Grid Equivalent Representation of Power Systems With Penetration of Power Electronics

The Thevenin equivalent is considered as the standard grid equivalent for power system analysis. The integration on power electronics components in the power systems introduces non-linear operation characteristics that cannot be captured by Thevenin equivalent. Therefore, an alternative grid equivalent representation is required. This article presents a steady-state equivalent representation of power systems with penetration of power electronics, which is suitable for both normal operation studies and short-circuit calculations. This equivalent grid representation is developed based on the voltage-current (U-I) characteristic of a power system to map the relationship between voltages and currents of a specific network node. Such grid equivalent representation has been presented for single-phase, balanced and unbalanced three-phase power systems in this paper. A methodology is presented to identify operation points when the equivalent system under study is connected to any external system. The proposed equivalent grid representation and the methodology for operation points identification have been tested on the Voltage Source Converter (VSC) based test system and are validated through dynamic simulations.