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Inertia Emulation through Supercapacitor

Energy Storage Systems
Ruiqi Zhang, Jingyang Fang, and Yi Tang
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
E-mail: ruiqi001@e.ntu.edu.sg, jfang006@e.ntu.edu.sg, yitang@ntu.edu.sg

Abstract-- To establish a more reliable, sustainable and masses to modern power systems for inertia enhancement
high-efficiency smart grid, renewable energy sources (RESs) by putting additional synchronous generators into
have been increasingly integrated into modern power operation [4]. It is obvious that the power system inertia
systems. Since RESs are normally coupled to electrical grids
can be enhanced with more rotating machines. However,
through grid-connected power converters, which do not
possess any rotational inertia as conventional synchronous high capital and operating costs remain to be the biggest
generators do, modern power systems will face frequency barrier for this solution. In addition, wind generation
control challenges as the power system inertia continues to systems can be deliberately designed to exploit the kinetic
decrease. To address the lack of inertia concern, energy stored in the rotors of wind turbines. Nevertheless,
supercapacitor energy storage systems (SESSs) are the speed recovery of wind turbines is a thorny problem,
implemented in this paper to generate virtual inertia by
as too much energy extraction may stall wind turbines [5].
proportionally linking the grid frequency to the voltage
references of supercapacitors. In this way, the improvements Virtual synchronous generators (VSGs), which are grid-
of inertia and frequency control can be achieved. More connected power converter, have been employed for
importantly, this paper discloses that the basic inertia control inertia emulation and power system stability improvement.
scheme introduces inertia emulation errors under large VSGs are normally designed to emulate the operation of
frequency disturbances. As a solution, this paper presents a large synchronous generators so that the conventional
nonlinear inertia control scheme, which ensures fair inertia
control schemes can still be applied even with the high
emulation even under large frequency disturbances.
Simulation and experimental results are finally presented to penetration of renewable power generation. However, it is
verify the effectiveness of the virtual inertia and the control necessary for VSGs to cooperate with energy storage
schemes. systems (ESSs) for inertia emulation [6].
Hence, energy storage systems (ESSs) can be employed
Index Terms—Virtual inertia, supercapacitor energy in modern power systems for inertia emulation by
storage system (SESS), renewable energy sources (RESs), interchanging energy with the grid upon the grid frequency
power converters deviates from its nominal value [7]. A battery energy
storage system (BESS) is used in [8] for inertia emulation.
I. INTRODUCTION The frequency controller of the BESS is linking the time
Renewable energy sources (RESs), such as wind and derivative of grid frequency to the active power reference
photovoltaic, are increasingly replacing fossil fuels in of the grid-connected BESS to generate virtual inertia.
modern power systems in the hope of reducing carbon However, the frequent charging and discharging will
footprints and greenhouse gas emissions [1]. As RESs are negatively influence the lifetime of batteries [9]. In
generally coupled to electrical grids through grid- addition to batteries, the dc-link capacitors are employed
connected power converters, power converters become for inertia emulation by proportionally linking the dc-link
ubiquitous in modern power systems. However, the voltage to the grid frequency in [10]. The power system
widespread use of power converters in replacement of inertia can be improved as verified by the simulation and
conventional synchronous generators brings some stability experimental results. However, the dc-link voltage
variation should be limited in a certain range to avoid over
issues to the power grid. This is because power converters
modulation [10]. Besides, this method can only be applied
possess no kinetic energy which varies as the grid
in the case that the dc-link voltage is able to be changed.
frequency changes, hence, the inertia generated by As supercapacitors feature high power density, long life
synchronous generators will be significantly decreased [2]. cycle and fast charging speed, supercapacitor energy
As a result, great challenges will be faced by modern storage systems (SESSs) are promising candidates for
power systems in terms of frequency control [3]. inertia emulation [6].
Specifically, one issue refers to low inertia is the excessive In this paper, the basic control scheme for inertia
frequency excursions, while the other issue is the excessive emulation through SESSs is discussed. It is implemented
high level of rate of change of frequency (RoCoF). These by proportionally linking the grid frequency and
issues may cause cascading outages and isolation of areas supercapacitor voltages through a frequency controller.
[4]. More importantly, this paper discloses that the basic
To tackle the lack of inertia issue, many attempts have control scheme introduces inertia emulation errors under
been made. It is very straightforward to add rotating large frequency disturbances. As a solution, a nonlinear

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inertia control scheme, which ensures fair inertia and a proportional (P) controller are employed for voltage
emulation in all cases, is further discussed. Finally, the and current control, respectively. The outer-loop voltage
simulation and experimental results are finally presented controller aims to regulate the dc-link voltage vdc following
to verify the effectiveness of the control schemes. its reference vdc_ref, while the inner-loop current controller
serves to regulate the ac output currents. The d-axis current
II. SYSTEM CONFIGURATION reference id_ref is provided by the outer-loop voltage
Fig. 1 details the schematic diagram of a grid-connected controller, and the q-axis current reference iq_ref depends
SESS, which consists of an L-filtered grid-connected on the requirement of reactive power compensation [12].
converter (GCC), a bidirectional dc/dc converter, and a In addition, the bidirectional dc/dc converter aims to
supercapacitor Ces. regulate the supercapacitor voltage and implement the
It can be observed that the phase-angle and grid virtual inertia control schemes. The supercapacitor voltage
frequency are obtained from the phase-locked-loop (PLL) ves can be regulated to its reference ves_ref by controlling the
for dq-frame current regulation and the frequency inductance current reference il_ref, as indicated in Fig. 1.
regulation [11]. The GCC is controlled by a cascaded Moreover, the frequency controller, whose transfer
controller, where a proportional-integral (PI) controller function is represented as Gf (s), serves to generate virtual
inertia. The design of the frequency controller is the focus

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of SESS equipped with virtual inertia.

Fig. 2. Frequency regulation framework.

Table I. System parameter values.

Synchronous Generators Power Converters
Description Description
Symbol Value Symbol Value
Droop coefficient Rd 0.05 Rated supercapacitor voltage VES 300 V
Speed governor coefficient TG 0.2 s Supercapacitance CES 1000 × 2.96 mF
Turbine HP coefficient FHP 0.3 s Input inductance Lc 10 mH
Time constant of reheater TRH 7.0 s Rated DC-link voltage Vdc 400 V
Inertia constant H 5.0 s Filter inductance Lg 10 mH
Damping coefficient D 1.0 DC-link capacitance Cdc 3 mF
Rated frequency fref 50 Hz Rated active power Pc_ref 1 MW
Power rating VArated 1 MVA Power rating VArated 1 MVA

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of this paper. Note that the frequency controller links the IV. INERTIA EMULATION METHODS
grid frequency change ¨fr to the supercapacitor voltage The implementations of inertia control schemes refer to
reference ves_ref, and therefore the supercapacitor voltage the designs of the frequency controller Gf (s). In this
varies with the grid frequency [10]. The system parameter section, two control schemes, i.e. the basic control scheme
values are listed in Table I. and the nonlinear control scheme, will be separately
The details of inertia control schemes will be presented discussed.
in the following sections
A. Basic Control Scheme
III. PRINCIPLE OF INERTIA EMULATION THROUGH SESS When the grid frequency change ¨fr and supercapacitor
Fig. 2 presents the frequency regulation framework, voltage change ¨ves are sufficiently small, it is possible to
where the mathematical models of speed governor and implement a proportional controller Gf(s) = KȦv_pu(s) for
reheat turbine are obtained from [4]. The prefix ¨ and inertia emulation:
subscript pu denote the changes and per-unit values of ves_pu = Kω v _ pu ⋅ Δf r _ pu + 1, (5)
relevant variables, respectively. where the proportional gain should be represented as
Ignore the red dashed-line first, one can obtain the well- ΔVes_max Δf r _ max
known swing equation in the rotor inertia and damping unit Kωv _ pu ( s ) = ( )/( ), (6)
Ves f ref
as follows:
where ¨Ves_max is the maximum allowable capacitor
dΔωr _ pu
ΔPm _ pu − ΔPl _ pu = DΔωr _ pu + 2 H , (1) voltage change, which is defined as ¨Ves_max = (Ves_max –
dt Ves_min) / 2, and ¨fr_max is the maximum allowable grid
where Pm_pu denotes the input power of synchronous frequency variation.
generators, Pl_pu represents the power absorbed by Substitution of (6) into the expression of the virtual
frequency independent loads, Ȧr_pu (or fr_pu) signifies the inertia coefficient (4), it yields
grid frequency, and D stands for the damping factor. ΔVes_max f ref CesVes2
Remember that H represents the inertia coefficient, which Hp = ⋅ , (7)
Ves Δf r_max 2VArated
is an important indicator of power system inertia. It is
defined as the ratio of the kinetic energy stored in the rotors where Ves denotes the rated supercapacitor voltage. It
of synchronous generators to the system base power [4, should be highlighted that the virtual inertia coefficient Hp
10]: will be a constant only if the voltage change is limited in a
Egen J ωr2 small range.
H= = . (2) From (7), it can be concluded that the virtual inertia
VArated 2VArated coefficient is depend on the following factors: the
In essence, the inertia emulation by SESSs is to utilize capacitance of the supercapacitor Ces, the rated
the energy stored in supercapacitors. Similar to H, the supercapacitor voltage Ves, the maximum allowable
inertia coefficient of a supercapacitor Hc can be defined as variation of supercapacitor voltage ¨Ves_max / Ves_max and
Ecap C v2 maximum allowable variation of grid frequency ¨fr_max /
Hc = = es es , (3) fr_max. When the maximum frequency deviation is set as
VArated 2VArated
¨fr_max = 0.2 Hz and maximum allowable voltage deviation
where Ecap refers to the energy stored in the supercapacitor, is set as ¨Ves_max / Ves_max = 0.15, the virtual inertia
Ces denotes the capacitance of the supercapacitor, and ves coefficient Hp versus rated supercapacitor voltage Ves and
represents the supercapacitor voltage. It is clear that (2) capacitance of supercapacitor Ces for this 1-MVA system
and (3) share similar forms. That is, the inertia coefficients is illustrated in Fig. 3. Hence, the capacitance of the
of synchronous generators and supercapacitors are supercapacitor is designed as Ces = 2.96 F.
proportional to the squares of frequency Ȧr (fr) and
supercapacitor voltage ves, respectively. Hence, it’s
possible to link the supercapacitor voltage to the grid
frequency for inertia emulation.
The mechanism for inertia emulation can be represented
by the dashed line in Fig. 2, where Gclv(s) denotes the
closed-loop transfer function from ves_ref_pu to ves_pu. ǻves_pu
is related to ǻPes_pu with 2Hcs.
With the frequency controller, the equivalent total
inertia coefficient will change from H to H +
HcGclv(s)Gf_pu(s), where the second term represents the
virtual inertia coefficient:
H p = H c Gclv ( s )G f_pu ( s ). (4)
As the dynamics of voltage control are normally much
faster than those of frequency control [11], Gclv(s) can be
approximated to 1.
Fig. 3. Virtual inertia coefficient Hp versus rated supercapacitor voltage Ves
and capacitance of supercapacitor Ces.

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 Hence, when designing the frequency controller, the The design procedure of the nonlinear control scheme can
desired virtual inertia coefficient Hp should be decided be found in [13].
first. Then, the system parameters including system base Reorganizing (13) and solving for ves, one can derive the
power VArated, grid frequency fr and maximum frequency desired expression of the ultracapacitor voltage as follows:
deviation ¨fr_max should be considered. Following that, the 4VArated H p
capacitor of supercapacitor Ces, rated supercapacitor ves_ref = ⋅ Δf r + Ves2 . (15)
voltage Ves and maximum voltage deviation ¨Ves_max Ces f ref
should be designed according to Fig. 3 and [10]. The The relationship between supercapacitor voltage
detailed design procedure is discussed in [10]. reference and grid frequency will be nonlinear according
to (15). This nonlinear controller guarantees that the virtual
B. Nonlinear Control Scheme
inertia coefficient can be always maintained as a constant
There are limitations of designing the frequency even under large frequency disturbances.
controller as a proportional controller [13]. In particular,
when there is a large frequency disturbance, grid frequency V. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
and voltage changes will also become excessively large. In
this case, the virtual inertia coefficient will no longer be a In order to validate the effectiveness of the SESS and
constant. This is because the supercapacitor inertia nonlinear control scheme, a simulation model was built
coefficient Hc cannot be approximated to a constant, it will under the PLECS environment based on the system
change during frequency dynamics. frequency regulation framework in Fig. 1, and system
To tackle this issue, the nonlinear control scheme would parameters are listed in Table I. The virtual inertia
be a solution by letting the power response of the coefficient Hp is designed as 5.0 s. which is identical to the
supercapacitor exactly follow the power response of inertia coefficient of synchronous generators, i.e. H = 5 s.
synchronous generators. Fig. 4 illustrates the frequency responses of two control
According to (1), the inertial power absorbed by the schemes under a 10% step-up load change, and Fig. 5
rotors of synchronous generators can be expressed as sketches the relevant supercapacitor voltage waveforms. It
should be mentioned that a 10% load change should be
dΔω r_pu dΔf r_pu
ΔPk _ pu = 2 H ⋅ = 2H ⋅ . (8) considered as an extremely large disturbance in power
dt dt systems [14].
The inertial power absorbed by the supercapacitor can
be observed from Fig. 2 and derived by differentiating (3)
on both sides as
C v dΔves
ΔPes _ pu = es es ⋅ . (9)
VArated dt
To generate a desired virtual inertia coefficient Hp, one
may replace H in (8) by Hp and then let (8) equal to (9), i.e.
dΔf r_pu Ces ves dΔves
2H p ⋅ = ⋅ . (10)
dt VArated dt
Integrating (10) on both sides, one obtains
Δf C v2
2 H p ⋅ r = es es + K , (11)
f ref 2VArated
where K is a constant determined by the capacitance of
supercapacitor Ces, rated supercapacitor voltage Ves, and Fig. 4. Frequency waveforms under a 10% step-up load change.
system base power VArated through the following equation:
C V2
K = − es es . (12)
2VArated
Substituting of (12) into (11), the full nonlinear control
scheme can be expressed as:
Δf Ces
2H p ⋅ r = (ves2 − Ves2 ). (13)
f ref 2VArated
The virtual inertia coefficient can be obtained from (13)
as:
1 C V2 f Δv Δv
H p = ⋅ es es ⋅ ref [( es ) 2 + 2 es ]. (14)
2 2VArated Δf r Ves Ves
It can be observed from (14) that if the voltage variation
ǻves is sufficiently small, the second order term ǻves / Ves Fig. 5. Voltage waveforms under a 10% step-up load change.
can be ignored, then the (14) shares the same form with (7).

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 In the beginning, the frequency and voltage differences (VSG). As observed, the testing system is regulated by the
between the two cases are very small. However, as the dSPACE (Microlabbox) control platform. Fig. 9
frequency drop continues, the frequency and voltage demonstrates the experimental waveforms of the
changes will significantly change the virtual inertia frequency response under a 5% step-up load change. With
coefficient Hp. As a result, the basic controller cannot the virtual inertia control, the frequency nadir can be
generate the desired amount of virtual inertia, leading to a improved from 49.73 Hz to 49.77 Hz. In addition to the
lower frequency nadir. In contrast, the nonlinear controller
generates a fixed amount of inertia under large frequency
disturbances. With the nonlinear controller, the frequency
nadir can be improved from 49.52 Hz to 49.54 Hz. It can
be observed that the nonlinear control features a larger
supercapacitor voltage change. In this way, the
supercapacitor releases more energy to improve the
frequency regulation.
The frequency responses under a 10% step-down load
change are illustrated in Fig. 6 and its relevant voltage
waveforms are demonstrated in Fig. 7. It can be observed
that the frequency and voltage responses are similar to the
previous case as shown by Figs. 4 and 5, that is, the
differences between the two control schemes are very
Fig. 8. A photo of experimental test-bed.
small at the beginning, and the frequency and voltage
changes differently as the grid frequency continues rising.
This is because with the basic control scheme, the virtual
inertia coefficient Hp becomes larger than its desired value
as the supercapacitor voltage variation ǻves exceed its
maximum allowable value.

Fig. 9. Experimental waveforms of frequency responses under a 5% step-

up load change.

frequency nadir improvement, the prolonged frequency

dynamics, that is a 50% improvement of the rate of change
of frequency (RoCoF) can be expected. The experimental
results have verified the feasibility of the virtual inertia
Fig. 6. Frequency waveforms under a 10% step-down load change.
control scheme.

VI. CONCLUSION
This paper has implemented a supercapacitor energy
storage system (SESS) for inertia emulation and
enhancement. Inertia emulation is achieved by directly
linking the reference voltages of supercapacitors and the
grid frequency, and therefore the energy stored in the
supercapacitor energy storage can be interchanged with
the power grid when there are load disturbances. Hence,
SESSs can effectively improve the power system inertia
and frequency regulation. More importantly, this paper
discloses that the basic inertia control scheme may not be
very accurate under large frequency disturbances due to
Fig. 7. Voltage waveforms under a 10% step-down load change. the variable virtual inertia coefficient. As a solution, a
nonlinear inertia control scheme is implemented, which
Fig. 8 shows a photo of the experimental test-bed. In the ensures a constant inertia coefficient and fair inertia
experimental test-bed, the conventional synchronous emulation even under large frequency disturbances.
generator is emulated by the virtual synchronous generator

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Simulation and experimental results have verified the
theoretical analysis and the effectiveness of virtual inertia.

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