Comparative Studies on the Impedance Models of VSC-Based Renewable Generators for SSI Stability Analysis

Recently, emerging oscillation issues have been caused by subsynchronous interaction (SSI) between voltage source converters (VSCs) based renewable generators and ac/dc grids. To investigate the dynamics of SSI, several impedance models (IMs) of VSC have been developed in previous studies. They are established in different reference frames and consider the entire or just parts of the control systems. However, it is still an unanswered question whether or not the existing IMs are suitable for SSI analysis and to what extent the IMs with different modeling details affect subsynchronous dynamics. To fill in this gap, this paper, first, reviews the existing IMs of VSC and clarifies their relationship. Then, their frequency characteristics are examined so as to select the proper models for the studies of sub-/supersynchronous and high-frequency dynamics. Next, both zero-pole and IM-based SSI analyses are carried out on a simplified system and a real-world wind-farm system that suffered actual SSI incidents. The results indicate that the outer-loop control has a significant impact on the subsynchronous dynamics, and only those IMs taking full-scale controls and frequency-coupling effects into account can reflect SSI accurately. Finally, both modal analysis and electromagnetic transient simulations have been conducted to verify the theoretical results.