This study aims to improve the stability, resilience and power quality of inverter-based resources operating under weak grid conditions by developing a Model Predictive Control–based Virtual Synchronous Generator (MPC-VSG). The scope of this work is limited to passenger car–sized microgrid testbeds, where inverters emulate synchronous generator dynamics to regulate frequency, voltage and power.
The proposed MPC-VSG integrates adaptive virtual inertia and damping, adaptive virtual impedance and an active power decoupling mechanism. A comprehensive state-space model is developed, stability is assessed through Lyapunov analysis and the controller is implemented and validated on an OPAL-RT hardware-in-the-loop platform. Comparative evaluations are carried out against conventional VSG and PI-based control schemes across different short-circuit ratios and disturbance scenarios.
Hardware-in-the-loop results demonstrate significant performance improvements. Frequency regulation is enhanced by 65%, with deviations constrained to ±0.02 Hz under normal conditions and ±0.04 Hz during severe disturbances, compared to ±0.05 Hz and ±0.1 Hz for traditional VSGs. Active power oscillations are reduced by 58% to ±5%, while reactive power fluctuations decrease by 50% to ±0.1 kVAr. Voltage recovery following a 25% sag is improved by 44%, with recovery time reduced from 450 to 250 ms. The system maintains stable operation under extremely weak grid conditions (Short-Circuit Ratio = 1.5), achieving a 70% reduction in voltage variations and 45% faster transient recovery.
This research advances Virtual Synchronous Generator (VSG) technology by integrating model predictive control with adaptive parameter tuning algorithms, enhanced power decoupling strategies and predictive fault ride-through mechanisms. The approach enables reliable grid-connected renewable energy integration under challenging weak grid conditions where traditional VSG methods fail to maintain stability, establishing new performance benchmarks for utility-scale renewable energy installations and distributed generation systems.
