Inertial and frequency response of microgrids with induction motors

This paper presents an operation strategy for microgrids to provide inertial and frequency response using the kinetic energy stored in their induction motor (IM) loads. This is achieved by actively controlling the microgrid electrical frequency in systems that connect to the network through an asynchronous link. The strategy is demonstrated to provide an inertial response to disturbances inside a microgrid and to participate in the frequency support of the main grid without the need of energy storage devices nor affecting the mechanical torque of the motor. The results in this paper are validated numerically using two case studies.