Decentralized Droop-based Finite-Control-Set Model Predictive Control of Inverter-based Resources in Islanded AC Microgrid

TL;DR

This paper introduces an improved droop control method using finite-control-set model predictive control for inverter-based resources in islanded AC microgrids, enhancing power sharing, voltage regulation, and frequency stability.

Contribution

It proposes a novel FCS-MPC-based droop control approach that overcomes limitations of traditional methods, providing better stability and response in microgrid inverter control.

Findings

Effective power sharing achieved in simulations

Improved voltage and frequency regulation

Reduced oscillations under load changes

Abstract

This paper presents an improved droop control method to ensure effective power sharing, voltage regulation, and frequency stabilization of inverter-based resources (IBRs) connected in parallel in an islanded AC microgrid. In the contemporary droop control algorithm, the distance between connected inverters affects the effectiveness of the active power-frequency and the reactive power-voltage droop characteristics which results in poor power sharing at the primary level of the microgrid. That is, high impedance emanating from long transmission lines results in instability, poor voltage tracking, and ineffective frequency regulation. Hence, in this work, we use a finite-control-set model predictive controller (FCS-MPC) in the inner loop, which gives efficient voltage tracking, good frequency regulation, and faster performance response. FCS-MPC is easy to implement in fast switching converters and does not suffer from computational burden unlike the continuous-set MPC and is also devoid of issues of multiple-loop, parameter variation, and slow response associated with conventional droop control methods. We derived the condition for bounded stability for the FCS-MPC and the proposed method is tested via a numerical simulation on three IBRs. The results show effective power sharing, capacitor voltage tracking, and efficient frequency regulation with reduced oscillations to changes in load.