Power Flow Control of a Distributed Generation
Unit in Micro-grid
Yong Xue1, Jiamei Deng2, and Shuangbao Ma3
1, 3 College of Electronic Information Engineering, Wuhan University of Science and Engineering, 430073, P. R. China
2 Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering, Loughborough University, UK
Abstract-Distributed generation units in micro-grid can be
connected to utility grid as alternative energy sources besides
providing power to their local loads. The distributed generation
units are interfaced with utility grid using inverter. With inverter
control, both active and reactive power pumped into the utility
grid from the distributed generation units can be controlled.
Reactive power ow control allows the distributed generation units
to be used as static var compensation units besides energy sources.
This paper has presented a power ow control approach for a DG
unit in micro-grid. The proposed approach achieves decoupled P
and Q control under grid-connected mode, an integral approach to
conduct the power ow control has been developed to control P by
adjusting the power angle and control Q by adjusting the filter
capacitor voltage. This paper has described control system
algorithm for the proposed power controller. Simulation and
experiment results have demonstrated strong P and Q regulation
capability, fast enough response, and purely sinusoidal line
current.
I. INTRODUCTION
Power quality, safety and environmental concerns and
commercial incentives are making alternative energy sources,
e.g., photovoltaic devices, wind power, fuel cells, and gas-red
micro-turbines, more desirable. Micro-grid is comprised of
several alternative energy sources. They are connected in
addition to the main power grid and are placed on the site that is
to use for the local load. That is it is connected to the low voltage
distribution network through power electronics. Micro-grid is
being applied and focused increasingly due to the fact that
conventional electric power systems are being more and more
stressed by expanding power demand, limit of power delivery
capability, complications in building new transmission lines,
and blackouts. A distributed generation (DG) unit in micro-grid
is important element to maintain the balance between load and
generated power, and to guarantee the quality of supply on an
acceptable level. Developments in power electronics and digital
control technology are providing more possibility and better
exibility of using these new sources in conventional electric
power systems, to not only increase electric energy production
but also help to enhance the power system stability via power
ow control.
Previous research results have shown that DG could have
signicant impacts on transmission system stability at heavy
嘋,((( 2122
penetration levels [1], where penetration is dened as the
percentage of DG power in total load power in the system. A DG
unit affects the system stability by generating or consuming
active and reactive power. Therefore, power control
performance of the DG unit determines its impact on the utility
grid it connects to. If the power control performance is good, the
DG unit can be used as means to enhance the system stability
and improve power quality; otherwise it could undermine the
system stability.
Control issues of the DG unit in micro-grid have been
addressed by a number of researches. Some past researches on
line interactive inverters [2]–[6] only concentrate on current
waveform control where power control is not considered.
Although current waveform control is one of the goals of the
inverter control, power control performance must be addressed
before it can be practically connected to any power system.
Liang et al. [7] have presented a power control method for a
grid-connected voltage source inverter which achieves good P Q
decoupling and fast power response. However, this approach
requires knowledge of the value of power system equivalent
impedance, which is impractical. Even though the possible error
in the power factor angle of the impedance has been considered,
it is the magnitude of the impedance that truly causes the
sensitivity of P and Q responses, which is however not
addressed. Therefore, the effectiveness of the control approach
claimed in [7] is undermined.
II. THE POWER FLOW CONTROL SYSTEM
The proposed control solution is developed for a DG unit in
micro-grid under grid-connected mode shown in Fig. 1. The DG
unit consists of a DC bus powered by any DC source or AC
source with a rectier, a voltage source inverter, an LCL lter
stage, a isolation transformer with secondary side ltering. The
utility protection switch Su is governed by a local utility, while
the inverter interactive switch Si is governed by the the DG unit.
When the grid power is normal, the utility protection switch Su
and the inverter interactive switch Si are all in ON state. The
utility grid is modeled as an equivalent three-phase AC source
with an equivalent internal impedance.
Under grid-connected mode, the DG unit conducts power
control, where the output active power P and reactive power Q
from the DG unit to the utility grid should be regulated to
desired values Pref and Qref . Both Pref and Qref can be positive
,3(0&

T1 T3
D1 D3
DC
C Load
Vdc
T2 T4
D2 D4
Fig. 1. Single-phase grid-connected DG unit
or negative, which provides possibility for the DG unit to help
with the energy production and stability enhancement of the
power system or sustain power supply to local load when it
exceeds the capacity of the DG. The control goal of power
regulation is stability, low static error, and fast response.
Since the DG unit uses a voltage source inverter, its output
active and reactive power are determined by the unit’s output
voltage, including magnitude and phase angle, as stated in
P = Vs (Vcf sin δ / X ) (1)
Q = (Vcf2 − Vcf Vs cos δ ) / X (2)
where Vs is the equivalent main voltage, X is the equivalent line
reactance where the resistance is ignored, and  is the power
angle - the phase angle difference between phase angle
associated Vs and phase angle associated Vcf.
Since the DG unit output voltage control already exists, the
task of the power controller is to generate voltage command for
the voltage controller based on the desired power values Pref
and Qref and actual values P and Q.
It is apparent that the desired DG output voltage V and the
power angle  can be calculated from (1) and (2) given desired P
and Q values and system parameter X. If this is true, the power
control problem is solved. However, in practical systems, the
above approach is not feasible. A large capacity power system is
assumed in this research, where the value of X must be small.
Practically, the value of X cannot be precisely known and may
change due to the operation of the power system. Once an
inaccurate value of X is used in the control, the error of X will
lead to poor tracking and even instability. Therefore, power
control solutions requiring knowledge of X cannot be practically
used.
It can be observed from (1) and (2) that both P and Q will be
affected by only adjusting one of V and ¥, which is so called
coupling between P and Q. However, variations of V and  have
different levels of impact on P and Q as described in the
following partial derivatives
∂P / ∂δ = Vs (Vcf cos δ / X ) (3)
∂P / ∂Vcf = Vs (sin δ / X ) (4)
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Lf Lg Si Su
Io
Cf Emer-
Vcf gency Vs AC Vs
1:1
∂Q / ∂δ = (Vcf Vs sin δ ) / X (5)
∂Q / ∂Vcf = (2Vcf − Vs cos δ ) / X (6)
When δ is small which is true for large capacity power
systems, ∂P / ∂δ is close to Vs (Vcf / X ) and ∂P / ∂Vcf is
close to 0 and reversely, ∂Q / ∂δ is close to 0 and ∂Q / ∂Vcf is
close to (2Vcf − Vs ) / X .
This fact indicates that P is more sensitive to  and Q is more
sensitive to Vcf especially when the DG unit is connected to a
large capacity system where the power angle  is usually small.
The different levels of sensitivity of P and Q to  and Vcf
provide a chance to control P and Q relatively independently,
not completely independently though.
Based on the above analysis, an integral approach to conduct
the power ow control can be developed to control P by
adjusting  and control Q by adjusting Vcf. If the phase angle
associated to the system voltage Vs is assumed to be 0,  is the
phase angle associated to Vcf. The voltage and phase angle
references can be generated as
δ ref = δ 0 + ³ K p ( Pref − P)dt (7)
Vref = V0 + ³ K q (Qref − Q)dt (8)
where δ 0 and V0 are the initial voltage and phase angle at the
moment that the DG unit is connected to the grid from island
running mode.
The proposed power controller is illustrated in Fig. 2. The P
and Q control loop regulate active power and reactive power
slowly in the frequency domain, while the voltage control loop
controls the filter capacitor voltage in the time domain. In Fig. 2
δ s is the phase angle associated to the system voltage Vs, it is
generated by a PLL (phase-locked loop) circuit. The resultant
phase angle summation ( δ ref + δ s ) is sent to the augment for a
sine function.
In the proposed power regulation approach, P and Q controls
are decoupled under steady state due to the integration of the
errors. However, in the transient, the P and Q coupling cannot be
eliminated. Both P and Q are nonlinear function of Vcf and .
Due to the coupling and nonlinearity, the stability of the power
control must be investigated.
 Fig. 2. Control system block diagram for the proposed power controller
.
δ = K p ( Pref − VsVcf δ / X ) (9)
4000 .
P(t)
Q(t)
V cf = K q (Qref − Vcf (Vcf − Vs ) / X ) (10)
3000
The stability of the power loop can be evaluated using
2000
Lyapunov’s direct method where there is no external excitation,
1000 i.e., Pref= 0 and Qref= 0.
P&Q(W/Var)

A Lyapunov function can be defined as

0
1 1
ξ (Vcf , δ ) = (Vcf − Vs ) 2 + δ 2 (11)
-1000 2 2
-2000
The derivative of the above function is
. . .
-3000
ξ (Vcf , δ ) = Vcf䯴 Vcf − Vs ) + δ δ
-4000 = − K qVcf䯴 Vcf − Vs ) 2 / X − K p δ 2Vcf Vs / X (12)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Time(s)
•
From (12), it can be observed that ξ (Vcf , δ ) < 0 holds when
Fig. 3. Simulation waveforms for P, Q regulation (Vcf-Vs) ≠ 0 and  ≠ 0 , given positive values of
K p , K q , Vcf , Vs and X. therefore the proposed power control
loop is stable.
3500

III. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENT RESULTS

3000
Simulations have been run on a 5kVA DG unit with a
topology shown in Fig. 1 connected to a 220V line-to-neutral
2500
power system with an equivalent reactance 1.
Under grid-connected mode, P and Q output to the utility grid
P(W)

2000
need to be controlled for system stabilizing, compensation, or
handling local load disturbances. Fig. 3 illustrates the P and Q
1500
regulation under various step references. It can be observed
from Fig. 3 that the settling time is about 0.5 sec. for P response
1000
and 0.2 sec. Even though some minor coupling between P and Q
is seen in the transients, the steady state decoupling is achieved
500
2 3 4 5
Time(s)
6 7 8 with the control.
To verify proposed power ow control of a DG unit, an
experimental inverter system has been established as shown in
Fig. 4. Experimental waveforms for P regulation Fig. 1. The control algorithm for the experimental system is
implemented fully digitally as shown in Fig. 2. The rated input
Assuming large capacity power system with small power line-line voltage from the solar-cell array is 280V. The output of
angle , it is reasonable to have sin δ ≈ δ and cos δ ≈ 1 , the inverter is connected to the grid and emergency load. The
Equation (7) and (8) can be rewritten in differential format normal grid voltage is 220V and grid frequency is 50Hz. The

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switching frequency is 20KHz. The rated output power is 5KW.
Fig. 4 shows the experimental waveforms for P regulation.

IV. CONCLUSION
This paper has presented a power ow control approach for a
DG unit in micro-grid. The proposed approach achieves
decoupled P and Q control under grid-connected mode.
Simulation and experiment results have demonstrated strong P
and Q regulation capability, fast enough response, and purely
sinusoidal line current. The stability of the power control loop is
proved using Lyapunov direct method.

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