the system eigenvalues are obtained for three different cases of changing stator reactance (Xs), stator resistance (Rs), and rotor resistance (Rr) from 0.9 to 1.1 of rated value. The results are provided in Fig. 4. As can be observed, increasing Xs shifts the decreases modes' damping and stability margin. In load no. 5 (as largest motor), this displacement is lesser, specially for rotor circuit and mechanical modes. Changes in Rs displace the modes more than previous case, hence confirming the obtained results, but it doesn’t cause any special effect on rotor and mechanical modes as the stator resistance represents only losses and has nothing to do with mutual interactions of magnetic fields of stator and rotor currents. Changes in Rr has a significant impact on mechanical mode due to related effect on motor slip and hence the mechanical speed. This mode has moved into the right-half plane for 0.9 rated value in smaller motor (no. 7), and has become unstable. Rotor reactance (Xr) has the same impact as Xs, but mutual reactance (Xm) and inertia (H) have almost no impact on mode locations. 1.0 Xs 200 Xr Xm Rs Rr H Total 0.264 0.342 0.037 0.364 0.484 0.049 0.028 0.034 0.004 3.148 4.549 0.477 3.930 5.040 0.496 2.135 2.915 0.314 9.868 13.364 1.376 SENSITIVITY OF CRITICAL MODES TO STATIC LOAD MODEL PARAMETERS Parameter Sensitivity Parameter Sensitivity KPz KQz KPi KQi KPp KQp KP1 KQ1 KP2 0.265 0.024 0.130 0.011 0.260 0.021 4.557 0.677 8.659 KQ2 npv1 nqv1 npv2 nqv2 npf1 nqf1 npf2 nqf2 0.297 0.026 0.005 0.066 0.008 0.863 0.122 2.159 0.169 1.1 Xs 100 0 -100 -200 SENSITIVITY OF CRITICAL MODES TO INDUCTION MOTOR (DYNAMIC LOAD MODEL) PARAMETERS Xs 0.9 Xs 300 -300 -14 -12 -10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 Real a) Change of stator reactance from 0.9 to 1.1 rated value Imaginary TABLE II. -8.099 ± j313.12i -9.896 ± j22.614i -2.1666 -7.105 ± j313.14i -6.046 ± j21.015i -0.2846 -11.676 ± j313i -12.046 ± j24.171i -1.741 Similarly, sensitivity analysis of the critical modes related to static load model parameters is also performed and the results are presented in Table III. The largest effects are due to frequency dependent terms (KP1, KP2, KQ1, KQ2), which signifies the importance of modeling of frequency dependency of loads in islanded microgrids, where the frequency is also changing more often because of lack of inertia. This frequency dependency has been completely ignored in conventional power systems [11]. High sensitivity to other frequency dependency coefficients (npf1, npf2) is another evidence for this. Imaginary Next, changes in root loci of induction motor load modes are analyzed, comparing with simplified RL load model case. Table I represents these changes, only for industrial loads. As can be seen, modeling the loads with induction motors has caused the eigenvalues to become much closer to imaginary axis and decreased their damping. As a result, modeling the large industrial loads of the microgrid merely by simple RL branches could never represent the accurate system model. 300 0.9 Rr 200 1.0 Rr 1.1 Rr 100 0 -100 -200 -300 -12 -10 -8 -6 Real -4 -2 0 b) Change of rotor resistance from 0.9 to 1.1 rated value Figure 4. Displacement of system modes due to changes in induction motor parameters VI. CONCLUSION This paper addressed small-signal stability in converterbased microgrids with comprehensive static and dynamic load models. An integrated load model formulation is adapted into state-space representation approach of the microgrid. Small signal stability along with sensitivity analysis of different load model parameters on mode damping and system stability margin has been performed. The analysis has revealed that selection of only the simple static load models cannot be satisfying in an advanced analysis aiming to provide an accurate view on the microgrid stability. It has been shown that considering induction motor loads notably decreases stability margin for load modes. Also, considering frequency dependency in static load models is very crucial. Finally, the importance of rotor resistance value of the induction motor model on system stability has been highlighted. A IM r X m2 b b v Q 0 1 v D 0 [ 2 P0 v D 0 aPv 2 Q 0 v D 0 aQv 2 V 0 V 0 V 0 2v P0 P0 v D 0 Q 0 v Q 0 ( D2 0 )] V0 Y v 12 Y v 12 Y v 21 v Q 0 1 v D 0 [ P v a 2 Q 0 v Q 0 aQv 2 2 0 Q 0 Pv V 0 V 0 V 0 2v Q 0 Q 0 P0 v D 0 Q 0 v Q 0 ( 2 )] V0 v D 0 1 v Q 0 [ P0 v D 0 aPv 2 Q 0 v D 0 aQv V 02 V 02 V 0 2v Q 0 P0 v Q 0 Q 0 v D 0 ( D2 0 )] V0 1 v Q 0 [ V 02 V 02 v D 0 P0 v Q 0 aPv 2 V 0 Q 0 v Q 0 aQv 2v Q 0 P0 P0 v Q 0 Q 0 v D 0 ( 2 )] V0 Yf1 1 P0 v D 0 aPf Q 0 v Q 0 aQf V 02 Yf 2 1 P0 v Q 0 aPf Q 0 v D 0 aQf V 02 aPv 2K Pz K Pi K P 1n pv 1 K P 2 n pv 2 , aPf K P 1n pf 1 K P 2 n pf 2 aQv 2K Qz K Qi K Q 1nqv 1 K Q 2 n qv 2 , aQf K Q 1nqf 1 K Q 2 nqf 2 B 1IM X r X m Xm b 0 0 0 0 0 X r X m Xm 0 , B 2 IM b qs 0 b qr 0 b ds 0 b dr 0 b 0 1 0 0 0 0 C IM , where X s X m X r X m X s X r . 0 0 1 0 0 0 X r X m Rr r X m ( X r X m ) b r X r b b Xm i qs 0 2H X m (X r X m ) b r X m2 r b b X r X m Rs 0 0 X s X m Rr Xm i dr 0 2H 2 m r X m ( X r X m ) b APPENDIX Y v 11 X r X m Rs 0 r X m2 b b b r X m ( X r X m ) b Xm i qr 0 2H Xm i ds 0 2H qr 0 b 0 dr 0 b T 0 r 1 2H b 0 References [1] R. 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