Modelling of AC/DC Interactions of Converter-Interfaced Resources for Harmonic Power-Flow Studies in Microgrids

Abstract: Power distribution systems experience a large-scale integration of Converter-Interfaced Distributed Energy Resources (CIDERs). As acknowledged by recent literature, the interaction of individual CIDER components and different CIDERs through the grid can lead to undesirable amplification of harmonic frequencies and, ultimately, compromise the distribution system stability. In this context, the interaction of the DC and AC sides of CIDERs has been shown to have a significant impact. In order to analyze and support the mitigation of such phenomena, the authors of this paper recently proposed a Harmonic Power-Flow (HPF) framework for polyphase grids with a high share of CIDERs. The framework considers the coupling between harmonics, but ignores the DC-side response of the CIDERs. Modelling the DC side and AC/DC converter introduces a nonlinearity into the CIDER model that needs to be approximated for the numerical solution of the HPF. This paper extends the CIDER model and HPF framework to address this aspect, whose inclusion is non-trivial. The extended HPF method is applied to a modified version of the CIGRE low-voltage benchmark microgrid. The results are compared to (i) time-domain simulations with Simulink, (ii) the predecessor of the extended HPF which neglects the DC side, and (iii) a classical decoupled HPF.