Enhanced active power response control for virtual synchronous generators: An active power compensation combined with feedback damping strategy

The virtual synchronous generator (VSG) can enhance frequency stability and system robustness by providing sufficient inertia, particularly in scenarios with large-scale renewable energy integration. However, the inclusion of inertia and damping coefficient renders the dynamics of traditional VSG (TVSG) highly sensitive, resulting in transient oscillations and steady-state deviations. While the transient damping power (TDP) compensation algorithm demonstrates effective oscillation suppression capability, it inherently suffers from power overshoot that significantly degrades system control performance. To fundamentally overcome these drawbacks, a damping-reconfigured VSG control strategy that synergistically combines active power compensation with damping feedback control is proposed. The core contributions of this work are summarized as follows: (1) The transient response dynamics of both TVSG and TDP algorithms are rigorously evaluated through root-locus analysis and pole-zero trajectory mapping. (2) In contrast to TVSG algorithm, the proposed strategy achieves damping–primary frequency regulation decoupling through controller reconstruction, effectively eliminating the damping-induced steady-state deviation. (3) Compared to existing strategies, the proposed strategy achieves improved frequency stability with minimized rate-of-change of frequency during power regulation and grid disturbance, thereby enhancing the standard VSG framework for robust industrial deployment. Via real-time Matlab/Simulink simulations and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing, the efficacy of the proposed strategy is validated. • Uncovers the frequency-damping coupling mechanism in traditional VSG that induces oscillation. • Reveals root cause of power overshoot in VSG transient damping framework. • Proposes enhanced VSG control combining power compensation and damping, enhancing power and frequency stability. • Validates results through hardware-in-the-loop experimental tests.