Model-free control for frequency response support in microgrids utilizing wind turbines.

• Novel model free control (MFC) strategy to support frequency response in microgrids. • MFC: Computationally efficient control strategy without complex modeling procedure. • Straightforward tuning method for control parameters with the closed-form expression. • Guaranteed asymptotic stability of MFC for single-input and single-output systems. • Applicability and practical value of MFC for multi-input and multi-output systems. Islanded microgrids integrated with renewable energy resources bring additional challenges to the primary frequency control due to their power-electronic interfaced generations. Developing an efficient control strategy for inertia emulation and frequency response support of microgrids is becoming an important issue. Wind turbine dynamics, however, will degrade the emulated inertial and primary responses with most traditional control strategies. On the other hand, compensation methods often require the knowledge of system models at the design stage and state estimation for feedback once deployed online. To overcome these challenges, this paper explores a model-free control (MFC) strategy to emulate the desired inertia and support the frequency response of a diesel-wind microgrid system. The proposed MFC strategy utilizes a model reference concept to obtain guaranteed inertial response and improve the frequency response of microgrids. This work considers different control strategies with different operating points. The proposed controller is implemented and verified using the modified 33-bus full nonlinear model of the three-phase diesel-wind system in Simulink. Simulation results demonstrate the improved frequency response by precisely emulating the desired inertia using the MFC strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]