1

Simulation and Analysis of Different Droop

Control Strategies for Microgrid Application
using Matlab/Simulink
SHAHID JAMAN, EMMC STEPS Student

Abstract—the main focus of this report is to simulation and

analysis of different droop control techniques for microgrid
application. There are four control techniques have studied in this
report such as grid forming, grid feeding, grid supporting based
on grid forming and based on grid feeding. All these control
automatically compensate according to the need. Mathematical
calculation and all simulation result have been presented in this
report.

Index Terms—Droop control, Grid-forming, grid-feeding,

grid-forming, grid-supporting, microgrid.

I. INTRODUCTION
Fig.01: Simulink model of a Microgrid with single converter and virtual grid.
Recently, small-scale microgrid technology with distributed
power generation system combined with power electronic This report has organized as follows, Grid Forming control is
system is the source of future network technologies. An discussed in section II, Grid Feeding control strategy is
efficient microgrid has to ensure the stable operation during presented in section III, Droop control basic in section IV, Grid
faults and various network disturbances [1,2]. The pros of Supporting control based grid forming is explained in section
microgrids are as follows: i) In case of an emergency and power V, section VI discusses the Grid Supporting control based on
shortage during power interruption in the main grid, it provides grid feeding converter. Finally, a conclusion has been drawn.
good solution to supply power, ii) flexibility in switching to
suitable mode of operation either islanded or grid connected
II. GRID FORMING CONTROL
operation, provide voltage and frequency security during
islanded operation and capability to synchronize safely connect Grid-Forming control is fixedly control the grid voltage and
microgrid to the grid , iii) Microgrid can fulfill the power frequency by balancing the power generators and loads. This
demand of all load using distributed generators independently. technique designed for standalone power conversion system for
In this system, it is possible to integrate the renewable energy energy storage applications where most of the grid forming
sources such as photovoltaic, wind and fuel cell generations [3]. component act as ideal voltage source with fixed frequency and
Typical microgrid system comprises of distributed generation zero output impedance. Thus grid forming based control cannot
units with inverters and incorporate control systems that enable be placed in parallel. Diesel generator (gensets) plays rule as
flexible operations. grid forming unit in the Hybrid mini-grid. The advantage of this
control is without integrated battery management system in
This report discussed different control topologies of microgrid grid forming control method; effect of unbalances in power
converters. Discussed topologies are grid forming, grid demand (load) is quite little due to the zero output impedance of
feeding, grid supporting based on grid forming and grid the rotating generators. But, the power quality of power can
supporting based on grid feeding. In this report we used same become worse if a battery inverter is used to construct the grid;
format for main system consisting converter shown in fig 01, this is happened because of larger impedance of the low-pass
filter, measurement block, three types of loads, several switches output filter. The control scheme allows for controlling of both
and a virtual grid. We just implemented different kind of voltage and frequency by varying power of the generator and
control system and add this control with converter to varying it loads.
PWM operation. Then we observed the variation of active and
reactive power, voltage, current and frequency in different load
transition.

.
 2

increased the after filtering because the capacitor inside low

pass filter supplying reactive power which added to the
converter supply.
400

200

-200

-400

300

200

100

-100

-200

-300

0.07

0.06

0.05

Fig.02: Simulink model of inverter conneted to grid and load. 0.04

0.03

0.02

0.01
Fig 02 shows that whole control where converter with filter is 0
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45

connected to grid with two different loads. In grid forming

control method two separate blocks have been used to regulate Fig.05: Representation of voltage, current and total harmonic distortion(THD)
the voltage and current. Voltage and current are collected from at filter output for Grid forming control.
output of filter in abc reference frame. And then they are
transformed into dq frame for comparing the reference one. It is clearly seen that purely sinusoidal voltage, current at the
Frequency is integrated to get rotational angle for the use of abc output of the filter as shown in fig 05.
to dq transformation block.
So we implemented the whole model in Simulink containing 400

200

Vf_control.mdl which has submitted for evaluation. In fig 03, 0

we showed the V-f control system which is the simulink -200

version of fig 01. -400

300

200

100

-100

-200

-300

0.07

0.06

0.05

0.04

0.03

0.02

0.01

0
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25

Fig.06: Representation of voltage, current and total harmonic distortion(THD)

at loads for Grid forming control.
Voltage is always fixed for the entire period but the wave
Fig.03: Simulink model of V-f control. shapes of currents is slightly distorted initial up t0 1s due to sub
We simulate the model the model with highly inductive low transient effect and there are big spike of total harmonic
pass filter using a specific time constant. In all wave shape, distortion at t= 0.02s as shown in fig. 06.
yellow is for before filter, magenta is for after filter, cyan is for
grid and red is for load.
4
III. GRID FEEDING CONTROL
x 10
6

4 Grid feeding techniques comprises grid connected generators

2

0
and by extension in load. Grid feeding components designed to
-2 draw or feed a certain amount of power determine by their own
-4
need and wishes, irrespective grid conditions. These
-6

6
x 10
4

components do not contribute to power balancing. This system

4
is designed in such a way to draw some active or reactive power
2

0
from the grid without thinking of grid condition.
-2

-4

-6
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2

Fig.04: Active and reactive power representation for Grid Forming

In fig 04, we observed that all real and reactive power

supplied by converter is absorbed by the load. Moreover we can
see that converter also supplying the reactive power has
 3

400

200

-200

-400

100

50

-50

-100

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5

Fig.10: Representation of voltage, current and total harmonic distortion (THD)

Fig.07: Main control scheme of Grid Feeding
at filter output for Grid Feeding control.
In this control scheme as shown in fig 07 voltages and current
are collected from output of filter and then transformed into dq It is clearly seen that constant voltage and current are provided
referenced frame to calculated required current in the current by filter as shown in fig 11. THD is also observed lower
regulator block. Reference real and reactive power for this throughout the period though a high spike is observed at the
scheme is assumed to be 30000W and 20000VAr respectively. beginning.
Phase Locked Loop (PLL) is used to calculate the rotational 400

angle. 200

We simulate the model the model with highly inductive low -200

-400

pass filter using a specific time constant. In all wave shape, 200

yellow is for before filter, magenta is for after filter, cyan is for 100

grid and red is for load. 0

-100

-200

0.12

0.1

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

0
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85 0.9

Fig.11: Representation of voltage, current and total harmonic distortion (THD)

at grid for Grid Feeding control.

It is observed that voltage is always fixed at grid as shown in

Fig.08: Simulink model of P-Q control. fig 12. Magnitude of current is decreased when one load is
4

6
x 10
disconnected from the grid at time t=0.5s. And current is
4

2
increased again at time t=0.8s. There is a high THD at the
0 switching time of the load.
-2
400
-4 300

200
-6
100
-8 0

-100
-10
4
-200
x 10
4
-300
3 -400

2
200
1
150
0
100
-1 50

-2 0

-3 -50

-4 -100

-5 -150

-6 0.25
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

0.2

Fig.09: Active and reactive power representation for Grid Feeding. 0.15

0.1

Fig 09 depicted that the active and reactive power demand of 0.05

load is fulfilled by converter and grid. Moreover the converter 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95

is absorbing reactive power from the grid in grid feeding mode. Fig.12: Representation of voltage, current and total harmonic distortion (THD)
at load side for Grid Feeding control.
 4

control, it should be noted that the droop method has the

Voltage and current of load terminal behaved in similar way of inherent trade-off between the active power sharing and the
grid as shown in fig. 12. Unlike the grid, it shows lower THD. frequency accuracy, resulting in the frequency deviating from
the nominal frequency.
400

200
V. GRID SUPPORTING BASED ON GRID FORMING
0

-200 Grid supporting control based on Grid Forming allows parallel

-400 operation of several grid-forming sources. Number of
400

200
generators can be connected parallel to share same loads
0
according to their power ratings. The droop controller
-200
discussed in above controls the voltage and frequency by
-400 varying the active and reactive power in response from voltage
0.35

0.3 and frequency droop settings. In this case small transient value
0.25

0.2 of frequency is set to new value.

0.15

0.1

0.05

0
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4

Fig.13: Representation of voltage and current at load during switching to both

inductive and resistive load for Grid Feeding control.

Fig 13 reveals that at t=0.5s, the resistive load has

disconnected. So at that time the magnitude of current has
decreased. But after connect a inductive load at t=0.6s, the
current magnitude increase drastically with high THD. This
current remain flowing until the inductive load disconnect at t = Fig.15: Main control scheme of Grid Supporting based on Grid Forming
1.2s. Voltage maintains same whatever occurs with the load.
The main aim of this droop control is that it should be designed
IV. DROOP CONTROL in such a way that if the power demand increases due to load
For power systems based on rotating generators, frequency and addition, the droop controller allows setting the frequency
active power are closely interconnected. A load increase automatically. And the same thing is followed for voltage and
implies that the load torque increases without a corresponding reactive power. The main control scheme with voltage and
increase in the prime mover torque, which means that the frequency droops is shown in fig. 15. Rated voltage and
rotational speed, and directly the frequency, decreases [4]. The frequency for VSI is 230V and 50Hz respectively. Reference
slowing of frequency with increased load is what a droop voltage and frequency have been calculated by the following
control is trying to achieve in a controlled and stable manner. formula in equation of 1 and 2.

In the droop method, each unit uses the frequency, instead of

the power angle or phase angle, to control the active power
flows since the units do not know the initial phase values of the
other units in the stand-alone system. By regulating the real and
reactive power flows through a power system, the voltage and
frequency can be determined. This observation leads to the
common droop control equations
_ = − + ……… (1)
= − + ……… (2)

Fig.16: Simulink model of Grid Supporting based on Grid Forming

We implemented the Q-V and P-f droop control by using above

equations. Here we used 230V and 50Hz as Rated voltage and
frequency respectively. Moreover for maximum voltage and
Fig.14: Droop control characteristics plot. frequency, we used 1.05 times of rated voltage and 50.5Hz
From the droop equations and highlighted by Fig.14, as the real respectively. In case of power, we used 30kW and 20kVAR as
power load on the system increases, the droop control scheme rated active and reactive power. Then we simulated the model
will allow the system frequency to decrease. In the droop shown in fig 16 as with both droop control scheme.
 5

1.5
x 10
Since the load is increasing, the active and reactive power is
1 demand is also increasing. According to the droop theory, the
0.5
system voltage and frequency also tends to decrease. But due to
0
the droop controller functioning, it maintains the voltage and
-0.5
frequency as the droop settings during load transition. In fig 19,
we can see the how the droop controller maintains the voltage
-1

and frequency.
5
x 10
4

1
VI. GRID SUPPORTING BASED ON GRID FEEDING
0
This control scheme contribute to the control of the grid voltage
-1
and frequency by adjusting their active and reactive output
-2

-3
power according to voltage and frequency droops, allowing
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
power sharing and expandability. These components contribute
Fig.17: Active and reactive power representation for during droop control. to power balancing, making a trade-off between their power
rating and the local voltage and frequency quality. In inverse
During this simulation, we increased the load at 2 times. At droop control provides an automatic active/reactive power
first we add a resistive load at t=0.5s. After that we add an generate/receive predefined control at any event of
inductive load at t=1s. So in fig 17, we observed that the real frequency-voltage deviations in order to mitigate instabilities of
power demand of load has increased and reactive power grid and network. Equation 3 and 4 are used to calculate active
demand has decreased due to adding a resistive load after 0.5s. and reactive power reference.
All power demand fulfilled by grid and converter. Moreover
after 1s, the opposite phenomenon has occurs due to adding an = − − ……... (3)
inductive load to the system.
400
= + − ……..… (4)
200

-200

-400

400

200

-200

-400

0.25

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4

Fig.18. Representation of voltage, current and total harmonic distortion (THD) Fig.20: Grid Supporting based on Grid Feeding using inverse droop control.
at load for droop control during load transition..
Rated voltage and frequency ( , ) are set to 230Vrms and
From fig 18 we can see that at starting voltage is unstable. After 50Hz respectively. Rated active and reactive powers are
stabilized, the voltage magnitude is decreasing due the consider for this control techniques 30kW and 20kVAr
increasing the load. In case of current magnitude, opposite respectively. Se simulated the simulink model shown in fig 20
phenomenon has occurred due to increase the load. Overall using this value.
THD is small except at the load switching time.
Ud
340

320

300

280

260

240
Uq
2

1.5

0.5

-0.5

-1

-1.5
f
50.01

50.005

50

49.995

49.99
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
Fig.21: Simulink model of Grid Supporting based on Grid Feeding.

In this simulink model shown in fig 21, we implemented

Fig.19. Representation of dq component of voltage and frequency.
inverse droop control as P(f) instead of f(P). Similarly Q(U)
instead of U(Q). So during load transition, the controller will
 6

set the active and reactive power value and synchronized with
grid. 4
Voltage is unvarying at load even if at the load change that
8

6
x 10
means voltage and frequency are controlled correctly in fig 24.
4

2
Magnitudes of current is decreased at load released and restored
0 its magnitude after load connected again.
-2

-4

-6

-8 VII. CONCLUSIONS
-10
5

1
x 10
To sum up, for a stable operation of a micro grid; these control
0.5
schemes implementation is very important. We know that the
0
most of the renewable sources are intermittent. We can easily
-0.5
grid connected hybrid micro grid system by using grid
-1
supporting based on grid feeding control with inverse grid
-1.5
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
control. It was found that the stand-alone grid-forming
Fig.22: Active and reactive power representation for Grid Supporting generator can depends on the variation of both voltage and
control based on Grid Feeding. frequency from their respective rated values to take immediate
action to adopt the grid-forming role. So we can apply our
During this simulation, we imposed 2 types of load in different learned skills to investigate full-scale development, field
time. At first, we connect a resistive load at t=0.5s and demonstration and experimental performance evaluation of
disconnected at t=0.8s. After resistive load disconnection, we frequency and voltage control methods under various operation
reconnected and inductive load at t=1.2s and disconnected at modes.
t=1.6s. In fig 22, we can see that after resistive load connection,
the load active power demand increased to 80kW which is ACKNOWLEDGMENT
fulfilled by both grid and converter (60kW and 20kW) I am really thankful to Prof. Pablo Arboleya who helped us
respectively. Similar phenomenon has happened in case of
a lot to easily understand the different technical terms of
reactive power demand after connection of inductive load.
400
Micro-grids. Without his continuous efforts, it was very
200 difficult to learn various aspects of Micro grid and Smart grid.
0

-200

-400
REFERENCES
300

200
[1] R. H. Lasseter., a Akhil, C. Marnay, J Stephens, J Dagle, R Guttromson, A.
100

0
Meliopoulous, R Yinger, and J. Eto. April 2002. The CERTS Microgrid
-100

-200
Concept White paper for Transmission Reliability Program, Office of Power
-300
Technologies, U.S. Department of Energy.
-400

0.5

0.4

0.3
[2] A. Arulapalam, [Link], [Link], [Link], N. Jenkins. 2004. Contrl
0.2
of power electronic interfaces in distributed generation microgrid. Int. J.
0.1 Electron. 91(9): 503-523.
0
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6

[3] F.D Kanellos, A.I. Tsouchnikas, N.D. Hatziargyriou. June 2005. Microgrid
Fig.23: Representation of voltage, current and total harmonic distortion (THD) Simulation during Grid Connected and Islanded Modes of Operation. Proc. of
at load for Grid Supporting base on Grid Feeding control. the Canada International Conference on Power System Transient (IPTS’05).
Vol. 113, pp. 19-23.
In fig 23, the voltage does not change because it connected to
the grid. Between 0.5s to 0.8s, the current magnitude has [4] Andrew M. Bollman “AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF FREQUENCY
increase due to addition of resistive load. But this increment is DROOP CONTROL IN A LOW-INERTIA MICROGRID” MS thesis from
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009
higher between 1.2s to 1.6s because inductive load consume
more current than resistive load. Overall THD is much lower
that means it almost sinusoidal except at switching time.
Ud
332

330

328

326

324

322
Uq
8

-2

-4

50.01

50.005

50

49.995

49.99
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

Fig. 24. Representation of dq component of voltage and frequency variation at

grid for Grid Supporting base on Grid Feeding control.