Impact on transient stability of self-synchronisation control strategies in grid-forming power converters

R. Ávila-Martínez, X. Guillaud, J. Renedo, L. Rouco, A. García-Cerrada, L. Sigrist

International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems Vol. 174, pp. 111540

Summary:

Grid-forming voltage source converters (GFM-VSCs) are emerging as a solution for integrating renewable energy resources (RERs) into power systems. GFM-VSCs need a self-synchronisation strategy to ensure that all converters and generators in the power system are in synchronism and they reach the same frequency in steady state. The self-synchronisation strategy in GFM-VSC that has received most attention in previous research is virtual synchronous machine (VSM) control. However, there has to date been no systematic study of the effects on transient stability of different variants of this strategy. This paper analyses and compares transient stability of four self-synchronisation strategies for GFM-VSCs: VSM without phase-locked loop (PLL), VSM with PLL, VSM without PLL using wash-out filter and integral-proportional (IP) controller. The paper also analyses two different methods that can be applied to GFM-VSC self-synchronisation strategies to improve transient stability: the concept of virtual unsaturated active-power controller (VAPC), proposed in previous work, and an algorithm for frequency limitation in the GFM-VSCs, which is proposed in this paper.

Spanish layman's summary:

Este estudio analiza varias estrategias de autosincronización en sistemas de potencia con generación 100% basada en convertidores grid forming (GFM VSC), demostrando que, combinadas con algoritmos de limitación de frecuencia y control de potencia activa virtual, mejoran la estabilidad transitoria.

English layman's summary:

This paper analyses several self synchronisation control strategies for 100% grid forming (GFM) VSC based power systems. Simulations show that VSM control variants, enhanced with frequency limit algorithms and virtual active power control, improve the transient stability.

Keywords: Voltage source converter; VSC; Grid forming; Transient stability; Frequency limiter controller

JCR-JIF Impact Factor and WoS quartile: 5,300 - Q1 (2025)

DOI reference: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijepes.2025.111540

Published on paper: January 2026.

Published on-line: January 2026.

Citation:
R. Ávila-Martínez, X. Guillaud, J. Renedo, L. Rouco, A. García-Cerrada, L. Sigrist, "Impact on transient stability of self-synchronisation control strategies in grid-forming power converters", International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems, Vol. 174, pp. 111540, January 2026. [Online: January 2026] doi: 10.1016/j.ijepes.2025.111540