Virtual synchronous generators: A survey and new perspectives

In comparison of the conventional bulk power plants, in which the synchronous machines dominate, the distributed generator (DG) units have either very small or no rotating mass and damping property. With growing the penetration level of DGs, the impact of low inertia and damping effect on the grid stability and dynamic performance increases. A solution towards stability improvement of such a grid is to provide virtual inertia by virtual synchronous generators (VSGs) that can be established by using short term energy storage together with a power inverter and a proper control mechanism. The present paper reviews the fundamentals and main concept of VSGs, and their role to support the power grid control. Then, a VSG-based frequency control scheme is addressed, and the paper is focused on the poetical role of VSGs in the grid frequency regulation task. The most important VSG topologies with a survey on the recent works/achievements are presented. Finally, the relevant key issues, main technical challenges, further research needs and new perspectives are emphasized. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.