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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION 1

Self-Tuning Virtual Synchronous Machine:

A Control Strategy for Energy Storage Systems
to Support Dynamic Frequency Control
Miguel A. Torres L., Member, IEEE, Luiz A. C. Lopes, Senior Member, IEEE, Luis A. Morán T., Fellow, IEEE,
and José R. Espinoza C., Member, IEEE

Abstract—This paper investigates the use of a virtual syn- Tp Sampling time for the prediction algorithms.
chronous machine (VSM) to support dynamic frequency control c Cost function of the optimization problem.
in a diesel-hybrid autonomous power system. The proposed VSM γi Weight factors of the cost function.
entails controlling the grid-interface converter of an energy stor-
age system (ESS) to emulate the inertial response and the damping A Search area of the optimization problem.
power of a synchronous generator. In addition, self-tuning algo-
rithms are used to continuously search for optimal parameters I. INTRODUCTION
during the operation of the VSM in order to minimize the ampli-
REQUENCY variations of consequence are more likely
tude and rate of change of the frequency variations and the power
flow through the ESS. The performances of the proposed self-
tuning (ST)-VSM and the constant parameters (CP)-VSM were
F to occur in autonomous power systems than in large in-
terconnected power grids, because they feature a relatively
evaluated by comparing their inertial responses and their damp- small generation capacity and rapid changes in power demand,
ing powers for different scenarios of load variations. For the sim- especially in the presence of stochastic energy sources such as
ulated cases, the ST-VSM achieved a similar performance to that
of the CP-VSM, while reducing the power flow through the ESS in
wind and photovoltaic generators [1]. For instance, in diesel-
up to 58%. Moreover, in all the simulated scenarios, the ST-VSM hybrid autonomous power systems, a reduced number of diesel
was found to be more efficient than the CP-VSM in attenuating generators supply the power to the load and control the fre-
frequency variations, i.e., it used less energy per Hertz reduced. quency of the system in isolation from the utility grid. If diesel
Index Terms—Autonomous power system, energy storage, fre- generators are not able to maintain frequency magnitude and
quency control, optimal control. rate of change within prescribed operational limits, tripping of
renewable generators and loads can occur, and therefore, the
assistance of other components is required in order to maintain
NOMENCLATURE the stability of the power system.
ESS Energy storage system. Different strategies that use an ESS to assist frequency con-
VSM Virtual synchronous machine. trol have been proposed. A strategy that indirectly deals with
CP-VSM Constant parameters VSM. dynamic frequency control is the smoothing of the output power
ST-VSM Self-tuning VSM. of intermittent sources [2]. One disadvantage of this technique
f Grid frequency. is that it requires the measuring of the output power of the
f∗ Stabilization frequency. intermittent source, which restricts the location of the ESS or
fp Peak frequency. establishes the need for a communication link to transmit the
tp Time at where the peak frequency occurs. measurements. An approach that allows the autonomous con-
kvi Virtual inertia. trol of distributed ESSs is the frequency droop control [3]. This
kvd Damping coefficient. strategy, inherited from the operation of conventional genera-
m in/m ax
Kvi Min./Max. value of virtual inertia. tors, relies on local measurements to control the output power
m in/m ax
Kvd Min./Max. value of damping coefficient. of the ESS with no need for a communication link, however, in
Nvi Number of elements in the search vector for the its simplest form (permanent frequency droop) this technique
virtual inertia. is intended to support only frequency regulation, thus it does
Nvd Number of elements in the search vector for the not cope with the problem of dynamic frequency control. An-
damping coefficient. other technique is called VSM and it entails controlling the
grid-interface converter of a distributed generator or an ESS to
Manuscript received March 28, 2014; revised September 19, 2014; ac-
cepted September 26, 2014. This work is supported in part by the emulate a synchronous generator or a desired characteristic of
Chilean Solar Energy Research Center (SERC-Chile) through project CON- it [4]–[12].
ICYT/FONDAP/15110019. Paper no. TEC-00181-2014. This paper investigates the use of a VSM to support dynamic
M. A. Torres, L. A. Morán, and J. R. Espinoza are with the Department of Elec-
trical Engineering, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción 4070386, Chile frequency control in a diesel-hybrid autonomous power sys-
(e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]). tem. In particular, the VSM is implemented with an ESS and
L. A. C. Lopes is with the Department of Electrical and Computer En- the strategy proposed to support dynamic frequency control in-
gineering, Concordia University, Montreal H4B 1R6, QC, Canada (e-mail:
[email protected]). volves emulating the inertial response and the damping power
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TEC.2014.2362577 of a synchronous generator, which are present only during a

0885-8969 © 2014 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
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2 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION

Fig. 1. Block diagram of the VSM control strategy.

transient. Fig. 1 illustrates the concept of the VSM. The fre-

quency, f , is locally measured at the point where the ESS is
connected to the grid, and then, based on the measured fre-
quency, the output power of the VSM, pVSM , is calculated and
used as the reference for the output active power of the ESS,
pESS ref . The output power of the VSM is defined as
Fig. 2. Effects of the inertia and damping on a frequency transient [16].
df
pVSM = −kvi f + kvd f (f ∗ − f ) (1) (a) Small grid with a diesel generator and VSM. (b) Different values of virtual
inertia and zero virtual damping. (c) Different values of virtual damping and
dt
zero virtual inertia.
where kvi represents the virtual inertia, kvd is the damping
coefficient, and f ∗ is the stabilization frequency that the system
has to reach in steady state. The inertial response of the VSM
quency deviation, but the system reaches the peak value more
emulates the power that is naturally released or absorbed by
rapidly, which increases the initial rate of change, as can be seen
a conventional rotating generator as the power demand varies.
in Fig. 2(c).
The emulation of inertial response typically entails the control of
Considering that the first oscillation of the frequency is the
power that is inversely proportional to the first time derivative
most critical one in terms of keeping the system stable, it might
of the grid frequency [13], [14]. Therefore, when the frequency
be a better approach to have a variable virtual inertia that acts
of the grid starts to decrease (a negative derivative), the power
only during the first oscillation following a power disturbance. In
converter which is in charge of emulating the inertial response
this regard, alternative approaches to emulate inertial response
starts to inject power to the grid until the frequency reaches its
that partially solve this problem have been presented in [17] and
minimum (when the first derivative is zero), then the frequency
[18], where a power converter injects a predefined amount of
starts to increase (a positive derivative) and the converter starts
constant power during a short period of time to decrease the first
to absorb power. This process will continue until steady state
frequency drop and its initial rate of change. Despite the effec-
is achieved. The other function that helps to stabilize frequency
tiveness of these techniques, they do not explore the use of a
is the injection of damping power. The damping power of the
variable virtual inertia that can change its value during operation,
VSM is the power supplied by the virtual prime mover that
which is one of the main advantages of VSMs over conventional
helps to attenuate oscillations, and then, reduce the stabilization
generators [11]. For example, when frequency starts to deviate
time for a predefined tolerance band. The damping power is
from steady state, a larger inertia would present a stronger op-
typically calculated from the difference between a reference
position to the speed change of generators, limiting the initial
(stabilization) frequency and the actual frequency of the system.
rate of change of frequency and its peak deviation. However,
Any deviation from the reference frequency produces a power
when frequency starts to return to steady state, a larger inertia
that attempts to bring back the grid frequency to the reference,
would no longer be required, and more damping would help to
attenuating the amplitude of the oscillations [13], [15].
stabilize the system faster. To the best knowledge of the authors,
Fig. 2(a) depicts the schematic of the simulation of a mini grid
there are no studies on VSMs with the ability of changing pa-
compensated with the VSM for a load step of 5 kW at t = 1 s.
rameters, therefore, this paper aims to explore this concept by
The parameters of the diesel generator used in simulations are
proposing a VSM whose parameters vary during operation.
presented in Table VI in Appendix B. From Fig. 2(b), it can be
seen that the main effect of adding constant virtual inertia to
II. SELF-TUNING VSM
the system is that the rate of change of the frequency decreases.
However, assuming that all the system parameters remain un- The proposed strategy is called a ST-VSM because it en-
changed (e.g., diesel generator settings), a side effect of adding tails the continuous and autonomous variation of the VSM
constant virtual inertia is that the frequency will oscillate for a parameters—damping coefficient kvd and virtual inertia kvi
longer time before settling [16]. On the other hand, increasing in (1)—by means of online optimizations that are constantly
the damping coefficient produces a reduction in the peak fre- performed during the operation of the VSM. The optimization
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TORRES L. et al.: SELF-TUNING VIRTUAL SYNCHRONOUS MACHINE: A CONTROL STRATEGY FOR ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS 3

problem is formulated as
 2
df
minimize c = γ1 + γ2 (kvi k +1 )2 · · ·
(k v i ,k v d ) k + 1 dtk +1
+ γ3 (ek +1 )2 + γ4 (kvd k +1 )2
   
df
subject to: if |ek | ≥  and ek ≤0
dtk
(kvi , kvd )k +1 ∈ Uvi × Uvd
Fig. 3. ST-VSM with variable inertia and damping.
γ1...4 > 0
else
III. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
(kvi , kvd )k +1 ∈ ∅ × Uvd
The performance of the proposed ST-VSM is compared with
γ1 = γ2 = 0, γ3,4 > 0 (2) the performance of a CP-VSM for two cases: a step change in
where the subindex k + 1 denotes the one sampling time ahead the load and variations in the output of the wind generator (WG).
prediction of the corresponding variable, e = f ∗ − f is the con- Fig. 3 depicts the schematic of the simulated system. Parameters
trol error,  is a predefined tolerance band to discriminate the used in simulations are summarized in Tables VI, VII, VIII, and
stabilization of the frequency, γ1...4 are weight factors that de- IX in Appendix B.
termine the relative In order to compare the performances of the CP and the ST
 m inimportance  of each term
 m in the cost function
c, and Uvi = Kvi m ax
, Kvi and Uvd = Kvd in m ax
, Kvd are the VSMs, an index that gives a measure how much energy is used
search vectors for the virtual inertia and damping coefficient, re- from the ESS to reduce the frequency nadir is defined as
spectively. For implementation purposes, it is important to con-
Edelivered
sider that, because of the direct search method used to solve the Ip erf = [kJ/Hz] (3)
optimization problems, the calculation of the inertial response (Δfp )0 − (Δfp )VSM
involves Nvi iterations, the damping power Nvd iterations, and
where Edelivered is the energy delivered by the VSM, (Δfp )0
both functions Nvi · Nvd iterations. Therefore, provisions must
is the frequency nadir without the VSM and (Δfp )VSM is the
be taken in order to assure enough processing power for the
frequency nadir with the VSM in operation.
full deployment of the ST-VSM (inertia and damping), which
represents the case of the highest computational burden.
The self-tuning algorithms were developed under the follow- A. Load Step
ing considerations. This test consists of a load increase of 5 kW at t = 1 s (from an
1) The goal of the online optimization is to attenuate the fre- initial load of 20 kW) while only one genset (DG1) is connected
quency deviations and minimize the power flow through to the system and it operates in isochronous mode. The same
the ESS. test is conducted for the system without VSM, with the CP-
2) The algorithm searches for a value of virtual inertia and VSM, and with the ST-VSM. In order to isolate the effects of
damping coefficient as long as the frequency deviates from each action of the VSM (inertial response and damping power),
the stabilization value. Otherwise, it makes the virtual in- the performance of the ST-VSM is evaluated in three modes of
ertia equal to zero and searches for the damping coefficient operation: considering only the variation of the virtual inertia,
only. considering only the variation of the damping coefficient, and
3) The optimization is solved by direct search and the al- considering the variation of both parameters together.
gorithm to solve the minimization problems was adapted 1) Virtual Inertia: Fig. 4 shows the simulation results, where
from the one presented in [19]. the curve labeled “No VSM” is the original response of DG1,
4) For implementation purposes, the search space has to be “CP-VSM” is the response of DG1 plus the VSM with con-
discretized in order to limit the search (iterations of the stant inertia, and “ST-VSM1,2 ” are the responses of DG1 plus
algorithms) to a finite number of elements. The points ST-VSM for two different values of the weight factor γ2 . It
within the search space were defined using a linear scale is observed that the curves “ST-VSM1,2 ” present a frequency
(equally spaced), however, any other type of scale can be nadir that lies between the other two curves (see also Δfp in
used. Table I). This is because the maximum value of inertia for the
5) The cost function used in the optimization problems were ST-VSM has been set to 2, which is the virtual inertia of the
defined as the addition of quadratic terms. Other functions CP-VSM. If the virtual inertia of the ST-VSM is allowed to
such as the absolute value can also be used. However, the vary beyond the value used by CP-VSM, a greater reduction of
quadratic form is chosen because it results in a faster the frequency nadir is expected to happen. Finally, it is observed
controller [20]. that as the weight factor γ2 is decreased the frequency nadir also
6) The predictive models used to define some of the terms decreases, which can be attributed to the fact that a reduction of
used in the cost functions are presented in Appendix A. γ2 reinforces the minimization of the df /dt in (2).
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4 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION

Fig. 4. Effects of the inertial response of the CP-VSM and ST-VSM on the Fig. 6. Effects of the damping power of the CP-VSM and ST-VSM on the
grid frequency. grid frequency.

Fig. 5. Comparison between the inertial response of the CP-VSM and Fig. 7. Comparison between the damping function of the CP-VSM and ST-
ST-VSM. Waveforms associated to the frequency variation of Fig. 4. (a) and (b) VSM. Waveforms associated to the frequency variation of Fig. 6. (a) and (b)
Variation of the virtual inertia and the corresponding ESS output active current Variation of the damping coefficient and the corresponding ESS output active
for the CP-VSM. (c) and (d) Same waveforms for the ST-VSM1 . (e) and (f) current for the CP-VSM. (c) and (d) Same waveforms for the ST-VSM1 . (e) and
Same waveforms for the ST-VSM2 . (f) Same waveforms for the ST-VSM2 .

On the other hand, Fig. 5 shows the simulation results for the the ST-VSM does not recover energy as the CP-VSM does by
variation of the virtual inertia and the d-axis current of the ESS. reversing the current as shown in Fig. 5(b) (see also delivered
It is observed that, because the ST-VSM makes its virtual inertia and recovered energy in Table I).
equal to 0 right after the nadir happens, as shown in Fig. 5(c) and 2) Damping Power: Fig. 6 shows the simulation results,
(e), the frequency stabilizes, on average, 2.4 times faster than where the curve labeled “No VSM” is the original response
the CP-VSM (see the settling time in Table I) and delivering up of DG1, “CP-VSM” is the response of DG1 plus the VSM
to 42% less energy (in the case of ST-VSM1 ). As a tradeoff, with constant damping coefficient, and “ST-VSM1,2 ” are the
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TORRES L. et al.: SELF-TUNING VIRTUAL SYNCHRONOUS MACHINE: A CONTROL STRATEGY FOR ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS 5

TABLE I
PERFORMANCE COMPARISON BETWEEN THE INERTIAL RESPONSE OF THE
CP-VSM AND THE ST-VSM

VSM Δ f p (Hz) t p (s) Settling Delivered Recovered

Type Time (s) Energy (kJ) Energy (kJ)

None 0.56 0.24 0.76 0 0

CP 0.37 0.36 2.26 0.47 0.44
ST1 0.45 0.33 0.91 0.27 0
ST2 0.4 0.41 1 0.4 0

TABLE II
PERFORMANCE COMPARISON BETWEEN THE DAMPING FUNCTION OF THE
CP-VSM AND THE ST-VSM

VSM Δ f p (Hz) t p (s) Settling Delivered Recovered Fig. 8. Effect of the CP-VSM and ST-VSM on the grid frequency under a
Type Time (s) Energy (kJ) Energy (kJ) load increase.

None 0.56 0.24 0.76 0 0

CP 0.35 0.17 1.85 1.71 0
ST1 0.49 0.21 1.15 0.32 0
ST2 0.38 0.17 1.46 0.96 0

TABLE III
PERFORMANCE COMPARISON BETWEEN CP-VSM AND ST-VSM UNDER A
LOAD INCREASE

VSM Δ f p (Hz) t p (s) Settling Delivered Recovered

Type Time (s) Energy (kJ) Energy (kJ)

None 0.56 0.24 0.76 0 0

CP 0.27 0.3 1.52 1.1 0
ST 0.37 0.38 1.06 0.42 0

responses of DG1 plus ST-VSM for two different values of the

weight factor γ4 . It is observed that the curves “ST-VSM1,2 ”
present a frequency nadir and settling time that lie between the
other two curves (see Δfp and also the settling time in Table II).
This is because the maximum value of damping coefficient for Fig. 9. Comparison between CP-VSM and ST-VSM under a load increase.
the ST-VSM has been set to 10, which is the damping coefficient Waveforms associated to Fig. 8. (a) Variation of virtual inertia. (b) Variation of
damping coefficient. (c) ESS output current.
of the CP-VSM. If the damping coefficient of the ST-VSM is
allowed to vary beyond the value used by CP-VSM, a greater
reduction of the frequency nadir is expected to happen. It is also
observed that as the weight factor γ4 is decreased the frequency it uses only 38% of the energy used by CP-VSM, as it can be
nadir also decreases, which can be attributed to the fact that a seen from the current waveforms in Fig. 9(c) (see also delivered
reduction of γ4 reinforces the minimization of e(k + 1) in (2). energy in Table III).
On the other hand, Fig. 7 shows the simulation results for
the variation of the damping coefficient and the d-axis current
of the ESS. It is observed that ST-VSM2 achieves almost the B. Wind Power
same reduction in the frequency nadir than CP-VSM, but using This test is to compare the performance of the CP-VSM
approximately 56% of the delivered energy (see Fig. 7(b), (f) and the ST-VSM under continuous load changes produced by
and delivered energy in Table II) and reducing the settling time the output power of the WG. Only one genset operating in
in 21% at the same time. isochronous mode (DG1) is connected to the system and the
3) Virtual Inertia and Damping Power: From Fig. 8, it is load is kept constant at 20 kW. The same test is conducted for
observed that with the CP-VSM, the system presents the lowest the system without VSM, with the CP-VSM, and with the ST-
frequency nadir but the settling time is increased (see also Δfp VSM. In Fig. 10, the curve labeled “No VSM” is the original
and settling time in Table III). response of DG1, “CP-VSM” the response of DG1 plus the con-
On the other hand, with the ST-VSM, the system presents stant parameters VSM, and “ST-VSM” to the response of DG1
a reduced settling time but a higher frequency nadir, however, plus the self-tuning VSM.
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6 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION

TABLE IV
PERFORMANCE COMPARISON BETWEEN CP-VSM AND ST-VSM UNDER WIND
POWER

VSM Δ f p (Hz) MAE1 (Hz) Delivered Recovered

Type Energy (kJ) Energy (kJ)

None 0.42 NA 0 0
CP 0.29 0.016 1.38 1.86
ST 0.32 0.016 0.87 0.38

Mean absolute error calculated only between frequency waveforms “CP-

N
VSM” and “ST-VSM” as 1/N n = 1 |x n − y n |.

TABLE V
PERFORMANCE INDEX (KJ/HZ) FOR CP-VSM AND ST-VSM

Fig. 10. Effect of the CP-VSM and ST-VSM on the grid frequency under VSM Load step Wind power
wind power. Type Inertia Damping I+D I+D

CP 2.47 8.14 3.79 8.46

ST 2.45 4.57 2.21 8

IV. CONCLUSION
The novel concept of an ST-VSM was introduced in this pa-
per. As opposed to the case of the constant parameters VSM,
the proposed ST-VSM uses optimizations algorithms to find,
through online calculations, optimal parameters (virtual inertia
and damping coefficient) that minimize a cost function that in-
volves the frequency deviations (amplitude and rate of change)
and the power flow through the ESS. This self-tuning strategy
allows the VSM to increase and reduce its inertia and damp-
ing when needed, resulting in a more efficient control of the
frequency excursions while reducing the settling times and the
energy used from the ESS.
The performances of the ST-VSM and the CP-VSM were
evaluated by comparing their inertial responses and their damp-
Fig. 11. Comparison between ST-VSM and CP-VSM under wind power. ing powers for different scenarios of load variations. For the
Waveforms associated to Fig. 10. (a) Variation of virtual inertia. (b) Variation simulated cases, the ST-VSM achieved a similar performance to
of damping coefficient. (c) ESS output current.
that of the CP-VSM while reducing the power flow through the
ESS in up to 58 %. Moreover, in all the simulated scenarios
the ST-VSM was found to be more efficient than the CP-VSM
From Fig. 10, it is observed that the CP-VSM performed
in attenuating frequency variations, i.e., it used less energy per
slightly better (31%) than the ST-VSM (24%) in reducing
hertz reduced.
the maximum frequency deviation, however, both frequency
Finally, it was also found that, depending on the type of load
curves differ, on average, in only 0.016 Hz. Therefore, it can be
variation, the operation of the proposed ST-VSM may result in
said that the ST-VSM achieved a similar performance than the
a greater discharge of the ESS when compared to the CP-VSM.
CP-VSM, while minimizing the power flow through the ESS by
This suggests that further work is required in order to include
58%. The latter can be seen from the output currents of the ESS
the state of charge of the ESS in the control strategy of the
in Fig. 11(c). Table IV summarizes the simulation results.
ST-VSM.
C. Summary
APPENDIX A
Table V shows the calculated values of Ip erf for the CP-VSM MODEL FOR PREDICTION
and the ST-VSM for the different simulation scenarios. It can be
noted that the values calculated for ST-VSM are always smaller It is assumed that the output power of the ESS, pESS , is equal
than the values calculated for the CP-VSM. This indicates that to the reference (1), which allows replacing (1) into the equation
the ST-VSM uses less energy per hertz, i.e., is more efficient in of the prime mover’s rotor. At the same time, the derivative of
reducing the frequency nadir. the frequency is replaced by a first-order difference equation
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TORRES L. et al.: SELF-TUNING VIRTUAL SYNCHRONOUS MACHINE: A CONTROL STRATEGY FOR ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS 7

which gives the following model for prediction: TABLE VIII

ST-VSM AND CP-VSM
fk −fk −1
(J +kvi k ) = −(kf +kvd k )fk +kvd k fk∗ +βk (A.4) Description Symbol Value
Tp
Prediction sampling time Tp 1 ms
where the new variable βk represents the accelerating torque. Control sampling time Tc tr 10 ms
Since the prediction algorithm uses βk +1 , which is the future Filtered derivative time constant Tf 50 ms
Tolerance band (0.05 %)  0.03 Hz
value of a variable that is not being measured, then it has to CP-VSM virtual inertia kv i 2
be estimated. If βk does not significantly change between two CP-VSM damping coefficient kv d 10
consecutive sampling times, then βk +1 ≈ βk and its value can ST-VSM search area A [0, 2] ×[0, 10]
ST-VSM search area discretizat. N v i ·N v d 10 ·20
be estimated from A.4 as
 
J +kvi k J +kvi k
β̃k +1 = +kf +kvd k fk − fk −1 −kvd k fk∗ . TABLE IX
Tp Tp WIND GENERATOR
(A.5)
Now, writing A.4 for k = k + 1 and replacing βk +1 by its
Description Value
estimated value A.5, the following prediction for the frequency
is obtained: Nominal power at 9.5 m/s 50 kVA
Rotor speed 42 rpm
Rotor diameter 19.2 m
(J + kvi k +1 ) fk + Tp kvd k +1 fk∗ + Tp β̃k +1 Power regulation stall control
fk +1 = . (A.6)
J + kvi k +1 + Tp (kf + kvd k +1 ) Equivalent inertia 5.83 kg·m2
Cut-in wind speed 3.5 m/s

In the same way, the prediction for the rate of change of fre-
quency is obtained as
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WEIGHT FACTORS AND MODES OF OPERATION OF THE ST-VSM synchronous generators,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 58, no. 4,
pp. 1259–1267, Apr. 2011.
[12] H. Bevrani, T. Ise, and Y. Miura, “Virtual synchronous generators: A
Mode γ1 γ2 γ3 γ4 survey and new perspectives,” Int. J. Elect. Power Energy Syst., vol. 54,
no. 1, pp. 244–254, Jan. 2014.
Inertial response 1 0.5 0 0 [13] J. Morren, S. de Haan, and J. Ferreira, “Contribution of DG units to
Damping power 0 0 1 0.5×10 −4 primary frequency control,” in Proc. Int. Conf. Future Power Syst.,
Inertia and Damping 1 0.5 1 0.2×10 −1 Nov. 2005, pp. 1–6.
[14] J. Morren, S. de Haan, W. Kling, and J. Ferreira, “Wind turbines emulating
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 This article has been accepted for inclusion in a future issue of this journal. Content is final as presented, with the exception of pagination.

8 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION

[15] X. Yingcheng and T. Nengling, “Review of contribution to frequency Luis A. Morán T. (S’79–M’81–SM’94, F’05) re-
control through variable speed wind turbine,” Renew. Energy, vol. 36, no. ceived the Electrical Engineering degree from the
6, pp. 1671–1677, 2011. University of Concepción, Concepción, Chile, in
[16] M. Torres and L. A. C. Lopes, “Virtual synchronous generator control in 1982, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering
autonomous wind-diesel power systems,” in Proc. IEEE Montreal Elect. from Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada,
Power Energy Conf., Oct. 2009, pp. 1–6. in 1990.
[17] Y. Z. Sun, Z. S. Zhang, G. J. Li, and J. Lin, “Review on frequency control Since 1990, he has been with the Electrical En-
of power systems with wind power penetration,” in Proc. Int. Conf. Power gineering Department, University of Concepción,
Syst. Technol., Oct. 2010, pp. 1–8. where he is a Professor. He has extensive consult-
[18] G. Delille, B. Francois, and G. Malarange, “Dynamic frequency control ing experience in the mining industry, particularly in
support by energy storage to reduce the impact of wind and solar gener- the application of medium-voltage ac drives, large
ation on isolated power system’s inertia,” IEEE Trans. Sustain. Energy, power cycloconverter drives for semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mills, and
vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 931–939, Oct. 2012. power-quality issues. His main areas of interest are in ac drives, power quality,
[19] J. Rodriguez, S. Bernet, B. Wu, J. Pontt, and S. Kouro, “Multilevel voltage- active power filters, flexible alternating current transmission system (FACTS),
source-converter topologies for industrial medium-voltage drives,” IEEE and power protection systems.
Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 54, no. 6, pp. 2930–2945, Dec. 2007. Dr. Morán was an Associate Editor of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER
[20] S. Kouro, P. Cortes, R. Vargas, U. Ammann, and J. Rodriguez, “Model ELECTRONICS from 1997 to 2001. In 1995, he received the IEEE Outstanding
predictive control—a simple and powerful method to control power con- Paper Award from the Industrial Electronics Society for the best paper pub-
verters,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 56, no. 6, pp. 1826–1838, lished in the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS. He was also
Jun. 2009. a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE in 2008–2009. In 1998, he received the
City of Concepción Medal of Honor for achievement in applied research.

Miguel A. Torres L. (S’08–M’13) received the Grad-

uate degree in electronics engineering and the M.Sc.
degree in electrical engineering from Universidad de José R. Espinoza C. (S’92–M’97) received the Eng.
Concepción, Concepción, Chile, in 2004 and 2007, degree in electronic engineering and the M.Sc. de-
respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical en- gree in electrical engineering from the University of
gineering from Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Concepción, Concepción, Chile, in 1989 and 1992,
Canada, in 2013. respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical en-
In 2003, he was with l’École Supérieure gineering from Concordia University, Montreal, QC,
d’Électricité (SUPÉLEC), Paris, France, working on Canada, in 1997.
passivity-based control of voltage-source converters. Since January 2006, he has been a Professor in
From 2005 to 2008, he worked in the industry as the Department of Electrical Engineering, University
an Automation Engineer. In July 2013, he joined the Chilean Solar Energy Re- of Concepción, where he is involved in teaching and
search Center, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Concepción, research in the areas of automatic control and power
Concepción, Chile, as a Postdoctoral Fellow, where he currently works on the electronics. He has authored and coauthored more than 150 refereed journal
control of multicell converter topologies for the integration of large-scale pho- and conference papers, and contributed to one chapter in the Power Electronics
tovoltaic plants into the grid. Handbook (Academic, 2011).
Dr. Espinoza is currently an Associate Editor of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS
ON POWER ELECTRONICS AND INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS.

Luiz A. C. Lopes (S’93–M’96–SM’06) received

the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the
Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis,
Brazil, in 1989, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical
engineering from McGill University, Montreal, QC,
Canada, in 1996.
From 1996 to 2001, he was an Associate Professor
in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engi-
neering, Federal University of Para, Belem, Brazil.
He is currently a Professor in the Department of Elec-
trical and Computer Engineering, Concordia Univer-
sity, Montreal, where he has been since 2002. His current research interests
include power electronics, distributed power systems, and renewable energy
sources.