Stability improvement of microgrids under dynamic load conditions: A new adaptive virtual synchronous generator based virtual inertia control approach

The virtual synchronous generator (VSG) exhibits prominent features such as communication-less control in microgrids due to its virtual inertia support. However, basic VSG control may lead to active power oscillations, causing improper transient power delivery and frequency instability. This paper proposes disturbance-triggered VSG-based adaptive virtual inertia control techniques for battery energy storage systems (BESS) to enhance the frequency stability of microgrids. The proposed method uniquely supports operation with fixed, variable, and induction motor (IM) loads, a capability not achieved by other approaches. It delivers the best frequency nadir of 49.98 Hz, outperforming existing VSG strategies (49.91–49.93 Hz) and other technologies, and achieves the lowest maximum overshoot of 50.01 Hz, ensuring improved better transient performance. Additionally, the proposed control significantly enhances RoCoF performance by 46% compared to basic VSG topologies and incorporates adaptive inertia and damping, which are crucial for real-time grid stability. Simulations were conducted on modified IEEE 4- and 9-bus microgrid models in MATLAB/Simulink. Simulation experiments revealed a settling time of 0.12 seconds, significantly shorter than other methods (0.2–0.3 seconds), demonstrating faster frequency stabilization. Various disturbance scenarios confirmed the effectiveness of the BESS control strategy in providing additional virtual inertia, ensuring robust frequency support and superior power microgrid stability compared to conventional strategies. • Novel VSG-based control enhances BESS virtual inertia for frequency stability. • Developed MATLAB/Simulink models using modified IEEE 4 & 9-bus systems. • Simulated microgrid environments with integrated BESS. • Tested multiple disturbance scenarios to assess control strategies. • Results show improved frequency response with virtual inertia support.