This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been
fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TSG.2018.2871085,
IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid
Frequency Derivative-based Inertia Enhancement
by Grid-Connected Power Converters with a
Frequency-Locked-Loop
Jingyang Fang, Student Member, IEEE, Ruiqi Zhang, Student Member, IEEE, Hongchang Li, Member,
IEEE, Yi Tang, Senior Member, IEEE
Abstract—Renewable energy sources (RESs) have been
extensively employed to replace fossil fuels for reducing carbon
footprints. Since RESs are normally coupled to the power grid
by fast-response power converters without providing any
inertia, the power system inertia generated by synchronous
generators continues to decrease, making modern power
systems sensitive to frequency events. As a result, undesirable
load-shedding, cascading failures, or even large-scale blackouts
may occur under severe frequency events. To address the lack
of inertia concern, this paper presents a frequency derivative-
based inertia enhancement method for battery storage systems.
Specifically, the method achieves inertia emulation by
proportionally linking the time derivative of the grid frequency
and active power references of power converters. The main
contribution is to use a frequency-locked-loop (FLL) to
accurately estimate the frequency derivative signal, which
avoids the high frequency noises introduced by differential
operators. Simulation and experimental results are finally
presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Index Terms—Battery; frequency-locked-loop (FLL);
inertia; power converter; renewable energy source (RES);
virtual synchronous generator (VSG).
I. INTRODUCTION
A
paradigm shift in power engineering will transform
conventional power systems into more sustainable,
environmental-friendly, and high-efficiency smart grids [1].
As one important feature of smart grids, renewable energy
sources (RESs), such as solar photovoltaics (PVs) and wind,
have already been greatly exploited to generate low-carbon
electricity. However, the large-scale integration of RESs
brings in concerns to modern power systems. One pressing
concern lies in that RESs are normally coupled to the power
grid through grid-connected power converters without
Manuscript received November 22, 2017; revised April 11, 2018 and
August 3, 2018; accepted September 13, 2018. This research is supported
by the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore
under the Energy Programme and administrated by the Energy Market
Authority (EP Award No. NRF2015EWT-EIRP002-007). The paper has
been presented in part in [62]. (Corresponding author: Yi Tang)
J. Fang, R. Zhang, and Y. Tang are with the School of Electrical and
Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
639798 (e-mail: jfang006@e.ntu.edu.sg; ruiqi001@e.ntu.edu.sg;
yitang@ntu.edu.sg).
H. Li is with the Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N),
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798 (e-mail:
hongchangli@ntu.edu.sg).
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providing any power system inertia, and hence, the inertia
generated by conventional synchronous generators
decreases dramatically [2−4]. There are two challenges
associated with the lack of inertia concern. The first
challenge refers to the ever-increasing level of the rate-of-
change-of-frequency (RoCoF), which has already been
identified as a major challenge by the Ireland Grid [4−6].
High-RoCoF exposure makes generating units prone to
pole-slipping and protective tripping [7]. The second
challenge is the large frequency excursion during severe
frequency events. Excessive frequency excursions may
cause undesirable load-shedding, cascading failures, or even
large-scale blackouts [8]. As predicted by [9] and [10], the
load shedding due to frequency excursions will occur in
Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) in the
presence of large renewable penetrations.
To address the lack of inertia concern, one
straightforward solution is the use of synchronous
condensers, which are essentially synchronous generators
operating without prime movers, so that more inertia can be
generated [8]. However, high costs act as the biggest barrier
to the widespread application of this solution. Curtailments
of PV power for frequency support or inertia emulation have
been reported [11−13]. This method would only be justified
in high-PV generation systems, e.g. the California power
system, where the polices on active power curtailments have
already been executed [13]. Otherwise, a non-trial
opportunity cost in the spilled energy would retard its
adoption, as PV inverters are forced to operate below the
maximum power points (MPPs).
The kinetic energy stored in wind turbines proves to be a
potential source for inertia emulation [14−16]. Since power
converters decouple rotor speeds from the grid frequency in
variable speed wind generators, no inertia can be naturally
expected from them [16]. For inertia emulation, a method
proportionally linking the time derivative of the grid
frequency to the torque reference of wind turbines has been
proposed [17]. However, after providing inertial responses,
wind turbines should recover their rotor speeds, and this can
be an important issue [15−19]. For speed recovery, several
nonlinear inertia control schemes allowing smooth and fast
transitions between MPP tracking mode and inertial
response mode have been proposed [20], [21]. As a result,
the inertia
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IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid
from wind turbines is different from the synchronous inertia
in practical tests, and active research on the accurate inertia
emulation by wind turbines is still ongoing [22−24].
Recently, research efforts have been targeted towards
utilizing the energy stored in capacitors for inertia emulation
[25−32]. Specifically, capacitor voltages will vary with the
grid frequency for generating a desired amount of inertia.
Inertia emulation can be achieved in this way due to the
similarity between capacitor voltages and rotor velocities of
synchronous generators. As such, the DC-link voltages of
grid-connected power converters are proportionally linked
to the grid frequency in [25] and [26]. As a result, the
distributed virtual inertia can be generated, leading to the
increased power system inertia and improved frequency
regulation. This method presents a clear benefit from the
implementation point of view in that the detection of the
frequency derivative can be avoided. Other candidate
applications for the inertia emulation by capacitors include
ultracapacitor storage systems [3], DC microgrids [33], [34]
and virtual synchronous generators (VSGs) [35−38], which
are essentially grid-connected power converters functioning
as synchronous generators [39−42]. Although the inertia
emulation through capacitor voltage control can be quite
effective, it is only applicable to the power converters
employing capacitors in their DC-links, where the capacitor
voltages are adjustable. For the converters fed by other
energy storage units, such as batteries, this method may no
longer be valid because of fixed terminal voltages [43−45].
Attractive features, such as high energy density, fast
response, and moderate cost, make battery stand out among
all the energy storage units when applied to the frequency-
droop control [45], [46]. However, the batteries being used
to emulate inertia have so far not been reported in the
industry [19]. Despite that various optimization schemes
attached to the inertia emulation by batteries have been
presented [47−51], the relevant control implementations
have only been briefly touched without experimental
verifications [52].
To fill this research gap, the control implementation of
the
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the test system.
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inertia emulation by batteries is discussed in this paper. Its
underlying principle lies in proportionally linking the time
derivative of the grid frequency to the active power
reference of battery storage for inertia emulation.
Differentiating the frequency signal directly by differential
operators will cause noise amplifications [53]. As a solution,
this paper proposes a noise-free estimation of the frequency
derivative using frequency-locked-loops (FLLs).
The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Section II
describes the system configuration. Following that, the
fundamental principle of inertia emulation is discussed in
Section III. Furthermore, the use of FLLs for the accurate
estimation of the frequency derivative signal is detailed in
Section IV. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the
proposed method, simulation and experimental results are
provided in Section V. Finally, Section VI concludes the
main contributions of this paper.
II. SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
Fig. 1 details the schematic diagram of a small-scale
power system, where two three-phase power converters
filtered by an LC filter and an L filter, respectively, can
clearly be observed. Being regulated as a VSG, the LC-
filtered power converter is responsible for frequency
regulation and voltage support. Its control scheme consists
of a cascaded structure including an inner-loop
voltage/current controller and an outer-loop
frequency/power controller. The outer-loop controller
mimics the frequency regulation of conventional power
systems while the inner-loop controller simply regulates the
AC output voltages vgx (x = a, b, c), namely the grid
voltages, according to the references given by the outer-loop
controller. The detailed guidelines for tuning the VSG
controllers can be found in [54]. It should be mentioned that
the employment of the VSG serves to provide and regulate
the grid frequency and voltages so that the feasibility of the
proposed inertia enhancement method can be validated.
In contrast, the grid-connected power converter, denoted
as GCC in Fig. 1, aims to implement the proposed inertia
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IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid

emulation method and execute the relevant control
algorithm. Similar to the VSG control, the GCC control also
contains a cascaded control structure. Normally, grid-
connected power converters are regulated as controllable
AC current sources, and this can be achieved by the inner-
loop current controller. The designs of current controllers
are elaborated in [55]. In
addition, the outer-loop frequency/power controller, which
links the frequency derivative to the active power reference
of the GCC for generating the emulated inertia, is the focus
of this paper. The mechanism for inertia emulation will be
detailed in the following section based on the system
parameter values listed in Table I.
It is noted from Fig. 1 that the VSG and GCC are
directly paralleled in the AC side without any long-distance
transmission line between them, and therefore the emulated
grid is essentially a stiff grid. Moreover, remember that the
power ratings of VSG and GCC will not influence
frequency regulation. This is because frequency regulation
is generally performed on a per-unit basis. In addition, since
the GCC is fed by a battery, which is represented as a DC
voltage source in Fig. 1, it is impractical to regulate the DC-
link voltage for inertia emulation.
III. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF INERTIA
This section will first describe the standard frequency
regulation framework implemented by the VSG, based on
which the fundamental principle of the inertia emulation by
the GCC will then be introduced.
A. Frequency Regulation Framework
Fig. 2 presents a standard frequency regulation
framework, where the mathematical models of speed
governor and reheat turbine are obtained from [8]. The
subscripts pu and ref denote per-unit and reference
notations, respectively. The prefix Δ represents the change
in relevant parameters. First, ignore the dashed line, and
then the inertia and damping unit describing the well-known
swing equation can be expressed as
do _ pu
Pm _  Pl _  Do _ pu 
2H dt , (1)
pu pu
where Pm_pu stands for the VSG input power, Pl_pu signifies
the power absorbed by frequency-independent loads, D
denotes the damping factor contributed by frequency-
dependent loads, and ωo_pu and fo_pu represent the grid
frequency. Special attention should be paid to H, namely the
inertia constant. It is defined as the ratio of the kinetic
energy stored in the rotors of synchronous generators at the
2
rated rotor velocity to the system base power, i.e. H = Jω0m
/ (2VAbase), where J denotes the moment of inertia, ω0m
represents the rated angular velocity of rotors, and VAbase
stands for the rated power of synchronous generators [8].
Note that H is an indicator of power system inertia, and the
objective of enhancing inertia can be translated into
increasing the value of H [8], [25].
EMULATION
B. Fundamental Principle
The fundamental principle of inertia emulation can well
be represented by the dashed line shown in Fig. 2, which is
mathematically described by
d
Pc_p  2Hc
o_pu (2)
u dt ,
where Pc_pu denotes the power absorbed by the GCC, and Hc
represents the emulated inertia coefficient, or equivalently,

Table I. System parameter values.

Description VSG parameter Description GCC parameter

Symbol Value Symbol Value
DC-link voltage reference Vgdc_ref 360 V DC-link voltage reference Vcdc_ref 360 V
Filter inductance Lgf 1 mH Filter inductance Lcf 7 mH
Filter capacitance Cgf 50 µF Rated reactive power Qc_ref 0 kVar
Rated active power Pg_ref 1 kW Rated active power Pc_ref 1 kW
Sampling / switching frequency fg_sw 10 kHz Sampling / switching frequency fc_sw 10 kHz

Fig. 2. Frequency regulation framework implemented by the VSG.

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the virtual inertia coefficient. It can be derived from Fig. 2
that the system inertia constant will change from H into (H
+ Hc) after considering the effect of the emulated inertia.
Fig. 3 demonstrates the power requirement of the GCC
|∆Pc_pu| under various load step changes |∆Pl_pu| and
emulated inertia coefficients Hc (H = 5 s). As observed, it is
necessary for the GCC to process a larger amount of power
for emulating a higher value of Hc. As Hc increases, |∆Pc_pu|
gradually approaches |∆Pl_pu|, indicating that the GCC will
play a more dominant role in balancing the power mismatch
between generation and demand. The design procedure of
the virtual inertia coefficient as well as the quantitative
analysis of the effect of inertia on frequency control can be
found in [25].
Fig. 3. Power requirement of the GCC |∆Pc_pu| as functions of load step
change |∆Pl_pu| and emulated inertia coefficient Hc (H = 5 s).
C. GCC Control Scheme
To implement inertia emulation, a proportional
controller with a gain of 2Hc, the estimated frequency
derivative dΔfg_pu
/ dt (note that fg_pu = fg / fg_ref = ωg / ωg_ref = ωg_pu) as its
input, and the active power reference change ΔPc_ref_pu as its
output, has been included in the frequency/power controller
of the GCC, as shown in Fig. 4, where dΔωg_pu / dt =
dΔωo_pu / dt can be satisfied if the frequency derivative
signal is accurately estimated. Under this condition, (2) can
be satisfied after employing the proposed controller, where
the major part refers to the FLL. It allows an accurate
estimation of dΔfg / dt from the grid voltages, as will be
discussed in the next section based on the control parameter
values summarized in Table II.
IV. ESTIMATION OF FREQUENCY DERIVATIVE
This section serves as the major part of this paper. It
aims to generate the frequency derivative signal. To achieve
this purpose, phase-locked-loops (PLLs) will briefly be
reviewed first. After that, the mechanism of FLLs for the
estimation of the frequency derivative will be elaborated.
A. Limitations of PLLs
PLLs are enabling modules for grid-connected power
converters to maintain in synchronism with the power grid.
For illustration, Fig. 5 presents the block diagram of a
typical single-phase PLL [56], where KPLL_p and KPLL_i
represent the proportional and integral gains, respectively.
As noted, it would be very straight forward to obtain the
frequency derivative signal by differentiating Δωg in Fig. 5.
However, the differential operator will inevitably introduce
high- frequency noises, and thus, it cannot directly be
applied here to estimate dΔfg / dt.

Fig. 4. Block diagram of the frequency/power controller of the GCC.

Table II. Control parameter values.

Description VSG parameter Description GCC parameter

Symbol Value Symbol Value
Frequency-droop coefficient R 0.05 Current control proportional gain Kcp 15
Speed governor coefficient TG 0.1 s Current control integral gain Kci 300
Turbine HP coefficient FHP 0.3 s Reactive current reference Icq_ref 0A
Time constant of reheater TRH 7.0 s Maximum active power deviation ΔPc_pu_max ±5%
Time constant of main inlet volumes TCH 0.2 s FLL proportional gain KFLL_p 1.414
Load damping coefficient D 1.0 FLL integral gain KFLL_i 1.414
Inertia constant H 5.0 s Virtual inertia coefficient Hc 5.0 s
AC voltage reference Vg_ref 150 V Frequency reference fg_ref 50 Hz

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Fig. 5. Block diagram of a single-phase PLL.

Alternatively, it can be inferred from Fig. 5 that the input

signal of the PI controller will be proportional to the (a) Overall view
frequency derivative provided that the PI controller is
replaced by an integrator, i.e. let KPLL_p = 0. However, this
will introduce an instability issue. To prove this statement,
the grid voltage vga is expressed as
vga (t)  Vga coso  Vga (3)
cos(ot),
where Vga and θo denote the amplitude and phase-angle of (b) SOGI
Fig. 6. Block diagram of a single-phase FLL.
vga, respectively. After being multiplied by −sinθg, vga
becomes
v (t)sin   0.5V sin(   )  sin(   )  . (4) qv (s) K  2
.
ga g ga o g o g FLL
 FLL_p g (9)
In steady state, the phase-angle locked by the PLL θg vga (s) 2 2
s K s FLL_p g g

equals θo. Therefore, (4) can further be linearized It is clear from (8) and (9) that vFLL and qvFLL are
considering that sin(θo − θg) ≈ (θo − θg). Additionally, the essentially the band-pass-filtered and low-pass-filtered vga,
double line- frequency ripple term sin(θo + θg) can be respectively. Moreover, qvFLL lags vFLL by 90 degrees. Since
ignored when PLL control is designed with relatively low FLLs track the grid frequency rather than the phase-angle of
bandwidths. Under these assumptions, (4) can be simplified grid voltages, the closed-loop transfer function from Δωo to
into Δωg will be derived. In steady state, ωg = ωo and vFLL = vga
0.5Vga sin(o   g )  sin(o   g )   0.5Vga (o   g ). should be satisfied. During system dynamics, it is assumed
that (ωg − ωo) is very small but ωg ≠ ωo, and then the
(5) magnitude and phase-angle of vFLL / vga at ωo are derived as
Replacing the output of −sinθg in Fig. 5 with (5), one can
derive the small-signal gain from Δθo to Δθg as
g (s)
G (s)   0.5Vga (sKPLL_p  KPLL_i ) . (6) v ( j ) K 
PLL_cl  (s) s 2  0.5V (sK K ) FLL o
  (10)
o ga PLL_p PLL_i 1,v ( j ) FLL_p g o

Substitution of KPLL_p = 0 into (6), it yields ga o (K g)o  (

FLL_p
222 2
go  )
 (s) 0.5V K v ( j ) 
2
2
 2(   )
G (s)  g
ga PLL_i (7)  FLL  arctan
o
 g o
(11)
 . arctan g o
.
PLL_cl  (s) s  0.5V K
2
v ( j ) K  K 
o ga PLL_i ga o FLL_p g o FLL_p g

Note that all the closed-loop poles of (7) are located on Accordingly, vFLL and qvFLL can be expressed as
the imaginary axis, thereby leading to a critically stable  v ( j ) 
system, which will be unstable in practice [57]. It should be vFLL (t)  Vga cos o t   FLL o   V cos(), (12)
recognized that this instability issue applies equally to  vga ( jo )  g
 v ( j  )  g
single- phase and three-phase PLLs.   g
B. Frequency Derivative Estimated by FLLs qvFLL (t)  Vga sin  t   sin(), (13)
FLL o
V
o ga

To address the instability issue faced by PLLs, the grid o vga ( jo )  o

frequency instead of the phase-angle can be locked so that where φ denotes the FLL phase-angle. Furthermore, the input
the order of the closed-loop system can be reduced to one. signal of the integrator can be derived as
Correspondingly, single-phase PLLs are changed into single- qvFLL (t) vga (t)  vFLL (t) 
phase FLLs, and the block diagram is illustrated in Fig. 6 g
[58]. As observed from Fig. 6(a), there is a second-order-  V sin (V cos V cos)
ga g
generalized-integrator (SOGI) in the FLL control, whose on the  o
a
o
detailed representation can be found in Fig. 6(b). As the  g
a

name suggests, the SOGI contains two integrators. Based  0.5V 2


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  (14)
g
sin(   )  sin(   )  sin(2) ga o o
block diagram of the SOGI, the transfer functions from vga to o  Double line-frequency terms 
vFLL and qvFLL in Fig. 6(a) can further be derived as 
 V2
vFLL (s) KFLL_pg s (8)  0.5V 2 g
(   )   (   ).
 ga
 ,
ga  o o KFLL_p o
vga (s) s 2  FLL_p g s  g 2 o

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Substitution of (14) into the input of the integrator quadrature signals. Similar to (12) and (13), these estimated
depicted in Fig. 6(a), the closed-loop transfer function from signals can be expressed as follows:
Δωo to Δωg can be derived as vFLL (t)  Vga cos, (19)
g(s) V2K
G (s)   ga FLL_i . (15) g
FLL_cl  (s)  K sV2K qv (t)  sin (20)
V ,
o o FLL_p ga FLL_i FLL ga

It is obvious from (15) that the closed-loop system only o

has one pole, and this pole is located in the left-half-plane, vFLL (t)  Vga sin, (21)
indicating that FLLs can always be stable. In this case, it is g
easy to obtain the frequency derivative signal from the input qv (t)  cos. (22)
V
of the integrator in Fig. 6(a). FLL ga

It should be mentioned that the proposed inertia o

emulation method can be applicable to both single-phase Further, the input signal of the integrator can be derived as
and three-phase systems. However, single-phase FLLs 0.5qvFLL (t) vg (t)  vFLL (t) 
contain the double line-frequency ripple terms in dΔfg / dt,
which
have been ignored in the above analysis, as indicated by 0.5qvFLL (t) vg  (t)  vFLL (t)  (23)
(14). These ripple terms will negatively influence the  
estimation 2 2
accuracy and inertia enhancement unless being eliminated.  0.5Vga
g
 ) 
g
(  ).
Fortunately, three-phase FLLs serve as one solution to the sin( 0.5V
o
o
 ga 
ripple issue, and therefore the proposed inertia emulation o o

method will be tested on a three-phase power conversion As compared with (14), (23) indicates that the double
system. Fig. 7 presents the block diagram of a three-phase line- frequency ripple terms are removed. To visualize this
FLL implemented in the αβ-frame, where the block abc/αβ effect, Fig. 8 illustrates the frequency derivative dfg / dt
transforms the signals from the abc-frame to the αβ-frame, estimated by the PLL, single-phase FLL, and three-phase
and it can mathematically be described by the following FLL under step changes of the frequency derivative, i.e. the
matrix: change from 0 Hz / s to 1 Hz / s at 0.5 s and restoration at
1.5 s. Obviously,
2 1 the PLL and single-phase FLL yield incorrect results because
T  1 / 1 / 2  . (16) of instability issue and ripple terms, respectively. Only the
 23 / 
abc / 3
2 0 3/2 three-phase FLL gives an accurate estimation of
df / dt.
  g

The three-phase grid voltages can be expressed as It is feasible to implement three-phase FLLs in the abc-
vga (t)  Vga coso  Vga cos(ot) frame. However, one more SOGI is required, and this will
 complicate the control structure of FLLs [59]. In contrast,
vgb (t)  Vga cos(o  2π / 3)  Vga cos(ot  2π / 3) (17) the αβ-frame FLL in Fig. 7 features a simplified structure,

v (t)  V cos(  2π / 3)  V cos( t  2π / 3). and therefore it is eventually employed. After being
 gc ga o ga normalized,
dΔfg / dt in Fig. 7 will be sent to the frequency/power
When expressed in the αβ-frame, (17) controller in Fig. 4. As for the design parameters KFLL_p and
becomes
(18) KFLL_i, they should be tuned according to the settling time
vg (t)  Vga cos o  Vga
requirements of the SOGI and FLL, respectively. Moreover,
cos(ot)
v (t)  V sin
 g  ga
  Vo sin(ga t). o
As observed from Fig. 7, there are two SOGIs included the stability of power conversion systems under various grid
in the three-phase FLL tracking vgα and vgβ together with conditions must be guaranteed when designing FLLs.
their

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IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid

Fig. 7. Block diagram of a three-phase FLL.

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IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid

Fig. 9. A photo of the experimental test-bed.

(a) Overall view

Fig. 10. Simulation waveforms of grid voltages vgabc, converter currents

icabc, and DC-link voltages vgdc and vcdc.

(b) Zoom-in view

Fig. 8. Step changes of the frequency derivative dfg / dt estimated by the
PLL, single-phase FLL, and three-phase FLL.

Detailed guidelines for tuning of these parameters can be

found in [59].

V. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION

To validate the effectiveness of inertia emulation,
simulations and experiments have been carried out based on
the schematic diagram shown in Fig. 1 and system and
control parameter values listed in Tables I and II,
respectively. After simulations were performed under the
Matlab/Simulink (R2016b) environment, the experimental
test was conducted. For demonstration, Fig. 9 shows a photo
of the experimental test-bed. As observed, the VSG and
GCC were fed by two DC power supplies and regulated by a
dSPACE (Microlabbox) control platform.
The steady-state waveforms of grid voltages vgabc,
converter currents icabc, and DC-link voltages vgdc and vcdc are
illustrated in Figs 10 and 11. As seen, the waveforms of grid
voltages can be shaped as clean sinusoidal, validating the
feasibility of the VSG control. Moreover, the converter
current waveforms can be regulated to follow the voltage
waveforms. Additionally, although not being shown, the
grid
Fig. 11. Experimental waveforms of grid voltages vgabc, converter currents
icabc, and DC-link voltages vgdc and vcdc.
frequency is maintained as its nominal value 50 Hz. Note
that in the case of distorted grid conditions, FLLs can also
operate well and accurately estimate the grid frequency and
its time derivative, as verified by [59]. However, it should
be emphasized that the inertia emulation under weak and
unbalanced grids may cause instability and power quality
issues, which require further investigations.
Figs. 12 and 13 present the simulation and experimental
results of the grid frequency responses under a 5% step-up

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IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid
Fig. 12. Simulation waveforms of frequency responses under a 5% step-up
load change.
Fig. 13. Experimental waveforms of frequency responses under a 5% step-
up load change.
load change. As observed, without activating the proposed
method, the minimum value of the grid frequency, i.e. the
frequency nadir, reaches 49.73 Hz. In contrast, the proposed
method manages to arrest the fast frequency decline and
change the frequency nadir into 49.77 Hz. As a result, a
15% improvement of the frequency nadir can be expected.
Note that generator tripping or load shedding is responsible
for the step changes in power systems, and a 3% to 5% load
step change is considered to be a large disturbance to power
systems [3], [61]. Therefore, the 5% step-up load change is
employed to represent a relatively serious frequency event.
Under disturbances, the grid frequency should always be
maintained within its normal operating range, otherwise the
interruptible loads will be triggered and tripped, e.g. at 49.7
Hz in Singapore [60]. Even larger frequency excursions may
cause undesirable load-shedding, cascading failures, or
large- scale blackouts. It should be recognized that larger
load changes (> 5%) may happen in microgrids, where the
proposed method can also be applicable as long as the
capacity of battery storage is sufficient. In addition, It is
noted from Fig. 12 and Fig. 13 that another expected effect
of inertia enhancement lies in the prolonged frequency
dynamics. As such, the grid frequency can be better
regulated, and this is beneficial in terms of system stability.
Normally, primary frequency responses will settle in the
range of tens of seconds [8].
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Fig. 14. Simulation waveforms of GCC power change ΔPc_pu and
frequency derivative dfg / dt under a 5% step-up load change.
Fig. 15. Experimental waveforms of GCC power change ΔPc_pu and
frequency derivative dfg / dt under a 5% step-up load change.
Under the same 5% step-up load change, the simulation
and experimental waveforms of GCC power change ΔPc_pu
and frequency derivative dfg / dt are depicted in Figs. 14 and
15, respectively. It should be kept in mind that the RoCoF is
an important performance metric for evaluating frequency
regulation, and a high RoCoF level, such as 1 Hz / s, may
lead to tripping of protection relays, resulting in a large
disturbance to power systems [61]. Through the proposed
method, it is expected that the RoCoF can be improved 50%
from −0.25 Hz / s to −0.125 Hz / s, and this value can
further be improved in the presence of a larger Hc. The
design of Hc depends on the inertia requirement and the
existing power system inertia. The difference between
required inertia and existing inertia will be the targeted
value of Hc. A general design procedure of virtual inertia
has been given in [25].
In addition, it is clear that the GCC absorbs extra power
ΔPc or injects −ΔPc in proportion to dfg / dt during frequency
events for inertia emulation. After frequency dynamics, the
output power restores to its normal value, and hence, the
proposed method poses no threat to the normal operation of
grid-connected power converters. Notice that the GCC
should provide sufficient power for emulating a desired
amount of inertia according to (2), otherwise the effect of
inertia enhancement and frequency support would be
compromised.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TSG.2018.2871085,
IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid
Fig. 16. Simulation waveforms of frequency responses under a various
RES output.
Fig. 17. Experimental waveforms of frequency responses under a various
RES output.
Besides load changes, intermittent RESs may also cause
considerable frequency deviations. Fortunately, the
proposed method also enables the reduction of frequency
deviations introduced by RESs. To demonstrate this effect,
Figs. 16 and
17 present the simulation and experimental results of
frequency regulation under various RES outputs, where the
output powers of RESs are randomly generated. As noticed,
the reductions of frequency deviations and slew rates can be
expected at the expense of prolonged frequency dynamics.
These effects of inertia enhancement agree well with
theoretical analyses [8], [25].
VI. CONCLUSION
This paper has introduced a frequency derivative-based
inertia emulation method for battery storage systems. By
proportionally relating the frequency derivative signal and
active power references of power converters, inertia
emulation and enhancement can be expected. Moreover, the
dependence of the power requirement on the emulated
inertia coefficient has been identified. As the main
contribution of this paper, the FLL allowing an accurate
estimation of frequency derivative signals has been
elaborated. Through extensive analyses, it is revealed that
the use of FLLs avoids the high-frequency noises associated
with differential operations as well as the instability concern
due to PLLs. In
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consequence, the grid-connected power converters fed by
batteries can contribute to inertia enhancement and the
improvement of frequency nadir and RoCoF during
frequency events, as verified by simulation and
experimental results.
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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TSG.2018.2871085,
IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid

[59] P. Rodriguez, A. Luna, R. S. Munoz-Aguilar, I. Etxeberria-Otadui, R. Yi Tang (S’10−M’14) received the B.Eng. degree
Thedorescu, and F. Blaabjerg, “A stationary reference frame grid in electrical engineering from Wuhan University,
synchronization system for three-phase grid-connected power Wuhan, China, in 2007 and the M.Sc. and Ph.D.
converters under adverse grid conditions,” IEEE Trans. Power degrees in power engineering from the School of
Electron., vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 99–112, Jan. 2012. Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang
[60] Enhancement to the Spinning Reserve Requirements for the Technological University, Singapore, in 2008 and
Singapore Power System, Energy Market Authority, SG, Singapore 2011, respectively.
[Online]. Available: https://www.ema.gov.sg, Accessed on: Nov. 20,
2017. From 2011 to 2013, he was a Senior Application
[61] P. F. Frack, P. E. Mercado, M. G. Molina, E. H. Watanabe, R. W. D. Engineer with Infineon Technologies Asia Pacific,
Singapore. From 2013 to 2015, he was a
Doncker, and H. Stagge, “Control strategy for frequency control in
Postdoctoral Research Fellow with Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.
autonomous microgrids,” IEEE J. Emerg. Sel. Topics Power
Since March 2015, he has been with Nanyang Technological University,
Electron., vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 1046–1055, Dec. 2015.
Singapore as an Assistant Professor. He is the Cluster Director of the
[62] J. Fang, R. Zhang, H. Li, and Y. Tang, “Inertia enhancement by gird-
advanced power electronics research program at the Energy Research
connected power converters with frequency-locked-loops for
Institute @ NTU (ERI@N).
frequency derivative estimation,” in Proc. PESGM 2018, Portland,
Oregon, USA, 5–9 Aug. 2018. Dr. Tang received the Infineon Top Inventor Award in 2012, the Early
Career Teaching Excellence Award in 2017, and four IEEE Prize Paper
Awards. He serves as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Journal of Emerging
and Selected Topics in Power Electronics (JESTPE).
Jingyang Fang (S’15) received the B.Sc. degree
and M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from
Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China, in 2013
and 2015, respectively. He is currently working
toward the Ph.D. degree at Nanyang
Technological University, Singapore.
During the summer of 2018, he was a Visiting
Scholar with the Institute of Energy Technology,
Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark. His
research interests include power quality control,
stability analysis and improvement, renewable energy integration, and
digital control in more electronics power systems.
Mr. Fang received the Best Paper Award of Asia Conference on Energy,
Power and Transportation Electrification (ACEPT) in 2017.

Ruiqi Zhang (S’17) received the B.Eng degree in

electrical engineering from Wuhan University,
Wuhan, China, in 2017. She is currently working
toward the M.Eng degree at Nanyang
Technological University, Singapore.
Her research interests include distributed energy
storage systems and modeling and control of
power converters for renewable energy systems.

Hongchang Li (S’12−M’16) received the B.Eng.

and D.Eng. degrees in electrical engineering from
Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China, in 2011
and 2016, respectively.
From August 2014 to August 2015, he was a
Visiting Scholar with the Molecular Foundry,
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,
Berkeley, CA, U.S. He is currently a Research
Fellow with the Energy Research Institute at
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
His research
interests include wireless power transfer, electron tomography and
distributed energy storage systems.

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