Received February 28, 2021, accepted March 9, 2021, date of publication March 17, 2021, date of current version

March 24, 2021.

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3066519

Stability Evaluation of AC/DC Hybrid Microgrids

Considering Bidirectional Power Flow Through
the Interlinking Converters
ABDELSALAM A. EAJAL1 , (Member, IEEE), HARIKRISHNA MUDA2 , (Member, IEEE),
ADEDAYO ADERIBOLE 3 , MOHAMED AL HOSANI 4 , (Senior Member, IEEE),
HATEM ZEINELDIN 5,6 , (Senior Member, IEEE), AND E. F. EL-SAADANY 7 , (Fellow, IEEE)
1 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L3G1, Canada
2 National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru 560012, India
3 Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
4 Department of Demand Side Management, Abu Dhabi Distribution Company, Abu Dhabi 219, United Arab Emirates
5 Electrical Power Engineering, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt
6 (On leave) Advanced Power and Energy Center (APEC), Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
7 Advanced Power and Energy Center, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Corresponding author: E. F. El-Saadany (ehab.elsadaany@ku.ac.ae)

This work was supported by Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, under Grant CIRA-013-2020.

ABSTRACT The bidirectional power flow through the interlinking converter (IC), in ac/dc hybrid microgrids
(HMGs) consisting of distributed generators (DGs) with droop controllers, plays an important role on the
stability of such systems during islanding. This paper investigates the impact of the power flow direction on
the small-signal stability of islanded droop-based HMGs. Firstly, a linearized state-space model of an HMG
is developed. Secondly, eigenvalue analysis is carried out to realize the dominant modes, which are the
rightmost eigenvalues. Thirdly, participation factor analysis is performed to identify the system and control
parameters that effect stability the most. Lastly, sensitivity analysis is conducted to determine the critical
droop gains and stability margin. It is observed from the eigenvalue and sensitivity analysis that the dominant
modes of HMGs become more stable as more power flows from dc to ac subgrid. On the contrary, an increase
in the power flow from ac to dc subgrid degrades the HMG stability. Additionally, the sensitivity of the
dominant modes to changes in ac and dc droop gains is studied under bidirectional power flow through the IC
to ascertain their impact on the stability margins. Finally, time-domain simulations, in MATLAB/Simulink,
suggest that more generation on the dc subgrid would enhance the overall HMG stability margin during
islanding.

INDEX TERMS Bidirectional power flow, distributed generator, droop controller, ac/dc hybrid microgrid.

I. INTRODUCTION
Hybrid microgrids (HMGs) are evolving with the ability
to exchange power between ac and dc subgrids. A bidi-
rectional power flow operation of the interlinking converter
(IC) is employed to exchange power between ac and dc
subgrids in the HMG. The HMG can operate in either grid-
connected or islanded mode, and can be controlled in a cen-
tralized or decentralized manner. The decentralized control
methods, which employ droop characteristics, are widely
utilized for power sharing [1]. Although decentralized control
methods achieve power sharing between ac and dc subgrids
The associate editor coordinating the review of this manuscript and
approving it for publication was Salvatore Favuzza . preserve the ac microgrid stability.
without the need for communication, the HMG stability has
been identified as a fundamental requirement for the reliable
operation.
Previous research has focused on the stability issues of
the decentralized control methods for islanded dc [1], and ac
microgrids [2]. A method of constructing the characteristic
matrix to study the small-signal stability of ac and dc micro-
grids is employed in [3] and [4]. In [5], an ac power derivative-
based decentralized control scheme is proposed to improve
the stability of the ac microgrid. The impact of ac microgrid
loads on the stability of droop-controlled dc/ac voltage source
inverters (VSIs) is presented in [6]. In [7], a decentralized
control strategy with an additional droop gain is proposed to

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43876 VOLUME 9, 2021
A. A. Eajal et al.: Stability Evaluation of AC/DC HMGs Considering Bidirectional Power Flow Through Interlinking Converters
Small-signal modeling of droop-controlled dc/dc convert-
ers in a dc microgrid is presented in [8]. It has been shown
that the stability margin is improved by adding a virtual
impedance in ac microgrids [9] and dc microgrids [10].
However, the sensitivity to change in the droop gain indicates
that the stability margin of a dc microgrid differs from that of
an ac microgrid. In particular, the stability margin of the ac
microgrid is reduced with the increase in the droop gain [11],
whereas the stability margin of the dc microgrid is improved
by increasing the droop gain, as illustrated in [12].
It has been recently proposed to interconnect islanded ac
and dc microgrids, through bidirectional ICs, to form a hybrid
microgrid [13], [14]. In [13], a control strategy utilizing ICs
for autonomous operation of HMGs is introduced to manage
the power flow between subgrids. This strategy was further
modified by minimizing the IC energy flow to improve the
efficiency of HMGs [14]. Other power management con-
trol strategies involving the power flow through the IC in
autonomous HMGs have been reported in [15] and [16].
In [16], the small-signal model of the ac and dc subgrids
considering network dynamics and loads is derived. Further-
more, the authors of [17] performed a rigorous stability anal-
ysis and observed that enforcing a tight regulation on dc/dc
converters in dc subgrids would degrade the HMG stability.
Additionally, the study reported in [18] presented a small-
signal model of the HMG and investigated the impact of
droop gains on the stability margins. A larger droop constant
may shift the dominant modes to the right-half side of the
complex plane leading to instability. The majority of the
literature has focused on either designing control strategies
for the IC or the impact analysis of the droop gains on the
HMG stability. However, the specific impact of the direction
of the power flow through droop-based ICs on the HMG
stability has not been fully investigated.
In the light of the autonomous operation of HMGs, the ICs
adopt voltage source converters (VSCs) that employ a droop-
based control strategy to decide on the direction of the active
power flow between ac and dc subgrids. Accordingly, this
paper focuses on the impact of the power flow direction
in HMGs on the low-frequency oscillations. In addition to
droop control, the other microgrid characteristics such as
low inertia can also affect the stability. This paper proposes
a system-level systemic approach, which contributes with:
1) The eigenvalue analysis of the overall system to realize
the dominant eigenvalues; 2) The participation factor analysis
to identify the system and control parameters that affect
the dominant eigenvalues the most; and 3) The sensitivity
analysis to determine the critical droop gains in order to
ensure stable and oscillatory-free bidirectional power flow.
This paper first analyzes the impact of the bidirectional power
flow on the stability of HMGs. Loading on ac and dc subgrid
is varied to alter the power flow direction through the IC. The
impact of the power flow between the ac and dc subgrids on
the HMG stability margin is analyzed via eigenvalue-based
analysis. Time-domain simulations are performed to verify
VOLUME 9, 2021
FIGURE 1. Hybrid microgrid under study.
the impact of the IC power exchange between subgrids on
the HMG stability with different topologies.
II. SYSTEM UNDER STUDY
A schematic diagram of an HMG consisting of ac and dc dis-
tributed generators (DGs), ac and dc distributed loads, and an
IC is shown in Fig. 1. A bidirectional VSC is used as an IC to
interface ac and dc subgrids. The IC parameters are provided
in the appendix Table A1. The ac and dc subgrids operate
at a nominal three-phase voltage of 380 V at 50 Hz and
400 V, respectively. The ac subgrid voltage (380 V) is stepped
down to 220 V through an isolating transformer (380/220 V)
before interfacing with the IC [19]. The total capacity of
the ac subgrid is 20 kVA with each DG having a capacity
of 10 kVA. The dc subgrid has a maximum capacity of 20 kW
and similarly each DG is rated at 10 kW. The parameters
of the ac and dc DGs are given in the appendix Table A2
[11], [20]. It is worth pointing out that the droop gains of the
DGs and ICs were determined based on their ratings and the
operational ranges of the frequency and voltage.
The DG in each subgrid is equipped with three nested
control loops, namely, the power control loop, voltage control
loop, and the current control loop [16]. It is worth pointing out
that droop-based DGs are either renewable-based DGs with
storage or dispatchable DGs such as micro turbines and fuel
cells [21], [22].
A. MODELING OF A VSI IN THE AC SUBGRID
The power controller of the VSI, shown in Fig. 2a, imple-
ments the (Pac − ω) and (Qac − V ) droop equations [6], and
are defined by
ω = ω∗ − mac Pac (1)
v = V ∗ − nac Qac (2)
where ω∗ and V ∗ are the nominal frequency and ac voltage,
respectively; ω and v are the VSI output voltage frequency
and magnitude, respectively; and Pac and Qac are the ac
output active and reactive powers, respectively. The reac-
tive power requirement is merely supplied by the ac DGs.
Parameters mac and nac are the active and reactive power
droop gains, respectively. The average power components,
Pac and Qac , used in (1) and (2) are calculated based on
the filtered instantaneous values of pac and qac , respectively,
as expressed by
ωac
Pac + jQac = (vod + jvoq )(iod − jioq ) (3)
s + ωac
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 A. A. Eajal et al.: Stability Evaluation of AC/DC HMGs Considering Bidirectional Power Flow Through Interlinking Converters

where ωac is the curt-off frequency of the low pass filter;

and vodq and iodq are the dq components of the VSI output
voltage and current, respectively; which are derived from
Park’s dq-frame that rotates synchronously with frequency, ω.
The output of the (Pac − ω) droop controller is integrated to
determine the synchronization angle, θ. The corresponding
dynamic equation of θ is given by
Z
θ = ωb ωdt (4)

where ωb is the ac subgrid base angular frequency. Also, the

output of the (Qac − V ) droop controller is considered as
the input for the ac voltage controller. It should be noted that
the voltage obtained in (2) is the direct-axis voltage reference
for the voltage controller (i.e., v = v∗od ). The quadrature-axis
reference voltage (v∗oq ) is set to zero. The state equations of
the ac voltage controller can be written as

φ̇vd = v∗od − vod and φ̇vq = v∗oq − voq (5)

FIGURE 2. General converter-based DG control structure.
The corresponding dynamic equations are
(
i∗ld = Kpv φ̇vd + Kiv φvd − ω∗ cf voq + H iod where rf is the filter resistance; rc and lc are the resistance and
(6) inductance of the ac subgrid coupling line, respectively; and
i∗lq = Kpv φ̇vq + Kiv φvq + ω∗ cf vod + H ioq
vbd and vbq are the dq-components of ac subgrid bus voltages.
where H is the feed-forward gain; cf is the output filter
capacitance; φvd and φvq are the dq-components of the auxil- B. MODELING OF A DC/DC CONVERTER IN
iary variable φv ; and Kpv and Kiv are the proportional-integral THE DC SUBGRID
(PI) gains of the voltage controller. Furthermore, the state and The overall aggregated control structure of a dc/dc converter
dynamic equations of the ac current controller are given by connected to a dc subgrid is shown in Fig. 2b. By applying the
state space averaging technique in [8], the dynamic equations
φ̇id = i∗ld − ild and φ̇iq = i∗lq − ilq (7) of the dc/dc converter can be written as
(
v∗id = Kpc φ̇id + Kic φid − ω∗ lf ilq diL Vdc 1

(8)  dt = l d − l vO


v∗iq = Kpc φ̇iq + Kic φiq + ω∗ lf ild d d
(12)
 dv O iL 1
where v∗id and v∗iq are the dq-components of the inverter ref- = − vO


dt cd rd cd
erence voltage, which is the output of the current controller;
φid and φiq are the dq-components of the auxiliary variable φi ; where ld and cd are the dc filter inductance and capacitance,
lf is the output filter inductance; Kpc and Kic are the PI gains respectively; Vdc and rd are the input dc voltage and parasitic
of the current regulator. The VSI output voltages and currents resistance of the dc filter inductor, respectively; and d is
adopted in (3) are the outputs of the LC filter shown in Fig. 2a. the duty cycle. It should be noted that the output voltage of
The current and voltage dynamic equations of the output LC the dc/dc converter (vO ) is equal to the output voltage of the
filter and the coupling inductance are described by capacitor, as observed in Fig. 2b. The power versus dc voltage
(Pdc − V ) droop equation used in the power control loop is
 di
ld rf 1 ∗ defined by
 ω dt = − l ild + ωilq + l vid − vod




b f f
(9) vO = v∗O − mdc Pdc (13)
 dilq rf 1 ∗ 
 = − ilq − ωild + viq − voq where v∗O ,
Pdc , and mdc are the reference dc output voltage,
ω dt

lf lf
 b output power, and droop gain of a dc-type DG unit, respec-
dv od 1
= ωvoq +


 ild − iod tively. The output power Pdc is calculated by measuring the
ωb dt

cf

dvoq 1   (10) capacitor voltage and the output current of the LC filter.
 = −ωvod + ilq − ioq For noise rejection and high-switching harmonic attenuation,
ωb dt

cf

the calculated power is filtered by using a low-pass filter [23].
 di
od r c 1
 ω dt = − l iod + ωioq + l vod − vbd
The output of the droop controller is passed to the dc voltage




b c f
(11) controller consisting of a proportional-integral (PI) controller.
dioq r c 1  
Then, the output of the dc voltage controller acts as a refer-
= − ioq − ωiod + ∗

 v − vbq
ωb dt lf oq

lc ence signal to the dc current controller, which adjusts the duty

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A. A. Eajal et al.: Stability Evaluation of AC/DC HMGs Considering Bidirectional Power Flow Through Interlinking Converters

FIGURE 3. General structure and control diagram of the interlinking converter.

cycle of the dc/dc converter [8]. From Fig. 2b, the duty cycle
can be obtained by
d = kpc kpv v∗O − mdc iO − vO + kiv φv − iL + kic φc


(14)
where kpc and kic are the PI gains of the dc current controller,
respectively; kpv and kiv are the respective PI gains of the dc
voltage controller; φv and φc are the integral term outputs
of the dc voltage and current controllers, respectively; and
iO is the output current of the dc/dc converter. The dynamic
equations of the dc voltage and current controllers can be
derived as
where Kpp and Kip are the PI gains of the PLL. Furthermore,
the ac frequency (ω0 ) and dc voltage (v0dc ) are brought to a
per-unit range of [−1, 1], through a normalization process
adopted from [13]. Based on the difference between the
normalized frequency (ωpu 0 ) and the normalized dc voltage
0
(vdc,pu ) and the setting of the IC active power droop gain
(mIC ), the reference power (P∗IC ) of the IC is calculated
by (20a). The IC droop gain default setting with respect to
a maximum normalized error (1eωV ,max ) between the dc
voltage and frequency is obtained by (20b).
P∗IC = (v0 dc,pu − ω0 pu ) /mIC (20a)
| {z }
1eωV

φ̇v = v∗O
− mdc iO − vO (15) mIC = 1eωV ,max /SIC
rated
(20b)
φ̇c = kpv v∗O − mdc iO − vO + kiv φv − iL rated


(16) where SIC is the IC rated apparent power. It should be
mentioned that the IC droop controller is only needed for
The dynamic equation of the dc coupling line can be power sharing among multiple ICs [13]. In case of a single
described as IC, a simple PI controller can be used instead. Further, the IC
diO ro 1 is primarily concerned with the active power transfer. Thus,
= − iO + (vO − vdc ) (17) the IC reference reactive power (Q∗IC ) can be set to zero when
dt lo lo
the power flows from the dc to ac subgrid, as illustrated
where ro and lo are the resistance and inductance of the dc
in Fig. 3 and (21) [13], [23]. Nevertheless, according to its
coupling line; and vdc is the dc subgrid bus voltage.
(QIC − V ) droop characteristics defined by (21), the IC can
contribute to the reactive power sharing when supporting an
C. MODELING OF IC IN THE HMG
ac subgrid with limited reactive power resources.
The overall structure of the IC is depicted in Fig. 3. This 
control scheme implements a bidirectional power controller  1 (V ∗ − v0 ) P∗ > 0
od IC
followed by a current controller [13]. The state equations of Q∗IC = nIC (21)
0 P∗IC ≤ 0

the IC current controller and the output filter are the same
as (7)-(11). Hence, these equations are not repeated here. where nIC denotes the IC reactive power droop gain. The dc
As shown in Fig. 3, the IC employs a phase-locked loop subgrid is irrelevant to the reactive power support capability
(PLL) to determine the output ac voltage frequency (ω0 ) and of the IC. Furthermore, the dominant eigenvalues are found
angle (θ 0 ) at its ac terminal. The state equation of the PLL is to be less sensitive to the reactive power droop gains [23].
describe by Accordingly, the stability analysis is mainly directed towards
0 the bidirectional active power flow through the IC.
φ̇p = v0oq − voq
∗
(18)
III. SMALL-SIGNAL MODELING AND ANALYSIS
where φp is the integral term output of the PLL. The corre-
A. SMALL-SIGNAL MODEL OF THE HMG
sponding dynamic equation can be written as
Based on the dynamic modeling presented in section II,
ω0 = Kpp φ̇p + Kip φp + ω∗ (19) the state equations of the HMG can be derived.

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FIGURE 4. Small-signal modeling of an ac/dc hybrid microgrid.

The small-signal model of the entire HMG is constructed TABLE 1. Dominant eigenvalues for zero power flow condition.
using the module-based approach offered in [11]. Fig. 4
demonstrates how the individual state-space models are
combined. As depicted in Fig. 4, the outputs of the ac and
dc subnetwork state-space models are the inputs to the IC
state-space model, whereas; the outputs of the IC state-space
model are the inputs to the ac and dc subnetwork state-space
models. Using small-signal approximation [3], the afore-
mentioned equations in section II can be linearized near an
equilibrium point and the small-signal model of the HMG
can be realized as

1xHMG
˙ (t) = AHMG 1xHMG (t) (22)

where AHMG is the system state matrix of the entire HMG; and
1xHMG denotes the vector of the state variables. The derived
eigenvalues of the characteristic matrix, AHMG , are used as
the basis for the subsequent stability analysis.
FIGURE 6. Participation factors (a) Modes 1 and 4 (b) Modes 2 and 3.

shows that mode 4 has significantly a better damping ratio

compared to modes 1, 2, and 3.

FIGURE 5. Dominant eigenvalues of the HMG at zero power flow
conditions.
B. EIGENVALUE ANALYSIS
The active power droop gains of all DGs in Fig. 1 are
set according to their ratings and frequency/voltage operat-
ing range to 0.02 p.u. By considering the maximum power
exchange capacity of the IC being equal to its rating (1 p.u),
the IC droop gain mIC in (20b) would be 2 p.u. Fig. 5 plots
the complex eigenvalue pair distribution of the most dominant
modes for the HMG shown in Fig. 1, considering zero power
flow through the IC. The frequency and damping ratio of
these low-frequency modes are presented in Table 1. Accord-
ing to this table, the HMG is stable since all eigenvalues are
located in the left-half side of the complex plane. Table 1 also
C. PARTICIPATION ANALYSIS
Participation factor analysis for conventional power systems
discussed in [24] is extended to HMGs. The participation of a
certain state variable in an oscillatory behavior can be quan-
tified by its participation factor [24], which is calculated by
pki = φki 9ik (23)
where pki measures the participation of the kth state variable
xk in the ith mode; φki is the kth entry of the right eigenvector
φi ; and 9ik is the kth entry of the left eigenvector 9i .
The participation factor pki also defines the sensitivity of
the eigenvalue λi to the diagonal element akk of the system
state matrix A, as described by
∂λi
pki = (24)
∂akk
Fig. 6 shows the highest participating states in the
behavior of the most dominant modes. The participation

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A. A. Eajal et al.: Stability Evaluation of AC/DC HMGs Considering Bidirectional Power Flow Through Interlinking Converters
factors in Fig. 6a show that mode 1 is highly sensitive
to the state variables of the ac subgrid power controllers
(1Pac1 , 1Pac2 , 1θ2 ) and the ac subgrid voltage controllers
(1φvd1 , 1φvd2 ). The subscripts 1 and 2 represent DG1 and
DG2 in each subgrid in Fig. 1, respectively. Furthermore,
modes 2 and 3 are sensitive to the dc subgrid output volt-
ages (1vO1 , 1vO2 ) and dc voltage controllers (1φv1 , 1φv2 )
states, as shown in Fig. 6b. Mode 4 is sensitive to the state
variables of the ac subgrid power controllers (1Pac2 , 1θ2 ),
the ac subgrid voltage controllers (1φvd1 , 1φvd2 ), the IC
current controller (1φcd 0 ), and the IC filter inductor current
0
(1ild ), as depicted in Fig. 6a. The participation factor analysis
reveals that the states associated with the ac subgrid have a
higher impact on the dominant modes as compared to those
of the dc subgrid.
TABLE 2. Power flows through the interlinking converter.
D. SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
To further characterize the small-signal stability of the HMG
in Fig. 1, the behavior of the dominant modes to changes in
the power flow direction through the IC is further analyzed.
To zoom in the impact of the power flow direction on the
HMG stability, the dominant eigenvalues movement because
of other factors including the grid impedance is excluded. The
root loci of the dominant modes of the HMG are identified for
five power transfer scenarios shown in Table 2. The first two
scenarios, with the power flows through the IC are 1.0 p.u
and 0.5 p.u, correspond to the power transfer from dc to
ac subgrid while scenario 3 considers zero power transfer
between the subgrids. Thus, in scenario 3, the ac and dc
subgrids are operated independently with no power exchange.
The last two scenarios, 4 and 5, correspond to power flows
(−0.5 p.u and −1.0 p.u) from ac to dc subgrid.
FIGURE 7. Dominant eigenvalue sensitivity for different power flow
scenarios.
Fig. 7 shows the loci of the dominant modes for the five
power flow scenarios. As seen in this figure, as the power
flow from dc to ac subgrid increased, mode 1 (which is the
VOLUME 9, 2021
most dominant mode) moved further into the left-half side
of the complex plane, and the damping increased. However,
different behavior of the dominant modes can be deduced for
power transfers from ac to dc subgrid. The results in Fig. 7
suggest that if there is a continuous increase in the power flow
from ac to dc subgrid, mode 1 moves to the right-half plane
and the system becomes unstable. This is mainly because
when power is exchanged from ac to dc subgrid, the dynamics
of the ac subgrid will affect those of the dc subgrid and
potentially make the entire HMG unstable. Thus, as the power
transfer from ac to the dc subgrid increases, the HMG stability
margin could be significantly reduced.
FIGURE 8. The loci of dominant modes to ac and dc droop gain changes
considering different power transfers.
E. STABILITY MARGIN ANALYSIS
The stability margin of the HMG is characterized by the
maximum power transfer capability of the ICs and the critical
droop gains of the DGs [25]. In the following subsections,
the dc to ac subgrid power flow (0.5 p.u), zero power flow,
and ac to dc subgrid power flow (−0.5 p.u) conditions are
considered. Firstly, let us consider the loci of the dominant
modes to changes in the droop gains (mac = mdc ). By con-
stantly increasing the droop gains from a value of 0.02 p.u,
Fig. 8 shows that mode 1 moves towards the right-half plane.
However, for the condition in Fig. 8a where 0.5 p.u flows
from dc to ac subgrid, the HMG dominant modes remain
in the left-half plane and retain the system stability when
mac = mdc ≤ 0.034 p.u. Thus, the stability margin for
this condition is given as 0.034 p.u. Furthermore, Fig. 8b
shows a trace of the dominant modes when there is no power
transfer between both subgrids. By increasing the droop
gains, the system becomes unstable when mode 1 crosses the
imaginary axis at mac = mdc = 0.029 p.u, which dictates
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the stability margin for this operating condition. In addition,
as depicted in Fig. 8c, the dominant modes, for scenario 4,
reside in the right-half plane and the HMG becomes unstable
for the droop gain mac = mdc = 0.025 p.u, which defines
the stability margin for this scenario. It can be observed that
the operating condition when the power flows from dc to ac
subgrid exhibits the best stability margin for the HMG for
equal changes in the ac and dc subgrid droop gains.
FIGURE 9. The loci of dominant modes to ac droop gain changes only
considering different power transfers.
Secondly, the loci of the dominant modes, when mdc is set
to 0.02 p.u while mac is varied in steps, are depicted in Fig. 9.
The results in Fig. 9a show that the critical droop gain for
the power flow condition of 0.5 p.u transfered from dc to ac
subgrid is mac = 0.036 p.u. For zero power flow condition,
the loci of the dominant modes are depicted in Fig. 9b.
We observe that the stability margin is defined by the ac droop
gain mac = 0.030 p.u. Whereas, Fig. 9c shows that a droop
gain of 0.026 p.u is the critical value for the ac to dc subgrid
power flow of −0.5 p.u. It can be concluded that the dc to ac
power flow condition still exhibits a wider stable operating
range of the power transfer through the IC, as compared to
the other operating conditions. Finally, when mac is set at
0.02 p.u while the dc droop gain mdc is varied, the loci of
the dominant modes are plotted in Fig. 10. Fig. 10 shows that
mode 1 would remain almost constant for the three power
transfer conditions. Thus, the overall stability of the HMG
is not greatly affected, as the most dominant modes slightly
move when mdc is changed while mac is kept constant. From
Fig. 8-10, the ac subgrid dominates the HMG dynamics and
stability margin.
IV. TIME-DOMAIN SIMULATION RESULTS
Time-domain simulations are carried out to verify the impact
of the IC power flow direction on the HMG stability. Several
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FIGURE 10. The loci of dominant modes to dc droop gain changes only
considering different power transfers.
case studies are simulated, including the reactive power sup-
port capability of the IC, a relatively large generation capacity
of one subgrid, different ratings of the DG units, multiple
interfacing points of the ICs, and a meshed topology of the
HMG network.
A. DC TO AC SUBGRID POWER FLOW OPERATION
The power flow direction from dc to ac subgrid with and
without the reactive power support capability of the IC is
investigated.
1) DC TO AC SUBGRID POWER FLOW OPERATION
WITHOUT IC REACTIVE POWER SUPPORT
In this case study, the . Initially, to investigate the impact of
the power flow from dc to ac subgrid on the HMG stability,
the dc subgrid of the HMG in Fig. 1 is loaded with a total dc
power demand of 1.0 p.u. Furthermore, the ac loads of the ac
subgrid are varied such that 1) For time t = 0 to 5 s, the ac
subgrid is loaded with 2.0 p.u. 2) At t = 5 s, the ac subgrid is
overloaded at 2.5 p.u by connecting an additional 0.5 p.u load
at Bus-A1. 3) At t = 10 s, by connecting another 0.5 p.u load
at Bus-A2, the ac subgrid total load is increased to 3.0 p.u.
Simulation results in Fig. 11a show that the load power
of the ac subgrid increased to 2.5 p.u and 3.0 p.u from the
interval of 5 to 10 s and 10 to 15 s, respectively, while the dc
subgrid is loaded at 1.0 p.u for the entire period. Furthermore,
the DGs’ output power responses of both ac and dc subgrids
are depicted in Fig. 11b and 11c, respectively. The dynamic
response of the power flowing through the IC is shown
in Fig. 11d. The ac frequency and dc voltage measured at the
IC terminals are plotted in Fig. 11e. From t = 0 to 5 s, both
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A. A. Eajal et al.: Stability Evaluation of AC/DC HMGs Considering Bidirectional Power Flow Through Interlinking Converters

TABLE 3. Power flow through IC for a change in AC or DC subgrid loads in

P.U.

FIGURE 11. Dynamic responses for dc to ac power flow condition without

IC reactive power support.

subgrids are under-loaded and, hence; zero power is flowing

through the IC. When the load in the ac subgrid is increased
at t = 5 s and 10 s, the IC detects a drop in the ac frequency
below the minimum value, and accordingly; command the
dc subgrid to support its ac counterpart in order to bring the
difference in loading between ac and dc subgrids towards
zero. The power flowing from dc to ac subgrid through the
IC for a load increase in the ac subgrid at t = 5 s is found
to be 0.5 p.u, as observed in Fig. 11d. Similarly, at t = 10 s,
the resulting power flow from dc to ac subgrid though the
IC is around 1.0 p.u, which confirms the power management FIGURE 12. Dynamic responses for dc to ac power flow condition with IC
capability of the droop-based IC. The steady-state results reactive power support.
are summarized in Table 3. Since the dc line resistance is
small, the power outputs of the two DGs in the dc subgrid
are found to be almost equal. This case study demonstrates available capacity allows. These simulation results confirm
that as the active power flow from the dc to ac subgrid is the IC capability of the reactive power support when the ac
increased, a better dynamic performance can be achieved, subgrid has limited reactive power resources. Further, similar
which supports the observations from section III-D. conclusions about the direction of power flow from ac to dc
subgrid can be made in the case of the IC VAR compensation
2) DC TO AC SUBGRID POWER FLOW OPERATION WITH IC feature. Power flow from dc to ac subgrid would maintain an
REACTIVE POWER SUPPORT oscillatory-free dynamic behavior.
During the active power flow from the dc to ac subgrid, the IC
may be requested to supply reactive power to the ac subgrid. B. AC TO DC SUBGRID POWER FLOW OPERATION
In this case study, the (QIC −V ) droop control loop is activated The impact of the power flow from ac to dc subgrid on the
for the IC in Fig. 1 to compensate the VAR increase in the HMG stability is evaluated. To achieve the ac to dc subgrid
ac subgrid. The simulation results are presented in Fig. 12. power flow condition, the ac subgrid is loaded with a total ac
For ac load increase, the IC is found to share the reac- power demand of 1.0 p.u for the whole period, while the dc
tive power requirement of the ac subgrid according to its loads are varied such that the dc subgrid is loaded at 2.0 p.u
droop characteristics. As the ac subgrid requests more power, from the time interval 0 to 5 s, 2.5 p.u from t = 5 to t = 10 s,
the IC would continue injecting reactive power as long as its and 3.0 p.u from t = 10 to t = 15 s. The dc subgrid load

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 A. A. Eajal et al.: Stability Evaluation of AC/DC HMGs Considering Bidirectional Power Flow Through Interlinking Converters
FIGURE 13. Dynamic responses for ac to dc power flow condition.
profile in Fig. 13a shows an increase in the loading condition
at t = 5 s and 10 s whereas the ac subgrid load profile
shows an under-loading condition. The DGs’ power outputs
of both ac and dc subgrids are illustrated in Fig. 13b and 13c,
respectively. The dynamic response of the power flowing
through the IC from ac to dc subgrid is depicted in Fig. 13d.
The ac frequency and dc voltage during the dc to ac subgrid
power flow condition are shown in Fig. 13e. The steady-state
results are summarized in Table 3. It can be deduced that an
increase in the power flow from ac to dc subgrid would result
in a highly oscillatory and unstable behavior.
C. AN INCREASE IN THE AC POWER
GENERATION CAPACITY
The dynamic performance of the HMG in Fig. 1 is inves-
tigated when the ac subgrid has an excessive generation.
An additional DG having a capacity of 1.0 p.u is connected to
Bus-A1 of the ac subgrid, while the power generation capac-
ity of the dc subgrid is reduced to 1.0 p.u by disconnecting
the DG unit at Bus-B2. Thus, the ac subgrid total power gen-
eration capacity is increased to 3.0 p.u. The ac and dc subgrid
loads shown in Fig. 1 are varied, as reported in section IV.B.
From t = 0 to 5 s, the power demand of the ac and dc
subgrids, as shown in Fig. 14a, are 1.0 and 2.0 p.u, respec-
tively. The dynamic responses of the DGs’ power outputs of
both ac and dc subgrids are depicted in Fig. 14b and 14c,
respectively. Since the dc subgrid generation capacity was
reduced to 1.0 p.u, the IC transfers 1.0 p.u from ac to dc
subgrid at t = 0 to 5 s, as noticed in Fig. 14d, to supply
the dc load. The ac frequency and dc voltage are presented
in Fig. 14e. When a further increase in the dc subgrid load is
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FIGURE 14. Dynamic responses for an increase in the ac power
generation capacity.
introduced at 5 and 10 s, the oscillatory behavior is further
worsened, as observed in Fig. 14. Accordingly, this case
study suggests that increasing the power flow from ac to dc
subgrid, the HMG could become unstable. Thus, designing
an HMG with the ac subgrid providing the reserve capacity
may degrade the stability.
D. AN INCREASE IN THE DC POWER
GENERATION CAPACITY
The system dynamic response is reinvestigated with an
increase in the dc generation capacity by adding a 1.0 p.u DG
unit at Bus-B3. From t = 0 to 5 s, the power demands of
the ac and dc subgrids are set at 1.0 and 2.0 p.u, as depicted
in Fig. 15a, respectively. The dynamic response of the DGs’
power outputs of both ac and dc subgrids are depicted
in Fig. 15b and 15c, respectively. It can be seen that the
additional DG unit contributes in the power sharing within
the dc subgrid. At t = 5 and 10 s, the increase in the dc load is
proportionally shared among the three DGs in the dc subgrid,
as shown in Fig. 15c. Since the ac and dc subgrids are not
overloaded, the IC would transfer zero power for the whole
period, as noted in Fig. 15d. Furthermore, the ac frequency
and dc voltage are both well maintained, as in Fig. 15e.
We can conclude that integrating more DGs in the dc subgrid
would preserve a good dynamic performance.
E. HIGHLY RESISTIVE HYBRID MICROGRID OPERATION
So far, the inverter-based DGs in the ac subgrid are assumed
to employ (Pac − ω) and (Qac − V ) droop control. However,
depending on the inverter-based DG output impedance and
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A. A. Eajal et al.: Stability Evaluation of AC/DC HMGs Considering Bidirectional Power Flow Through Interlinking Converters
FIGURE 15. Dynamic responses for an increase in the dc power
generation capacity.
the X/R ratio of the ac subgrid, the active power can be highly
dependent on the voltage magnitude whereas the reactive
power is strongly coupled with the frequency [26]. Thus,
the (Pac − V ) and (Qac − ω) droop characteristics would be
used instead. This case study is therefore designed to investi-
gate the HMG dynamics when the inverter-based DGs in the
ac subgrid adopt (Pac −V ) and (Qac −ω) droop characteristics.
The inverter-based DGs in Fig. 1 are equipped with droop
controllers that implement the (Pac − V ) and (Qac − ω) droop
equations. The test HMG in Fig. 1 is simulated and the time-
domain response is reported in Fig. 16. As observed in this
figure, droop-based HMGs would still exhibit an oscillatory
behavior for ac to dc power flow direction even when the DGs
in the ac subgrid adopt different droop characteristics.
F. HYBRID MICROGRID OPERATION WITH DIFFERENT DG
RATINGS, MULTIPLE ICs, AND MESHED TOPOLOGY
The stability analysis is extended to a meshed HMG with
multiple ICs and DGs having different ratings. The meshed
HMG involves six DGs distributed in two subgrids, two
ICs, and ac/dc loads. The meshed HMG is depicted by its
schematic diagram in Fig. 17. The total capacity of the
ac subgrid is 25 kVA with DG1, DG2, and DG3 having
capacities of 5 kVA, 7.5 kVA, and 10 kVA, respectively.
Whereas, the dc subgrid has a maximum capacity of 25 kW
and dc-type DG1, DG2, and DG3 are rated at 5 kW, 7.5 kW,
and 10 kW, respectively. This meshed HMG is created by
adding a DG unit and a distribution line in each subgrid
and a second IC, IC2, with the rating of 7.5 kVA connected
between buses A3 and B4. Thus, the total power transfer
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FIGURE 16. Dynamic responses for ac to dc power flow condition in case
of (Pac − V ) and (Qac − ω) droop control in the ac subgrid.
FIGURE 17. Hybrid microgrid with different DG ratings, multiple ICs, and
meshed topology.
capacity is increased to 1.75 p.u. The impact of the power
flow from the ac to dc subgrid on the stability of the meshed
HMG with multiple ICs is evaluated as follows. Initially from
t = 0 to 5 s, the ac and dc loads are 0.75 p.u and 2.25 p.u,
respectively, as shown in Fig. 18a. Fig. 18b and 18c depict
the dynamic responses of the DGs’ power outputs of both ac
and dc subgrids, respectively. Fig. 18d shows the dynamic
responses of the power transfer of both ICs. Fig. 18e presents
the normalized ac frequency and dc voltage of IC1. Since
both subgrids can supply their own loads, the ICs transfer no
power to either subgrid, as shown in Fig. 18d. At t = 5 s,
a step load increase of 0.75 p.u has occurred on the dc side.
Consequently, the DGs on the ac side increase their outputs,
as shown in Fig. 18b, to supply the load increase in the
dc side. At t = 10 s, the dc load is further increased by
0.75 p.u and the dc subgrid requests more power from its
neighboring ac subgrid. Accordingly, the ICs start to increase
the power flow from the ac to dc subgrid, resulting in a highly
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 A. A. Eajal et al.: Stability Evaluation of AC/DC HMGs Considering Bidirectional Power Flow Through Interlinking Converters
FIGURE 18. Dynamic responses for ac to dc power flow condition in case
of different DG ratings, multiple ICs, and meshed topology.
oscillatory behavior, as evident in Fig. 18d. Consequently,
the entire HMG becomes unstable (see Fig. 18b-18e). It can
be concluded that an increase in the power flow from ac to dc
subgrid, interfaced through multiple ICs in a meshed HMG,
would still jeopardize the system stability.
V. PHYSICAL INSIGHTS AND GENERAL DISCUSSION
The power transfer between two adjacent ac and dc subgrids
depends on the droop characteristics of DGs and ICs [13].
In sharing the load among droop-based ac and dc subgrids
interfaced in an HMG, the dominant eigenvalues are largely
affected by the frequency droop gains in comparison with
those of the dc voltage [23]. During the inverting mode of ICs,
the power angles of the ac DGs are not required to increase
as much as in the case of stand-alone ac subgrid to supply
the same amount of ac load increase. Additionally, due to the
nature of the dc systems, the movement of the eigenvalues
related to the dc subgrid is observed to be neither as fast nor
as sensitive as those of the ac subgrid. Therefore, although
the eigenvalues of the dc subgrid move slightly to the right
when supplying the ac subgrid, the dominant dynamics of the
combined HMG are still related to those of the dc subgrid.
Thus, the frequency and angle stability are less likely to arise
during the inverting mode of ICs. On the other hand, during
the rectifying mode of ICs, the droop-based DGs in the ac
subgrid further expand their power angles in order to supply
the requested power by the dc subgrid. This power angle
increase could cause an oscillatory power flow, particularly
in the case of shortage in damping resources. In order to
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maintain stable power sharing, the droop characteristics of
DGs can be improved such that an adequate and stable load-
ability margin is preserved in each subgrid.
VI. CONCLUSION
The operating point including the amount and direction of the
power flow between ac and dc subgrids in an HMG largely
affects the stability. Thus, this paper investigated the impact
of the power flow on the stability of HMGs formed by the
interconnection of ac and dc subgrids through bidirectional
ICs. It is observed that as the power flow from the ac to dc
subgrid increases, the stability margin of the HMG may be
reduced. This is mainly because when the power is exchanged
from the ac to dc subgrid, the dynamics associated with the
ac subgrid have greater influence on the HMG stability as
compared to those of the dc subgrid. Moreover, an increase
in the generation capacity of the ac subgrid increases the
power flow from the ac to dc subgrid to supply the dc load
power, which could degrade the stability of the HMG. Thus,
it is technically advised to design the HMG such that the
ac subgrid receives power from the dc subgrid. The stability
analysis presented in this paper is not meant to emphasize
that the amount and direction of the power transfer could
always jeopardize the stability but rather, precaution should
be exercised when transferring power from one subgrid to the
other.
APPENDIX
The ICs and DGs parameters are given in Table A1 and A2,
respectively.
TABLE A1. Interlinking converters parameters.
TABLE A2. AC and DC distributed generators parameters.
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ABDELSALAM A. EAJAL (Member, IEEE)
received the B.Sc. degree (Hons.) in electrical
engineering from Sirte University, Sirte, Libya,
in 2001, the M.A.Sc. degree in electrical and
computer engineering from Dalhousie University,
Halifax, NS, Canada, in 2008, the Ph.D. degree
in electrical and computer engineering from the
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada,
in 2018. From 2003 to 2005, he worked as a
Power Engineer with General Electricity Company
of Libya (GECOL). From 2008 to 2012, he worked as an Undergraduate
Instructor with Sirte University. In Fall 201l, he joined the University of
Tripoli, Tripoli, Libya, as a Visiting Lecturer. He has been recognized as
one of the best reviewers for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SMART GRID. He is
currently a Postdoctoral Fellow with the University of Waterloo. His research
interests include planning, operation, stability, and control of ac/dc hybrid
distribution systems.
HARIKRISHNA MUDA (Member, IEEE) recei-
ved the M.Tech. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical
engineering from the Indian Institute of Technol-
ogy Roorkee, India, in 2010 and 2017, respec-
tively. He was a Research Engineer with the
Khalifa University of Science and Technology,
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He is cur-
rently working as a Postdoctoral Associate with
the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian
Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India. His current
research interests include microgrid protection and control, ac/dc hybrid
distribution system stability, active distribution networks, and energy mix.
ADEDAYO ADERIBOLE received the B.Sc.
degree in electronic/electrical engineering from
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria,
the M.Sc. degree in electrical power engineering
from the Khalifa University of Science and Tech-
nology, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He is
currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in electrical
engineering and computer science with the Mas-
sachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA.
His research interests include power systems sta-
bility and control, power line communication, and smart grid technologies,
such as demand-side management.
43887
 A. A. Eajal et al.: Stability Evaluation of AC/DC HMGs Considering Bidirectional Power Flow Through Interlinking Converters
MOHAMED AL HOSANI (Senior Member,
IEEE) received the B.Sc. degree in electrical engi-
neering from the American University of Sharjah,
United Arab Emirates, in 2008, and the M.Sc. and
Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the
University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA,
in 2010 and 2013, respectively. He was an Assis-
tant Professor with the Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering, Khalifa University,
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, from 2014 to
2018, and a Visiting Assistant Professor with the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA, from 2015 to 2016. He is currently the
Department Manager of Demand Side Management (DSM), Abu Dhabi Dis-
tribution Company, Abu Dhabi. His research interests include demand side
management, distributed generation protection and control, and modeling
and stability analysis of microgrid and smart grid.
HATEM ZEINELDIN (Senior Member, IEEE)
received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in elec-
trical engineering from Cairo University, Giza,
Egypt, in 1999 and 2002, respectively, and the
Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineer-
ing from the University of Waterloo, Waterloo,
ON, Canada, in 2006. He was with Smith and
Andersen Electrical Engineering, Inc., North York,
ON, USA, where he was involved in projects
involving distribution system designs, protection,
43888
and distributed generation. He was a Visiting Professor with the Mas-
sachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. He is currently
with the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Egypt, and is on leave
from the Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, United
Arab Emirates. His current research interests include distribution system
protection, distributed generation, and micro grids. He is also an Editor for
the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION.
E. F. EL-SAADANY (Fellow, IEEE) was born
in Cairo, Egypt, in 1964. He received the B.Sc.
and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from
Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, in 1986 and
1990, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electri-
cal engineering from the University of Waterloo,
Waterloo, ON, Canada, in 1998, where he was a
Professor with the ECE Department till 2019. He is
currently a Professor with the Department of Elec-
trical and Computer Engineering and the Director
of the Advanced Power and Energy Research Center, Khalifa University,
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. His research interests include smart grid
operation and control, microgrids, self healing, power quality, distributed
generation, power electronics interfacing, and mechatronics. He is also an
Editor of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SMART GRID, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON
POWER SYSTEMS, and IEEE POWER SYSTEMS LETTERS. He is also a Registered
Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario.
VOLUME 9, 2021