Voltage Balancing Capability of Grid-Forming Inverters

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to analyze and identify the range of voltage balancing capability of grid-forming inverters serving three-phase unbalanced loads. These inverters are designed to compensate for voltage imbalance by controlling the negative-sequence components of voltage and current. However, the magnitude of the negative-sequence current an inverter can supply is limited by its relatively low rated current. Moreover, it becomes more challenging to estimate the amount of current needed for an unbalanced load when the inverter is interfaced using a delta-wye grounded interconnection transformer. Therefore, we investigate the range of negative-sequence current the inverter can supply and derive formulas to determine the minimum inverter’s capacity required to compensate for voltage imbalance while supplying unbalanced loads connected through a delta-wye grounded transformer. The proposed formulas can be used to estimate the capacity of an inverter in lieu of detailed analyses and electromagnetic transient simulations. The proposed equation is implemented in small and large scale microgrid systems and validated using a detailed model developed in PSCAD/EMTDC.

Keywords

• Inverter-interfaced distributed generator
• grid-forming inverter
• distributed microgrid
• voltage unbalance