IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution
Research Article
Positive sequence voltage source converter
mathematical model for use in low short
circuit systems
Deepak Ramasubramanian1 , Wenzong Wang1, Pouyan Pourbeik2, Evangelos Farantatos1, Anish
Gaikwad1, Sachin Soni3, Vladimir Chadliev3
1Grid Operations & Planning Group, Electric Power Research Institute, Knoxville, TN 37932, USA
2Power and Energy, Analysis, Consulting and Education, PLLC, Texas, USA
3Grid Integration, First Solar, Inc., Tempe, AZ 85281, USA
E-mail: dramasubramanian@epri.com
Abstract: In this study, modifications are proposed to the state-of-the-art positive sequence generic converter model in order to
capture the small-signal and large-signal oscillatory instabilities associated with converters interfaced at low short circuit
locations. The performance of the positive sequence model is validated against detailed electromagnetic simulations to lend
confidence in this proposed model. Additionally, validation of performance of the model against observed field measurements is
also carried out.
1 Introduction
Dynamic simulations using positive sequence models and tools are
the main approach used by transmission planners to evaluate the
stability behaviour of converter interfaced generation that are either
already connected to the bulk power system or are listed in the
interconnection queue. In the last several years, significant work
has been conducted through a broad industry-wide effort for the
development of generic and public models for renewable energy
systems. The work was done primarily within the Western
Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) Renewable Energy
Modeling Task Force, and the models have been adopted by
several of the major commercial software vendors in North
America. However, these existing state-of-the-art generic positive
sequence mathematical models of converter interfaced generation
have limitations in accurately characterising their stability under
low short circuit grid conditions [1, 2]. The limitations arise
primarily due to the nature of the mechanism of positive sequence
simulations. The solution of the differential and algebraic equations
in positive sequence simulations are carried out in a sequential
manner. The outputs from the integration of the differential
equations are used to define the value of the magnitude and phase
of the current to be injected into the network at every generator/
load bus. Subsequently, with this new value of current, the
algebraic equations of the network are solved to obtain the value of
bus voltages. These new values of bus voltages are then used in the
next time step of integration of the differential equations and the
process continues until the end of the simulation. Due to this
sequential process, it is important to ensure that at the boundary
bus between the network and the device (usually the bus at which
the device is connected), the solution of the network equations
converge at every time step.
When connected to a bus with a low short circuit capacity (large
perceived impedance), a pure current source model in a positive
sequence simulation platform can experience numerical instability
because a small change in the injected current can have a large
impact on the change in voltage magnitude. Thus, between
subsequent time steps of integration, it is possible for the network
solution to not converge as the current injections (and thus the
voltage magnitudes) could oscillate between two values. This
behaviour is more prominent as the percentage of current sources
increases in the network, as a current source relies on other
elements of the network to maintain the voltage. Presently, most
positive sequence models model the converter interface as a current
IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2020, Vol. 14 Iss. 1, pp. 87-97
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2019
ISSN 1751-8687
Received on 4th March 2019
Revised 20th September 2019
Accepted on 7th November 2019
E-First on 2nd December 2019
doi: 10.1049/iet-gtd.2019.0346
www.ietdl.org
source. This is despite the fact that actually, a converter that is used
for a renewable energy source or battery energy system is truly a
voltage source converter, where a dc voltage is converted to an ac
voltage. In contrast, a current source converter (used widely in
motor drive applications) stores energy in an inductor on the dc
side, and the dc current is transformed into an ac current. However,
in a bulk power system connected renewable or battery energy
storage plant, the current output of the voltage source converter is
strictly controlled to follow the angle of grid and thus, the bulk
power system perceives these sources to be as current sources. The
state-of-the-art generic positive sequence converter model (named
as REGC_A [3]) reflects this perceived behaviour by modelling the
inverter as a current source, since this control of the inverter
current is very fast.
Generic converter models have a wide variety of use in bulk
power system planning studies. However, due to their nature of
being generic, these models also have a set of limitations. The
authors of [4, 5] provide an overview of the presently available
generic positive sequence converter models, their region of
accuracy and their limitations. In the state-of-the-art generic
converter model, along with the representation of the behaviour of
the converter as a controlled current source, the dynamics of the
fast inner current control loops of a converter (these control loops
are responsible for the strict control of current in a voltage source
converter) are simplified to first-order time constants.
The speed of response of a controller by itself to a change in
reference can be indirectly linked to the magnitude of effort applied
by the controller, and the time taken to respond to the change in
reference in order to move the plant's output(s) towards the new
reference value. However, even with a fast controller, for a closed-
loop control system to be fast, the feedback from the plant output
back into the controller input should also occur within a reasonable
time frame. In other words, if the feedback from the plant back into
the controller is quick and positively correlated to the applied effort
from the controller, then the controller ‘knows’ that it is achieving
the desired response, and the closed-loop system has a greater
probability of being stable. However, if there is a large time delay
in the feedback (and consequently phase lag), then, the fast
controller may assume that it is not applying the right magnitude of
effort and will consequently either increase or decrease the amount
of effort applied based on the correlation of the feedback with the
applied effort. This can lead to the closed system becoming
unstable. In order to stabilise such a system, the controller element
87

Fig. 1 Single line diagram of representation of converter connected to
grid
has to be slowed down. An example of application of this concept
in power systems is an internal feedback in static excitation
systems. Static excitation systems are predominantly power
electronics based, and can thus be a very fast controller. However,
when a large synchronous machine is connected to the network,
due to the combined impedance of the field winding of the
generator, the loading level of the generator (results in a varying
amount of armature reaction), and the external network impedance,
the static exciter may have to be slowed down in order to stabilise
the system. The large impedance of a low short circuit system in
combination with the armature reaction effect brought upon by the
loading of the generator would result in a slower feedback response
of the terminal voltage back into the static exciter control loop.
In a converter energy source, the ability of the fast inner current
control loops to strictly control the value of injected current in a
stable manner is linked to the active power output level of the
converter source, and the network impedance seen by the converter
[2, 6]. An increase in both these parameters could often times
require the fast inner current controllers of the converters to be re-
tuned in the field to be slower in order to avoid instability [7].
Some non-linear controllers may also have adaptive tuning rules to
change the control gain values depending on the nature of the
feedback voltage/current signals. However, in either scenario, if the
inner current controller is re-tuned to be slower then transiently, the
network can no longer perceive the converter to be a current
source. Instead, the converter energy source has to now be
mathematically modelled by its inherent voltage source nature.
Further, as these inner current controllers are made slower, the
frequency dynamics of these control loops would start aligning
closer to the frequency dynamics of the network and the other
slower elements. Thus, the dynamics of the inner current control
loop can now no longer be represented by a simple first-order time
constant. It is of course out of scope of the generic positive
sequence models to have adaptive tuning rules. However, it is
possible to improve the positive sequence models to be able to
represent the inherent voltage source nature of a converter and the
dynamics of the inner current control loops.
In addition to the inner current control loops, conventional
converter energy sources also have a phase locked loop (PLL)
controller that tracks the angle of the grid and thereby enables the
inner current control loops to inject current at the correct phase
angle. In order to have strict and fast current control by the inner
current control loops, it is imperative that the phase angle of the
grid is known correctly, which is the task of the PLL. Due to the
coupled nature of these two controllers, representation of the
dynamics of one of the controllers requires representation of the
dynamics of the other controller as well. A fast PLL in a low short
circuit system can also introduce undamped oscillations [8].
With this background, this paper proposes modifications to the
state-of-the-art mathematical modelling of positive sequence
converter models. The model presented here allows the user to
investigate, at a high-level, the potential for controller oscillatory
behaviour of the inner-current control loop in combination with the
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PLL for low short circuit condition, which is not possible with the
existing positive sequence models. However, this model cannot
replace the need for detailed three-phase point-on-wave
simulations in electromagnetic transient type tools which should be
performed using vendor specific detailed models when considering
actual equipment design and site tuning for facilities in low short
circuit regions. This model can only help bridge the gap between
these two simulation platforms.
The subsequent sections will discuss the modifications made to
the state-of-the-art positive sequence converter model to include
the dynamics of the inner current control loop and the PLL. The
validation of the performance of this positive sequence converter
model is carried out by comparison against the performance of a
detailed point-on-wave simulation representation of a converter.
Simulations on various test systems are used to demonstrate the
efficacy of the proposed model.
2 Model description
The improvement in the numerical robustness and performance of
the state-of-the-art converter model is carried out along four steps.
The first step in the model improvement was proposed in [9, 10] to
introduce a voltage source interface positive sequence converter
model as shown in Fig. 1. This model, named as REGC_B, has
been tentatively approved by the Western Electricity Coordinating
Council (WECC) Model Validation Working Group (MVWG) and
presently, individual commercial software vendors (GE-PSLFTM,
Siemens PTI PSS®E, PowerWorld Simulator and Powertech Labs
DSA Tools) are developing a beta version of the model. If all
controllers in the converter are tuned adequately, then, the voltage
source interface of the model will only help ensure numerical
robustness of the positive sequence simulation.
However, to have complete observability of the possible
oscillatory behaviour, the REGC_B model is further modified in
this paper with the proposal of three additional steps. The first
proposed additional step is the introduction of the explicit
representation of the dynamics of the inner current controller loop
as opposed to the present state-of-the-art representation of these
dynamics in REGC_A and REGC_B by simplified first-order time
constants. The representation of these inner current control loops is
based upon the model described in detail in [11]. A generic
proportional–integral controller with a reasonably high gain and
small time constant is used to represent the fast dynamics of the
inner current control loop.
The second proposed additional step is the introduction of an
algebraic network iteration step between subsequent time steps in
order to ensure that the current injection from the voltage source
interface is within the specified current limits. Due to a Norton
equivalent representation of voltage sources in positive sequence
simulation software, and the sequential manner in which
differential and algebraic equations are solved, the current injected
into the network by this Norton equivalent can at times be greater
than the limit specified by the converter control model. In order to
limit the current at every time step, an algebraic manipulation of
the Norton current is carried out at every time step when the
injected current is greater than the limit. The flow chart of this
algebraic manipulation is shown in Fig. 2.
In a low short circuit situation, a high value of gains of a phased
locked loop (a high gain is usually used in applications for high-
short circuit strength points of interconnection in order to ensure a
fast lock onto the grid voltage) can cause converter controllers to
become unstable. The high control gains would push the PLL angle
to change at a fast rate in order to try to synchronise with the grid
voltage angle, but in a low short circuit situation, the slightest
change in injected current can cause a large change in the feedback
voltage. Thus, this feedback loop of a high gain forward path, and a
highly sensitive feedback path can lead to an instability. The
dynamics of the PLL thus play a crucial role in this process. As a
positive sequence simulation is based upon a phasor simulation
approach, traditionally, at every time step of a transient simulation,
the angle of the grid voltage is directly obtained from the algebraic
solution of the network solutions. In doing this, the complete
dynamic characteristics of the PLL are ignored. Thus, to include
IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2020, Vol. 14 Iss. 1, pp. 87-97
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2019
these characteristics, the third proposed additional step introduces
the phased locked loop controller's dynamics as shown in Fig. 3.
Here, V treal, V timag, Ireal and Iimag are the real and imaginary
components of the terminal voltage and injected current obtained
from the algebraic solution of the network solution. While the
individual components introduced in each step are intuitive from
the aspect of a detailed point on wave simulation model of a power
electronic converter, they have not been state of the art for positive
sequence simulation of the bulk power system. Their combined
representation however serves to bridge the gap between the two
simulation platforms without a drastic increase in computation
time. The block digram of the proposed converter model is shown
in Fig. 4.
3 Demonstrating simulation results
Fig. 2 Flowchart for algebraic manipulation of Norton current
Fig. 3 PLL implementation in positive sequence
Fig. 4 Complete block diagram of proposed positive sequence converter model
IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2020, Vol. 14 Iss. 1, pp. 87-97
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2019
The validation of the functionality of this modified model has been
tested across a few different systems. For each system, the
behaviour of this positive sequence model has been compared with
both the behaviour of the same system simulated in positive
sequence with the present state-of-the-art REGC_A model and
simulated in a point on wave simulation software. The point on
wave simulations were conducted in PSCAD® [12], while the
positive sequence simulations were conducted in Siemens PTI
PSS®E [13] and GE-PSLFTM [14] with an integration time step of
1 ms. The modified positive sequence converter model is
implemented with the ‘user written model’ feature of GE-PSLFTM.
Rather than split the results according to the size of the system,
it has been chosen to split the results according to size of the
disturbance. This also aligns with the usual process used to analyse
the robustness of controllers wherein, small-signal disturbances are
89
Table 1 Summary of various simulation tests and systems used to demonstrate the validity of the proposed model
Disturbance Section of System Models compared Reason for comparison
type paper used
small signal 3.1.1 SMIB-1 proposed model Version A
(explicit PLL only) versus
proposed model Version B
(explicit PLL and inner current
loop)
3.1.2 in-service REGC_A versus proposed
solar plant model Version B
large-signal 3.2.1 SMIB-1 REGC_A versus proposed
model Version B
SMIB-2 REGC_A versus proposed
model Version B versus
PSCAD
3.2.2 real system proposed model Version B
versus PSCAD
always analysed before large-signal disturbances. To this end, four
different systems are used with the following reasoning:
• Section 3.1.1 uses a simple single machine infinite bus (SMIB)
setup to lay out the concept of the observed performance. Here,
there is a single resource that is under study and thus, one can be
assured that the response provided by the model is not influenced
by the dynamics of any other elements in the system.
• Section 3.1.2 uses the layout of an actual solar plant to further
investigate small-signal events. The system under study is still a
small system which is connected in manner which is similar to a
single machine infinite bus setup. However, rather than being
single machine, it is a single plant infinite bus setup where the
entire solar plant consists of four aggregated energy resources.
Here, the objective of this section is two-fold:
i. To verify if the small magnitude oscillations observed in reality
through measurements can indeed be replicated by the
proposed model as compared to the existing state-of-the-art
model. Successful replication of these oscillations is in itself an
important result as it serves to highlight the practical use of this
model.
ii. To verify if there would be interactions across the four
aggregated resources within the plant and if the proposed
model would still be numerically robust. Here, the responses
provided by the proposed model are influenced by the
dynamics of adjacent models.
• Section 3.2.1 again uses single machine infinite bus systems. The
first system is the same as used in Section 3.1.1 while the second
system has a more realistic representation of the external system
rather than just a single Thévenin equivalent. This set-up again
allows one to observe the dynamics of the proposed model for
large-signal disturbances but uninfluenced by the dynamics of
other elements.
• Section 3.2.2 uses a portion of the system of an actual North
American utility. The results observed in this section, and its
comparison to detailed electromagnetic results serves to highlight
the practical use of this proposed model.
Thus, for each type of disturbance, first a simple fictitious
system is used to show the behaviour of the individual model on its
90
to convey the importance of including the effects of both the PLL
and the inner current control loop
to show the ability of the
proposed model to provide a picture
of the oscillations observed in measurements.
These could not be shown with the state-of-the-art REGC_A model.
to further highlight the limitation of the existing state-
of-the-art REGC_A model for large-signal disturbances in low short
circuit conditions
and the improvement achieved with the proposed model.
highlight the limitation of the model against detailed
EMT simulations and further demonstrate the improvement from the
proposed model.
validation of the robustness of the proposed model for
large system and simultaneous comparison of the performance
against detailed EMT simulations
own. Then, the setup of a realistic system is used to show the
practical use of this proposed model while also observing the
influence of the dynamics of other elements within close electrical
proximity. Simultaneously, the aim of the realistic system is to
show the capability of the model to depict the behaviour that has
been captured in measurements. A summary of the various tests
and systems used to demonstrate the validity of the proposed
model is tabulated in Table 1.
3.1 Small disturbance simulation
In the power system, a lot of converter–weak grid interactions that
occur can be small-signal interactions. Consider a solar plant
increasing its power output as the solar irradiation increases. If an
unplanned outage occurs during this change, it can cause the
system strength to change at the solar plant's terminals. Due to this
change in system strength, the increase in power output due to
increase in solar irradiation can cause the converter controllers to
exhibit undamped oscillations. To observe the behaviour of the
modified positive sequence model for such a scenario, two system
setups were considered. The first setup is a fictitious system that
was constructed to illustrate the small-signal behaviour, while the
second setup is representative of an actual solar plant.
3.1.1 Synthetic system for small-signal behaviour: A synthetic
single machine infinite bus setup is shown in Fig. 5. The source at
bus 1 was represented by a classical synchronous machine with a
large MVA and large value of inertia constant. The source at bus 2
was represented to be a solar power plant whose electrical controls
were modelled using the state-of-the-art REEC_A model [3].
The modified positive sequence converter model was used as
the converter interface for the solar plant. Cole and Belmans [15]
suggest that the dynamics of the PLL can be ‘neglected in power
system stability studies’ and have accordingly structured their
reduced order models. However, the approximate representation of
the fast dynamics of the inner current control loop and the PLL for
weak-grid (low short circuit strength) connection points can result
in an inaccurate representation of the stability of the resources. To
showcase the importance of the dynamics of the inner current
control loop working in tandem with the PLL, two versions of the
converter interface model were used. In the first version (called
Version A), the inner current control loop was entirely replaced by
IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2020, Vol. 14 Iss. 1, pp. 87-97
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Fig. 5 Synthetic single machine infinite bus setup
Fig. 6 Active power output of converter for an elliptical change in active power reference. The inset shows the observed response when x = 0.01 pu while the
main figure shows the observed response when x = 0.505 pu. Both figures also compare the behaviour of Version A of the proposed model (with inner current
control loop represented only as first-order time constant) against the behaviour of Version B of the proposed model (with explicit representation of the inner
current control loop dynamics)
a first-order time constant (as is in the present state-of-the-art
REGC_A model), but the dynamics of the PLL were represented.
The second version of the model (called Version B) had
representation of the dynamics of both the inner current control
loop and the PLL. The second version of the model is the complete
model with the block diagram shown in Fig. 4. Note that the
algebraic iterations to enforce the current limits at every time step
is incorporated in both versions, since voltage source interfaces are
used. In both versions of the model, the PLL control parameters
were KPLLi = 1500 and KPLLp = 20.0. In the Version B of the
model, the inner current control loop parameters were KIp = 5.0
and KIi = 70.0 while in Version A of the model, the time constant
that represented the characteristics of the inner current control loop
was set to a value of 0.07 s.
In order to represent the increase in solar irradiation through the
day, an elliptical change in active power reference command was
played into the REEC_A model. The performance of the model to
two different system short circuit strength scenarios was analysed.
The short circuit capacity at the terminal of the solar plant was
varied by changing the reactance X of the transmission line
highlighted in Fig. 5. A high short circuit rating was represented
with a value of 0.01 pu while a low short circuit ratio was
represented with a value of 0.505 pu. The active power output of
the converter for both the low short circuit and the high short
circuit scenario is shown in Fig. 6 for the elliptical change in power
reference command.
It can be seen for the low short circuit scenario, as the active
power output increases, the dynamics of the inner current control
loop and the PLL give rise to growing oscillations which
subsequently get damped out as the active power output reduces.
However, these oscillations are not visible in Version A of the
model when the inner current control loop is replaced by the single
first-order time constant. The observed oscillations are not
‘electromechanical’ even though they have an oscillatory
frequency of around 5 Hz. The oscillations here are purely
electrical and are driven by a combination of four factors:
i. The presence of the inner-current control loop and its
interaction with the dynamics of the PLL as shown by the
difference in results between Version A and Version B of the
IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2020, Vol. 14 Iss. 1, pp. 87-97
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2019
model. It goes without saying that the presence of the inner
current control loop does not contribute to the oscillation by
itself, but rather how it is tuned (values of the control gains)
and the system strength.
ii. The presence of the PLL and the gain settings of the PLL.
iii. The system short-circuit strength as seen by the comparison of
results when the value of x = 0.01 pu as compared to when the
value of x = 0.505 pu.
iv. The system loading which relates to the operation point.
Furthermore, the presence of the oscillations is influenced by
the initial power output of the plant. To show the impact of the
initial conditions and also provide a further insight into the impact
of short circuit strength at the point of interconnection, the
behaviour of the converter resource for a 5 MW step change in
power command (both in the positive and negative direction) is
shown in Figs. 7 and 8 for an operating point of 90 and 100 MW
respectively. Only the Version B of proposed model which has
explicit representation of both the inner current control loops and
the phase locked loop is used in these results.
From these results, the role played by the initial operating
condition and the direction of change in the power reference
command can be observed. In a high short circuit scenario
(x = 0.01 pu), there are no oscillations observed. In a low short
circuit scenario (x = 0.505 pu), the oscillatory mode is excited after
the active power output reaches around 95 MW. However, for the
downward change in step reference (from 95 to 90 MW), the
presence of positive damping can be seen, because the downward
change returns the plants back below the loading level where
oscillations start. However, with an initial operating point of 100 
MW, the oscillations are present for both an upward and downward
step, since the plant is already above the power level (95 MW)
where oscillations start.
This behaviour can be used to explain the presence of
oscillations in Fig. 6 only during the downward change in active
power reference. This is because the oscillations only start once
power has exceeded 95 MW, and this happens only around the peak
of the curve in Fig. 6. Thus, the oscillations start near the peak and
are observable on the way down, until the damping becomes
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Fig. 7 Active power output of the converter for step changes in power reference with operating point of 90 MW. The blue curve is the output observed of the
proposed model with x = 0.01 pu while the red curve is the output observed with x = 0.505 pu

Fig. 8 Active power output of the converter for step changes in power reference with operating point of 100 MW. The blue curve is the output observed of the
proposed model with x = 0.01 pu while the red curve is the output observed with x = 0.505 pu

Fig. 9 Small-signal oscillations observed at solar plant [16]

positive once we move below 95 MW and thus eventually damp
out completely.
Such small-signal oscillations are however not an artefact of
simulation as they have also been observed in the output of actual
converter plants. The next system setup looks into the ability of the
modified positive sequence model to represent the oscillatory
behaviour observed at a solar plant.
3.1.2 In-service solar plant: Recently, an in-frequent small-signal
stability issue, shown in Fig. 9, was observed from measurement
data collected near the terminals of a 500 MW solar plant [16]. An
in-depth analysis into the cause of the oscillations revealed that the
fast controllers of the converters in the plant were reacting to the
change in output active power level. Additionally, from
information obtained from the transmission system operator, it was
inferred that on that given day, the converter plant was connected
to a relatively lower short circuit network. While the converter
controllers in the plant have since been re-tuned, the present state-
of-the-art positive sequence generic models supplied to the
transmission system operator were unable to predict this oscillatory
behaviour as the dynamics of the fast controller loops were not
represented.
The layout of the solar plant, with respect to the bulk power
system is shown in Fig. 10. To model and simulate the same
approximate operating condition shown in Fig. 9, the active power
generation level of the two large solar sources were reduced to 200
and 190 MW, respectively. For this plant, the generic state-of-the-
art dynamic models supplied to the transmission operator
comprised of the REGC_A converter interface model, REEC_B
electrical control model and the REPC_A plant controller model.
The REGC_A model was replaced with the proposed converter
model to validate the effectiveness of the proposed model. The
electrical controller and plant controller models were retained. As
in the synthetic system, an elliptical change in active power
reference of the REPC_A model was imposed for varying values of
the grid tie impedance. The phase locked loop control parameters
were KPLLi = 2000 and KPLLp = 20.0 and the inner current control
loop parameters were KIp = 5.0 and KIi = 70.0. It must be noted
that these parameters values are not necessarily the actual control
gains of the converters in the plant, but are instead representative
generic values. With the original value of the grid tie impedance
(high short circuit), Fig. 11 shows the active power output of one of
the large generators of the plant.
The blue curve represents the output from the state-of-the-art
REGC_A model while the red curve is the output from the
proposed new converter model. It can be seen that for a strong
connection, i.e. high short circuit, the state-of-the-art converter
models are a good approximation of the fast dynamics of the inner
current controller and PLL, and there is no significant difference
between the outputs from the two converter models. However, as

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Fig. 10 Layout of solar plant

Fig. 11 Active power output of solar plant with original grid tie impedance. The blue curve is the output observed while using the state-of-the-art REGC_A
model while the red curve is the output observed with the proposed model

Fig. 12 Active power output of solar plant with low short circuit grid tie impedance. The blue curve is the output observed while using the state-of-the-art
REGC_A model while the red curve is the output observed with the proposed model

frequency that are very much similar to the oscillations observed in

the measurement data shown in Fig. 9. These oscillations can
subsequently be damped by re-tuning the phase locked loop gains.
With a lower value of PLL integral gain, the active power output of
both converter models is shown in Fig. 13 for the same low short
circuit scenario. The results in these two sections serve to validate
the small-signal behaviour of the modified positive sequence
converter model, while also showcasing its importance to a system
planner/operator (Fig. 14).

3.2 Large-signal stability

Fig. 13 Active power output of solar plant with low short circuit grid tie
The fast PLL and inner current controllers of a converter interfaced
impedance and low PLL gain. The blue curve is the output observed while
generation plant are also susceptible to large-signal instability
using the state-of-the-art REGC_A model while the red curve is the output
under low short circuit conditions. The instability usually occurs
observed with the proposed model
upon clearance of the fault and is related to the angular
displacement of the converter currents with respect to the large
the short circuit strength of the grid connection reduces, a
power system. These large-signal oscillations have been observed
significant difference is observed between the outputs of the two
in measurement data [17] and traditionally require point on wave
models as shown in Fig. 12. The short circuit strength of the grid
electromagnetic detail simulations in order to observe and mitigate
tie was reduced by increasing the reactance to 0.065 pu. With the
the phenomena [6, 18, 19]. However, as these oscillations are a
same fast controllers, the proposed positive sequence converter
manifestation of the fast converter controllers, the ability of the
model is able to show small-signal oscillations of around 9 Hz in
modified positive sequence model to capture these oscillations has
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© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2019
Fig. 14 Active power output of the converter for a bolted three phase fault on single machine infinite bus system. The blue curve is the output of the proposed
model observed with x = 0.01 pu, the red curve is the output of the proposed model observed with x = 0.505 pu, the green curve is the output of the state-of-
the-art REGC_A model observed with x = 0.505 pu
Fig. 15 One line diagram of the synthetic system
to also be evaluated. Two system setups are again chosen for this
exercise. The first setup is a fictitious system, while the second
setup is representative of a portion of a utility's bulk power system.
3.2.1 Synthetic system for large-signal behaviour: Two
synthetic systems have been used to observe the performance of
the model to large-signal disturbances. The first system studied is
the same single machine infinite bus system used in Section 3.1.1.
Three scenarios were analysed as described below:
i. With x = 0.01 pu, the application of a 6 cycle bolted three-
phase fault on bus 2 using the proposed model. The response is
shown by the blue curve.
ii. With x = 0.505 pu, the application of a 6 cycle bolted three-
phase fault on bus 2 using the proposed model. The response is
shown by the red curve.
iii. With x = 0.505 pu, the application of a 6 cycle bolted three-
phase fault on bus 2 using the state-of-the-art REGC_A model.
The response is shown by the green curve.
With a high short circuit strength, the system is able to ride
through a three-phase fault in a stable manner. However, with a
low short circuit strength, the existing state-of-the-art REGC_A
model shows that the response would be stable while the proposed
new model shows the possibility of oscillatory instability. This type
of oscillatory instability has been observed even in field
measurements. Thus, a model such as that proposed here might
offer a means to further investigate such possibilities.
94
A more detailed analysis is carried out with another fictitious
test system shown by the one-line diagram in Fig. 15.
The source at bus 2 (at the right side of the diagram) was
represented by a classical machine with an MVA of 1000.0, inertia
of 5.0 s and D = 1.5. For comparison of the behaviour of the
proposed model against existing state-of-the-art models, the source
at bus 9 (left side of the diagram) was represented by different
converter interface models, along with the generic REEC_A model
in voltage control mode. The impedance of the source at bus 2 was
used to vary the short circuit strength of the system with
X′′ = 0.0025 pu representing a high short circuit system and
X′′ = 3.0 pu representing a low short circuit system.
From a PSCAD® simulation, the response of the converter
energy source for a 12 cycle three phase fault at bus 1 is shown in
Figs. 16 and 17 for both the high and low short circuit case,
respectively, while Table 2 elaborates on the description of the
legend in the plot. The representation of the model in PSCAD® is
the same representation as used in [2]. A three phase average
model of the converter has been used with explicit representation
of all grid side converter control loops. It can clearly be seen that
the present state-of-the-art positive sequence current source
converter model (i.e. REGC_A) is unable to represent the
oscillatory behaviour observed in the point on wave simulation for
a low short circuit scenario. With the proposed modified positive
sequence model, for the same location and duration of the fault,
Figs. 18 and 19 show the performance of the model for high and
low short circuit, respectively. In this model and for this system,
re = 0.0025 pu, xe = 0.1 pu, Imax = 1.2 pu, KIp = 5.0, KIi = 60.0,
IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2020, Vol. 14 Iss. 1, pp. 87-97
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2019
 capacitances. In contrast, in the positive sequence simulation, the
network is modelled as an algebraic representation of the
fundamental frequency impedance.

3.2.2 Portion of a large utility system: This system is a portion

of the network in a real transmission footprint, with the addition of
several hypothetical renewable energy resources that are in the
interconnection queue. The system has 119 buses, 3 equivalent
sources (representing external system outside the studied area) and
9 renewable power plants. All the renewable power plants are
modelled as Type 4 WTGs in voltage control mode with reactive
power priority during low voltage ride through conditions. Total
renewable generation is 665 MW (total capacity 894 MVA) with
393 MW transferred to the equivalent sources.
In positive sequence, all nine renewable energy sources were
modelled with the proposed modified converter model and the
REEC_A electrical control model in local voltage control mode.
The proportional and integral controller gains for the voltage
Fig. 16 Electromagnetic response of converter plant to a 12 cycle three controller were set as 0.0 and 120.0, respectively. In the proposed
phase fault for high short circuit levels modified converter model, re = 0.0015 pu, xe = 0.15 pu, Imax = 1.1 
pu, KI p = 6.0, KIi = 70.0, KPLLp = 60.0 and KPLLi = 1400.0. The
limits of the PLL (Δωmax and Δωmin) were set at 12 Hz. In point on
wave electromagnetic simulations, the renewable sources were
modelled with the generic converter controller models, but with
inclusion of the fast PLL and inner current control loop.
These fast control loops can withstand a finite duration of fault
at the point of interconnection of the converter plant before going
unstable. Thus, knowledge of the maximum finite duration is
important for a transmission planner to coordinate protection
settings on the transmission system around the point of
interconnection of the converter plant. The ‘critical clearing time’
from both point on wave PSCAD® and positive sequence GE-
PSLFTM simulations were obtained by sequential application of a
three phase bolted fault at the point of interconnection on each
converter plant, until the PLL lost synchronism. By losing
synchronism, the PLL is unable to lock onto the grid angle and
undergoes at least a full 360° rotation before locking onto the
angle. This however causes large transients in the active power,
with the converter consuming active power. In determining this
Fig. 17 Electromagnetic response of converter plant to a 12 cycle three critical clearing time, the aim is to prevent the PLL angle from
phase fault for low short circuit levels losing synchronism with the grid. The critical clearing times
obtained from both positive sequence and point on wave
Table 2 Description of legend for Figs. 16 and 17 simulations are tabulated in Table 3.
Legend Description Modelling details Here, Group 1 and Group 2 are a set of wind turbines that are
colour electrically close to each other, and thus, behave in a coherent
blue generic type 4 wind positive state-of-the-art model manner. The wind turbines numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4 form Group 1,
sequence model while the turbines numbered 7 and 8 form Group B. For these
(REGC_A, REEC_A) in
groups of turbines, the critical clearing time was evaluated by
applying the fault at the coupling bus of these turbines. It can be
Siemens PTI PSS® E seen that the critical clearing time obtained from the modified
green generic type 4 wind model addition of fast inner positive sequence model is very close to that obtained from the
(REGC_A, REEC_A) controllers and point on wave simulation.
in PSCAD® PLL to generic model For one particular wind turbine, WTG 5, the frequency and
red full type 4 wind converter inclusion of dc bus, angle from the PLL from both the positive sequence simulation and
model in PSCAD® rectifier and the point on wave simulation is shown in Fig. 20 when the fault is
cleared 1/8th cycle before the critical clearing time, and in Fig. 21
induction machine
when the fault is cleared 1/8th cycle after the critical clearing time.
dynamics
It can be seen that the fast control loops in the modified positive
sequence model are able to represent the transient behaviour seen
from the detailed point on wave simulations for both the stable and
KPLLp = 40.0 and KPLLi = 3500.0. The limits of the PLL (Δωmax unstable scenario. The active power, reactive power and terminal
and Δωmin) were set at 12 Hz. Additionally, due to the presence of voltage magnitude of the converter resource for both these fault
these fast control loops, the simulation had to be run at a time step clearing times are shown in Figs. 22 and 23.
of 1 ms as opposed to the conventional 4 ms time step. It can be Further sensitivity studies were carried out to obtain the critical
seen that this modified positive sequence model is able to provide clearing time for variation in the controller values of inner current
observability into the oscillatory behaviour that converter control loop and the PLL. The variations were carried out both in
interfaced plants are susceptible to when interfaced to low short point on wave and positive sequence simulations, and angle output
circuit conditions. However, the values of the control gains in the of the PLL is compared across these two simulation platforms in
fast inner current control loops and PLL of the positive sequence Figs. 24 and 25 for WTG 5. The results in this section have thus
model do not directly translate from the point on wave simulation served to increase confidence in the proposed modified positive
model. This is although to be expected as the point on wave sequence converter model and its ability to allow a transmission
simulation has a much smaller time step of integration, while also planner to have observability into the possible oscillatory issues
modelling the network components as inductances and
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© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2019
 Fig. 20 Frequency and angle of PLL of WTG 5 from positive sequence
and point on wave simulation when fault is cleared 1/8th cycle before
critical clearing time

Fig. 18 Positive sequence response of converter plant to a 12 cycle three

phase fault for high short circuit levels

Fig. 21 Frequency and angle of PLL of WTG 5 from positive sequence

and point on wave simulation when fault is cleared 1/8th cycle after critical
clearing time

Fig. 19 Positive sequence response of converter plant to a 12 cycle three

phase fault for low short circuit levels

Table 3 Critical clearing time compared across positive

sequence and point on wave simulations
WTG GE-PSLFTM Critical PSCAD® Critical clearing Fig. 22 Active, reactive power and terminal voltage magnitude of WTG 5
clearing
from positive sequence and point on wave simulation when fault is cleared
time (cycles of 60 Hz) time (cycles of 60 Hz) 1/8th cycle before critical clearing time
WTG 9 4.65 3.77
WTG 5 6.95 6.65 ideal current source can experience instability as a small change in
WTG 6 6.45 6.79 the injected current can have a large effect on the voltage
group 2 7.05 7.32 magnitude and angle. The PLL would then try to quickly track this
group 1 7.05 7.47 large change in the angle and in doing so, during the transient,
could provide an erroneous value of angle to the inner current
controller. This could then result in current being injected at the
wrong phase which could further cause the voltage magnitude and
that may arise from converter interfaced generation under low short
angle to change and lead to instability as shown by the results.
circuit conditions.
Stabilisation of the system can be achieved by slowing down the
Observability of the dynamics of the PLL and the inner current
controllers but it could result in degradation of the performance
control loop are crucial when viewed from the perspective that at
and has to be evaluated on a case by case basis. Other approaches
present, in a bulk power system connected inverter based resource,
may also be available for stabilising and optimising these control
the current output of the voltage source converter is strictly
loops, which are used in commercial equipment.
controlled to meet its reference values and thus the bulk power
system perceives these sources to be as current sources. This strict
and near rigid control on current is primarily brought upon by the 4 Conclusion
inner current control loop, with the reference phasor generated by In this paper, modifications to the generic positive sequence
the PLL. The PLL aims to track the network voltage angle quickly converter model have been proposed. These include representation
to minimise the transient in the current output. The inner current of the dynamics of the faster inner current control loops and the
controller uses this value of the angle to ensure that the power and PLL. The explicit inclusion of the dynamics of these control loops,
voltage objectives are met. Simultaneously, the inner current along with a slightly smaller time step of integration allows for
controller also ensures that the magnitude of current is within its observability on the oscillatory behaviour of the converter
limits. When connected to a bus with a low short circuit capacity interfaced resource in low short circuit systems. The performance
(large impedance), a source behaving in a manner similar to an of this mathematical model has been successfully validated by
96 IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2020, Vol. 14 Iss. 1, pp. 87-97
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2019

Fig. 23 Active, reactive power and terminal voltage magnitude of WTG 5
from positive sequence and point on wave simulation when fault is cleared
1/8th cycle after critical clearing time
Fig. 24 Comparison of angle output of the PLL of WTG 5 for the stable
scenario across positive sequence and point on wave simulation platforms,
and variation of control gains
Fig. 25 Comparison of angle output of the PLL of WTG 5 for the unstable
scenario across positive sequence and point on wave simulation platforms,
and variation of control gains
comparison with the performance of a detailed converter control
system in an electromagnetic time-domain simulation.
However, it must be mentioned that this model does not intend
to replace the importance and necessity of detailed point on wave
simulations. Positive sequence simulation tools and models, while
being an advantageous and convenient platform to simulate the
bulk power system, still have many limitations. The behaviour of
converter interfaced generation under every and all circumstances
can only be gleaned from detailed point on wave simulations.
However, there is a significant burden involved in running a point
on wave simulation, and thus, engineering judgment has to be used
in deciding the simulation platform for a particular study.
Unfortunately, industry wide there is no simple answer as of yet to
evaluate the exact scenario or location at which a detailed
simulation study has to be conducted. The proposed positive
sequence model described in this paper serves to bridge the gap
IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2020, Vol. 14 Iss. 1, pp. 87-97
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2019
between positive sequence simulation platforms and point on wave
simulation platforms and would now provide a system planner with
an intermediate step to help further screen locations where a
detailed electromagnetic simulation would be required. The model
does require a smaller than typical integration time step to be used
due to the faster dynamics of the inner-current control loops. This
will somewhat reduce the simulation speed for large system
simulations. However, we suspect that this factor alone may not be
a significant barrier for the use of the model, since some other
models (e.g. two-cage induction motor models, some HVDC
models etc.) also use similarly smaller integration time steps within
the model itself, and are still used in large system simulations.
Furthermore, this model need not necessarily be used for every
inverter-based generator, but can be used only for those generators
located in weak parts of the system. Efficient identification of the
locations of these generators is a topic of future research.
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