Comparative Transient Stability Assessment of Droop and Dispatchable Virtual Oscillator Controlled Grid-Connected Inverters

With the increasing integration of power electronics interfaced distributed generators, transient stability assessment of grid-connected inverters subjected to large grid disturbances is of vital importance for the secure and resilient operation of the power grid. Dispatchable virtual oscillator control (dVOC) is an emerging approach to implement nonlinear control of grid-forming inverters. Through coordinate transformation, a simple first-order nonlinear power angle dynamic equation is uncovered from the complex oscillator dynamics. Furthermore, this article proposes a concise and straightforward graphical approach to assess transient stability of dVOC using vector field on the circle. To provide a more in-depth analysis, a complete large-signal model is derived and the impact of dVOC voltage amplitude dynamics is analyzed. For comparison, transient stability of the currently prevalent droop control is also assessed using phase portraits. Salient transient stability features of dVOC and droop control during grid faults are summarized and compared. The theoretical analysis is validated by controller hardware-in-the-loop testbed using industry-grade hardware.

Automated summary

This article introduces an emerging approach called dispatchable virtual oscillator control (dVOC) for implementing nonlinear control of grid-forming inverters, and proposes a simple and intuitive graphical method for assessing transient stability using vector field on the circle. Comparison of transient stability between dVOC and droop control shows that dVOC exhibits more prominent transient stability features during grid faults.