Grid-Forming Inverters for Enhancing Stability and Resilience in Distribution Networks Under Transients and Restoration.

The increasing integration of distributed energy resources in distribution networks has significantly reduced system inertia, posing challenges to grid stability during transient events, such as Cold Load Pickup (CLPU). This paper proposes the implementation of grid-forming inverters (GFMs) to enhance the stability of low-inertia distribution systems. The paper also investigates the performance of the GFM-based approach in maintaining voltage profiles along the distribution feeder, especially during CLPU scenarios without synchronous machines. A comparison is made between the GFM-based system and the conventional synchronous machine setup. The synchronous machine is chosen as a reference point for evaluating the effectiveness of the GFM-based approach. The GFM-based system’s performance is assessed under various challenging scenarios, including short-circuit faults, islanding, and a combination of these through extensive simulations. The results demonstrate the potential of GFMs to stabilize a distribution system and outperform the traditional rigid synchronous machine during transient events.