Multi-Loop Design of Virtual Synchronous Machine Control for DFIG-Based Wind Farms

Abstract

The displacement of synchronous generators by converter–interfaced renewable energy sources obliges wind farms to provide inertia, damping, and voltage support, above all in increasingly weak grid conditions. This paper presents a coordinated frequency-domain methodology for tuning all control layers of doubly-fed induction generators (DFIGs) within a wind farm operated as a Virtual Synchronous Machine (VSM).Starting from a full small-signal linearisation that preserves loop-to-loop and machine-to-machine couplings, the procedure reshapes every local open loop to explicit phase-margin targets through a single, prioritised iteration. The resulting controllers provide a step response and stability margins close to those programmed at the design stage, in spite of the cross coupling between control loops. Since controller synthesis relies exclusively on classical loop-shaping tools available in commercial simulation suites, it is readily applicable to industrial-scale projects.

The displacement of synchronous generators by converter–interfaced renewable energy sources obliges wind farms to provide inertia, damping, and voltage support, above all in increasingly weak grid conditions. This paper presents a coordinated frequency-domain methodology for tuning all control layers of doubly-fed induction generators (DFIGs) within a wind farm operated as a Virtual Synchronous Machine (VSM).Starting from a full small-signal linearisation that preserves loop-to-loop and machine-to-machine couplings, the procedure reshapes every local open loop to explicit phase-margin targets through a single, prioritised iteration. The resulting controllers provide a step response and stability margins close to those programmed at the design stage, in spite of the cross coupling between control loops. Since controller synthesis relies exclusively on classical loop-shaping tools available in commercial simulation suites, it is readily applicable to industrial-scale projects.