Search Results (316)

The increasing substitution of conventional synchronous generation by photovoltaic resources has introduced significant challenges to voltage stability, reactive power management, and dynamic system performance. This paper compares a STATCOM, an SVC, a synchronous condenser (SC), and a BESS with a grid-forming inverter (BESS-GFM) in the IEEE 9-bus system using DIgSILENT PowerFactory 2023 SP 5. PV generation is ramped up while synchronous output is reduced to effectively emulate the global movement to greater renewable energy generation as part of decarbonization strategies. Performance is assessed using AC load flows, quasi-dynamic time-series load flows, PV curves, and three-phase short-circuit calculations, concentrating on voltage compliance, additional active power headroom, reactive power capability, and LVRT/HVRT tendency. However, existing work is technology-specific or uses inconsistent assumptions and metrics, which prevent a like-for-like comparison of STATCOM, SVC, SC, and BESS-GFM as PV displaces synchronous generation. This paper addresses that gap by applying a single, consistent study framework across all four technologies. The results indicate that the best performing options provide broadly comparable voltage support at the PCC (Point of Common Coupling), the STATCOM and BESS-GFM maintain voltage close to the setpoint through fast, continuous converter-based reactive control, while the synchronous condenser achieves similar regulation with the added benefit of increasing system strength and fault level through synchronous contribution. Overall, the findings support coordinated deployment of continuous VAR control and strength enhancing support to maintain voltage resilience in high-PV networks. Full article

The high penetration of renewables introduces stability challenges to modern power grids due to their intermittency and lack of inertia. Unlike conventional grid-following controls, this paper proposes a Virtual Synchronous Machine (VSM) control strategy for a three-level neutral-point clamped (NPC) battery energy storage system (BESS), enabling autonomous voltage and frequency support. The VSM control comprises voltage reference generation and voltage tracking. A step-by-step derivation of inverter output impedance is also provided, along with an analysis of how key parameters affect it. Simulation results in MATLAB R2021a/Simulink demonstrate excellent dynamic performance and grid-supporting functionalities, validating the effectiveness of the proposed design and the accuracy of the impedance analysis. Full article

This research paper presents Volvo SmartCell, an AC battery technology that integrates modular multilevel converters and battery cells to form a unified system for electric vehicle propulsion and power supply. The research work addresses the broader challenge of reducing driveline cost and complexity by replacing traditional components such as inverters, onboard chargers, centralized DC/DC converters, vehicle control units and many more. SmartCell uses distributed Cluster Boards comprised of H-bridges which are controlled via wireless communication to generate AC voltage, deliver redundant low voltage power, and support cell level protection mechanisms. The prototype testing demonstrates that the system can supply traction power by engaging clusters according to the required voltage depending on motor speed, achieve AC grid charging by synthesizing sinusoidal voltages without a dedicated charger, and provide autonomous DC/DC operation through cluster level voltage regulation. Simulations further indicate that multilevel voltage generation can reduce switching losses and improve electric machine efficiency compared to conventional systems. Additional benefits include active cell balancing, support for mixed cell chemistries, and high redundancy through multiple independent power branches. Challenges remain in wireless bandwidth limitations and cost optimization of Cluster Boards. Ongoing development aims to enhance communication robustness and validate safety for non-isolated grid charging. Full article

This paper aims to define the optimal microgrid topology for rural electrification based on the lowest total cost by comparing LVAC and LVDC microgrids across three different scenarios. An LVAC radial topology is first designed using mixed-integer linear programming for phase balancing and the shortest path for connections, then implemented with a genetic algorithm to allocate and size solar home systems, forming an LVAC microgrid. Next, an LVDC topology is then derived from the LVAC structure and integrated with solar home systems under three scenarios: (1) using the same solar home system sizes, locations, and quantities as the LVAC microgrid; (2) using a genetic algorithm to re-determine solar home system sizes and locations, forming an LVDC microgrid; and (3) clustering the LVDC topology into nano-grids, each defined by genetic algorithm for solar home system sizing and placement and connected to the main feeder via bi-directional converters. Finally, all LVAC and LVDC scenarios are simulated over a 30-year planning horizon for analysis. A non-electrified village located in Cambodia has been selected for a case study to validate the proposed methods. The results have been obtained and provide a comparison of performance indicators (i.e., costs, energy production, losses, CO₂ emissions, and autonomous energy) among the microgrids (LVAC and LVDC). The LVAC microgrid produced lower total energy losses than the LVDC microgrid in all scenarios. However, when considering environmental impact, LVDC Scenario 2 is preferable. Based on the total cost results, the LVAC microgrid is considered more economical than the LVDC microgrid in each scenario in this study. Full article

The hybrid parallel operation of the grid-following (GFL) converter and the grid-forming (GFM) converter has become a typical scenario in distribution networks. The vastly different control philosophies and dynamics between the two give rise to complex small-signal stability issues, especially under weak grids. Traditional methods primarily rely on equivalent models or impedance-based approaches at fixed operating points, which struggle to reveal the system instability mechanisms when the capacity ratio between the two types of converters changes. This paper establishes a three-port dynamic average model for a grid-connected system with heterogeneous GFL-GFM converters. Using the participation factor analysis method, the system’s dominant modes are identified, and the key parameters influencing oscillations at different frequencies, as well as their formation processes, are revealed. Furthermore, a stability analysis method for variable capacity ratios is proposed. This method re-performs modal analysis based on the varying capacities of the GFM and GFL converters, revealing the dominant factors and influencing mechanisms of system instability during capacity transitions. Finally, a simulation model is built in PSCAD/EMTDC to verify the correctness of the proposed three-port model and the theoretical analysis results. Full article

The transition towards sustainable energy systems is critically dependent on the reliable integration of renewable energy sources into the power grid. With the increasing penetration of renewable generation, hybrid grid-connected systems comprising grid-following (GFL) and grid-forming (GFM) converters have become essential in modern power stations. This paper addresses a key challenge to sustainable grid operation: maintaining stability and power delivery during grid faults. When faults cause voltage sags at the point of common coupling (PCC), different low-voltage ride-through (LVRT) strategies significantly impact both the voltage support capability and the active power transmission capacity, which are vital for a stable and resilient energy supply. To address this, the paper proposes a coordinated LVRT strategy for GFL/GFM converters that adapts to varying grid requirements, thereby promoting sustainable grid integration. First, the topology and control strategies of the hybrid system are briefly described. The conventional LVRT control strategies for both GFL and GFM converters are then improved. Based on the severity of the grid voltage sag, the converters’ active and reactive power output are adaptively adjusted. This dual-function approach not only effectively limits fault currents, protecting sensitive equipment, but also prioritizes the continuous transmission of active power, thereby minimizing the loss of renewable generation during faults and supporting grid stability. Subsequently, through an analysis of the voltage and active power characteristics of different LVRT modes, a coordinated strategy is designed. Unlike single-converter LVRT control, the proposed method flexibly selects and adjusts control modes to meet specific grid code requirements, ensuring robust voltage support and maximizing the utilization of clean energy even under adverse conditions. Finally, the effectiveness of this coordinated control strategy in ensuring a sustainable and resilient grid connection is validated through MATLAB R2022b/Simulink simulations. Full article

The increasing penetration of intermittent renewable energy demands innovative solutions to maintain grid stability, resilience, and security in the body of smart cities. This paper presents a novel framework that redefines Bitcoin mining as a form of virtual energy storage, a flexible and controllable load capable of delivering large-scale demand response services, positioning it as a competitive alternative to traditional energy storage systems, including electrical, mechanical, thermal, chemical, and electrochemical storage solutions. By strategically aligning mining activities with grid conditions, Bitcoin mining can absorb excess electricity during periods of oversupply, converting it into digital assets, and reduce operations during times of scarcity, effectively emulating the behavior of conventional energy storage systems without the associated capital expenditures and material requirements. Beyond its operational flexibility, this paper explores the cyber–physical benefits of integrating Bitcoin mining into the power transmission systems as a defensive mechanism against false data injection (FDI) cyberattacks in smart city infrastructure. To achieve this goal, a decentralized and adaptive control strategy is proposed, in which mining loads dynamically adjust based on authenticated grid-state information, thereby improving system observability and hindering adversarial efforts to disrupt state estimation. In addition, to handle the proposed approach, this paper introduces a high-performance algorithm, a combination of quantum-augmented particle swarm optimization and wavelet-oriented whale optimization (QAPSO-WOWO). Simulation results confirm that strategic deployment of mining loads improves grid sustainability by utilizing curtailed renewables, enhances resilience by mitigating load-generation imbalances, and bolsters cybersecurity by reducing the impacts of FDI attacks. This work lays the foundation for a transdisciplinary paradigm shift, positioning Bitcoin mining not as a passive energy consumer but as an active participant in securing and stabilizing the future power grid in smart cities. Full article

Interest in isolated electrical systems powered by renewable energy has driven the development of alternatives to traditional Wind–Diesel Systems (WDS) due to their unwanted emissions and regulatory constraints. In this context, clean and efficient hybrid architectures are needed to comply with regulations and ensure stable operation under variations in user load and wind generation. This paper proposes an integrated isolated hybrid system consisting of a fuel cell replacing the Diesel Generator (DG). To fulfil the role of the synchronous generator in the diesel-group, the fuel cell operates under a Grid-Forming (GFM) control scheme, acting as a virtual synchronous machine that establishes the system’s voltage and frequency. The main aim of the hybrid system is for the wind turbine to supply most of the active power to the loads, thereby minimising hydrogen consumption. A key challenge in these systems is maintaining power balance, particularly preventing reverse flows in the fuel cell system, which has less margin than the diesel generator. In this paper, a Dump Load (DL) quickly dissipates excess power and prevents reverse power conditions. Overall, the proposed system eliminates the need for diesel generation, thereby eliminating emissions while maintaining operational stability. Simulation results demonstrate the correct functioning of the system in the presence of significant variations in load and wind power generation. Full article

To address the low efficiency of finite element modeling and the reliance on manual measurements in electric/magnetic field analysis of complex overhead transmission line structures, this paper develops an IronPython-based automated computational platform within ANSYS Maxwell for 3-D modeling and electric/magnetic field analysis. First, by parsing transmission line data from the Grid Information Model (GIM), a unified coordinate transformation method is proposed to convert geographical coordinates into three-dimensional (3-D) Cartesian coordinates for finite element analysis. Based on the extracted line parameters, conductor sag is calculated and catenary modeling is implemented. An equivalent radius method is also introduced to simplify multi-bundle conductor modeling, enabling fast parametric construction of complex 3-D transmission line models. Second, by combining the IronPython scripting language with the .NET Windows Forms control library, a visualized finite element modeling and computation platform is developed. Finally, a typical double-circuit transmission line on the same tower is taken as a case study to calculate the spatial distribution of electric/magnetic fields. The influence of solution domain size on electric/magnetic field computation results is investigated, and optimal solution domain parameters are determined. The finite element results generated by the developed platform are further validated through comparison with measured data. The results demonstrate good agreement between calculated and measured values, confirming the accuracy and engineering applicability of the developed platform for electric/magnetic environment analysis of overhead transmission lines. Full article

To satisfy the requirements of voltage support and fault-current limitation for electric-vehicle (EV) charging stations connected to weak distribution networks, an increasing number of charging infrastructures are adopting grid-forming (GFM) converters and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) control strategies. Under AC short-circuit faults and voltage-sag conditions, limiting the fault current injected by the converter is essential to reduce overcurrent risk to power semiconductor devices. For this, an adaptive virtual-impedance-based low-voltage ride-through (LVRT) method is proposed for GFM converters in EV charging stations. First, an overcurrent grading criterion is constructed based on real-time current measurements. In the moderate-overcurrent region, an adaptive virtual reactance is introduced to achieve soft current limiting. In the severe-overcurrent region, hard current limiting is implemented by further increasing the virtual reactance and blocking overcurrent bridge arm. In addition, a virtual-reactance recovery mechanism is designed to ensure smooth post-fault restoration. Based on an RCP + HIL platform, experiments are conducted to validate the proposed fault current-limiting method. Experiment results demonstrate that the proposed method can rapidly suppress fault current, maintain voltage-support capability, and shorten post-fault restoration time. Full article

With the large-scale integration of renewable energy sources, grid-forming (GFM) converters with inherent voltage and frequency support capabilities have attracted significant attention. However, due to the limited overcurrent withstand capability of power electronic devices, the stable operation of GFM converters under grid faults such as grid voltage sags remains a critical challenge. To address this issue, this paper systematically investigates the mechanisms of power angle instability and overcurrent generation during grid faults by a unified equivalent impedance model. Based on this analysis, a comprehensive control strategy that simultaneously considers power angle stability and overcurrent suppression is proposed. By introducing an adaptive improved observer control (AIOC), the active power reference is adaptively adjusted to enhance the power angle stability of the system. Meanwhile, the voltage reference is dynamically regulated to effectively limit the fault current while enhancing the voltage support capability. Finally, comprehensive theoretical analysis and experimental validation are provided. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed strategy is capable of ensuring power angle stability and limits the overcurrent to within 1.5 p.u. Meanwhile, the voltage magnitude is increased by approximately 6%. The results demonstrate the robustness and adaptability of the proposed method under various conditions. Full article

Driven by the large-scale application of distributed power sources, power systems are facing escalating frequency stability challenges in terms of inertia reduction. In this weak grid scenario, grid-connected converters are increasingly required to operate as high-inertia grid-forming (GFM) units to participate in the regulation of grid frequency. However, this high inertia will seriously impair the transient stability of GFM converters. To resolve the conflict, an adaptive hybrid synchronization-based transient enhancement strategy is proposed. Through integrating the traditional droop phase angle with the phase-locked loop-locked grid phase angle, the proposed control can effectively enhance transient stability under the full fault range from mild to severe voltage sags (with a voltage sag depth of up to 90%) without sacrificing system inertia. Moreover, benefiting from this, the proposed hybrid synchronization scheme also avoids the secondary overcurrent issue that occurs after fault clearance in traditional GFM control. Finally, the simulation and experimental results under various voltage sags verify the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy. Full article

The transition from conventional synchronous generators to inverter-based power systems has introduced significant challenges in stability, reliability, and protection coordination. Grid-forming inverters (GFMs) have emerged as a promising solution by emulating inertia and voltage regulation functions while enabling grid-supportive operation in weak or islanded networks. This study presents a structured qualitative review of the recent literature on GFM technologies. The selection process focused on control strategies, advanced semiconductor materials, protection frameworks, and cyber–physical security considerations. A thematic synthesis and comparative analysis were conducted to identify emerging trends and technical gaps. Among established approaches, virtual synchronous machine (VSM) and droop control remain widely adopted. More advanced strategies, including virtual oscillator control (VOC) and model predictive control (MPC), demonstrate improved dynamic performance in weak-grid conditions. Advances in semiconductor technologies, particularly Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Gallium Nitride (GaN), enable faster switching, higher efficiency, and enhanced thermal performance. The findings indicate a growing shift toward decentralized control architectures, fault-resilient converter topologies, and integrated protection–control co-design. Emerging solutions include grid-forming synchronization techniques that replace conventional phase-locked loop (PLL) structures, intrusion-tolerant inverter firmware with embedded anomaly detection, and predictive fault-clearing schemes tailored for low-inertia networks. Despite these advancements, several research gaps remain. These include limited large-scale validation of VOC and MPC strategies under high renewable penetration, insufficient interoperability metrics for legacy system integration, and a lack of standardized cybersecurity benchmarks across platforms. Future research should prioritize real-time experimental validation, robust protection co-design methodologies, and the development of regulatory and dynamic performance standards tailored to inverter-dominated grids. Strengthening protection coordination and interoperability frameworks will be essential to ensure the secure and stable deployment of GFMs in modern power systems. Full article

A large number of architectural drawings have historically existed in paper form or as non-editable raster images, which makes them difficult to directly support information reuse and digital management, while manual CAD reconstruction is time-consuming and inefficient. This paper proposes a hybrid deep learning and rule-based method for architectural drawing vectorization and CAD reconstruction, which automatically converts scanned raster images into editable CAD vector files while preserving geometric structure and scale consistency. The proposed method consists of four modules: axis grid and dimension detection, text recognition and scale recovery, architectural line topology reconstruction, and CAD geometric rectification and reconstruction. The method utilizes object detection and OCR technologies to extract key semantic information from the drawings. By extracting semantic information, the method constructs a line topology structure and applies architectural drawing constraints to parameterize and normalize geometric results, thereby achieving the recognition and vectorization of raster drawings. Experimental results and engineering case studies demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively extract typical architectural elements, and generate directly editable CAD vector drawings. The method achieves favorable geometric accuracy and topological consistency in architectural drawing digitization and automatic CAD reconstruction tasks, providing a technical solution for the automatic vectorization of existing architectural drawings. Full article

With the increasing penetration of renewable energy sources, power systems require more grid-forming converters. Grid-forming converters with virtual synchronous generator control have transient stability problems similar to those of synchronous machines. However, the active power reference, frequency, and phase in virtual synchronous generators are artificially constructed and can be changed fast. This provides new approaches to improve the transient synchronization stability. Most existing virtual synchronous generator controls generate the internal voltage phase by integrating the frequency, resulting in limited control capability, which makes it hard to stop power angle divergence during deep voltage sags. This paper proposes a transient synchronization stability control strategy based on phase difference locking. Under deep voltage sags, the phase difference between the internal voltage and the terminal voltage is locked to prevent divergence of the power angle, while under shallow sags, the virtual synchronous generator control is retained to maintain active power support. Moreover, a smooth post-fault transition is ensured. The proposed strategy achieves stability and support functions in single converter and multi-node systems. In the single converter test, the maximum frequency deviation of the converter during the transient process decreased from 0.043 p.u. to 0.009 p.u. In the 39-bus test under deep voltage sag conditions, the maximum frequency deviation of the converters during the transient process was reduced from 0.214 p.u. and 0.109 p.u. to 0.016 p.u. and 0.027 p.u., respectively. Full article