Universal dual-port grid-forming control: bridging the gap between grid-forming and grid-following control

Abstract: We analyze a dual-port grid-forming (GFM) control for power systems containing ac and dc transmission, converter-interfaced generation and energy storage, and legacy generation. To operate such a system and provide standard services, state-of-the-art control architectures i) require assigning grid-following (GFL) and GFM controls to different converters, and ii) result in highly complex system dynamics. In contrast, dual-port GFM control (i) subsumes common functions of GFM and GFL controls in a simple controller, ii) can be applied to a wide range of emerging technologies independently of the network configuration, and iii) significantly reduces system complexity. In this work, we provide i) an end-to-end modeling framework that allows to model complex topologies through composition of reduced-order device models, ii) an in-depth discussion of universal dual-port GFM control for emerging power systems, and iii) end-to-end stability conditions that cover a wide range of network topologies, emerging technologies, and legacy technologies. Finally, we validate our findings in detailed case studies.