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fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TSG.2016.2590986, IEEE
Transactions on Smart Grid
Using Smart Impedance to Transform High
Impedance Microgrid in a Quasi-infinite Busbar
Robson B. Gonzatti, Member, IEEE, Sílvia C. Ferreira, Student Member, IEEE, Carlos H. da Silva,
Member, IEEE, Rondineli R. Pereira, Member, IEEE, Luiz E. Borges da Silva, Senior Member, IEEE,
Germano Lambert-Torres, Fellow, IEEE
 which they are connected. Therefore, in order to achieve the
Abstract—Isolated microgrids, due to the high values of the
output converter impedances, suffer power quality problems,
such as harmonic distortion and resonances. These impedances
are normally the LCL output filter needed to suppress the
switching ripple of the converters. As complex impedances, they
are dependent of the frequency, therefore very sensitive to
harmonic content of load current. This leads to a significant
microgrid voltage distortion which results in undesirable power
quality levels. Hybrid active power filters are a reasonable
choice for harmonic compensation allowing good filtering
performance at reduced cost. This paper describes the use of
Smart Impedance, which is a new application of a hybrid active
power filter, to change the microgrid bus impedance forcing it to
behave as a quasi-infinite bus, without increasing active power
capacity of the microgrid. The implementation can improve
microgrid power quality by mitigating harmonic currents and
harmonic voltage resonance. It allows connecting more nonlinear
load in the bus keeping the microgrid voltage quality.
Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the
effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Index Terms—Distributed generation, hybrid power filter,
islanding, microgrids, power quality, smart impedance.
I. INTRODUCTION
T HE harmonic content of the load currents produces
important distortions in microgrid voltages causing a
variety of undesired effects. The front end of photovoltaic
generation is power electronics converters connected to the
grid. These converters have LC or LCL output filters to
suppress the switching ripple. These filter complex
impedances present resonance frequencies that can be excited
by load current harmonics [1].
When the microgrid is operating in islanded mode it is not
as stiff as the interconnected grid. In this situation, the
harmonic voltage drop due to the currents of nonlinear loads
can deteriorate its voltage waveform [1]. Also parallel
resonances can be excited by these currents causing harmonic
overvoltages. In addition, the quality of current injected by
Distributed Generation (DG) inverters is significantly
influenced by minor distortion of network voltage waveform
R. B. Gonzatti, R. R. Pereira and L. E. Borges da Silva are with the Itajuba
Federal University, 37500 903 Itajuba, Brazil (e-mail: {rbgonzatti, rondineli,
leborges}@unifei.edu.br).
S. C. Ferreira is with Lavras Federal University, 37200-000 Lavras, Brazil
(e-mail: ferreira.silviac@gmail.com).
C. H. Silva is with the Ouro Preto Federal University, 35931 008 Joao
Monlevade, Brazil (e-mail: chedas.unifei@gmail.com).
G. Lambert-Torres is with PS Solutions, 37502-508 Itajuba, Brazil (e-
mail: germanoltorres@gmail.com).
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1
best energy transfer from the DG’s to the microgrid, good
power quality is mandatory, which requires power
conditioning action [2].
Several strategies were proposed in literature to incorporate
power quality compensation directly into the control
algorithms of DG inverters [1]-[5]. However, when the
microgrid is operating with converters that do not consider
power quality mitigation and change in their control may not
be possible, the application of dedicated power conditioning
equipment, such as STATCOMs or active filters, is necessary
[2], [6]. In this context, the Smart Impedance, a hybrid filter
topology [8], can be applied as cost effective solution, since it
combines the flexibility of active power filters with reduced
cost compared to conventional active filters or STATCOMs
[7], [8].
This work discuss the use of Smart Impedance for
microgrids power quality improvement, compensating load
current harmonics, reducing voltage distortion and damping
parallel resonances. These actions turn the microgrids less
susceptible to load disturbances. In this sense, the action of
the Smart Impedance causes an effect similar to the reduction
of the source equivalent impedance in the point of common
coupling (PCC), making this microgrid to behave as a stiffer
grid. This effect, in ordinary power grids, is usually obtained
by adding more generation capacity into the grid. The
application described here shows similar behavior without
connecting more generators into the microgrid. In certain way,
this compensated microgrid can be seen as a quasi-infinite
bus. This means, it behaves like an infinite bus for nonlinear
loads.
Previous work [8] has shown the operational principle of
the Smart Impedance and its effectiveness for harmonic
current mitigation and displacement power factor (DPF)
compensation. The main aim of this paper is on the effects of
voltage quality improvement in microgrids, obtained by
equivalent impedance reduction. Analysis of the equivalent
circuit of the system shows that the change of the equivalent
impedance of the grid is effective and represents a new
achievement of the Smart Impedance, which it is the main
contribution of this work.
The microgrid under test, shown in Fig. 1, is composed by
a single-phase grid-forming converter, able to operate both
grid-connected and islanded [9], local loads and the Smart
Impedance. Experimental results carried out in this microgrid
show the quasi-infinite bus desired behavior. Also, a
theoretical analysis of Smart Impedance behavior is presented.
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Transactions on Smart Grid
II. ISLANDED MICROGRID
Microgrids are capable of operating in grid-connected and
stand-alone modes, and perform the transition between them.
They can be arranged and controlled in many different ways,
centralized, decentralized, hierarchically [10], [11].
Fig. 1. Microgrid components: DG converter, Smart Impedance and loads.
The microgrid structure of this work uses a single master
voltage controlled converter. This converter is called grid-
forming converter and has the function to maintain microgrid
voltage amplitude and frequency when in islanded mode [11].
Also this converter is responsible for survey the grid voltage
and frequency and command microgrid disconnection in case
of grid faults, voltage sags or excessive voltage/frequency
fluctuations [12]. In this structure, others DG converters are
connected to the microgrid as grid-feeding converters, which
are controlled as current sources and provide active power to
the loads. Most of photovoltaic and wind generation
converters operate in this mode, i.e., they are controlled to
dispatch the maximum active power available [13], [14]. Grid-
feeding converters are designed for parallel connection with
other converters when connected to the grid. However, they
are not able to operate on islanded microgrids without the
presence of a grid-forming converter, or a synchronous
generator, which regulates voltage amplitude and frequency
[11]. For this reason, the quality of the grid-forming converter
voltage is of fundamental importance to this structure
performance.
III. GRID-FORMING CONVERTER
Once in isolated mode, the grid-forming converter controls
the amplitude and frequency of the microgrid voltage. The
converter uses an isochronous control, where the amplitude
and frequency references are kept constant for any converter
operating point [15], [16]. This control differs from the droop
control, where converter output voltage and frequency are
adjusted according to the load reactive and active power
variation [17].
In islanded mode, an internal oscillator keeps the voltage
frequency fixed in 60 Hz. Fig. 2 shows the voltage amplitude
control scheme. The fundamental voltage amplitude (AVC),
obtained using Modified Synchronous Reference Frame [9], is
compared with the reference value (AVref). A Proportional
Integral (PI) controller generates the control signal (u), which
is multiplied by unity vector sin(ωt), generating the voltage
reference signal (Vref). The IGBT’s (insulated-gate bipolar
transistor) dead-time effect is compensated using the average
value method [18].
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IV. SMART IMPEDANCE
The hybrid filter is an efficient alternative for power quality
improvement in microgrids. The Smart Impedance Hybrid
Filter topology consists of an active filter in series with
capacitor bank, eliminating the need of a tuned passive cell.
Fig. 2. Grid-forming converter output voltage control.
To prevent the harmonic load current flowing into the grid-
forming converter, the equivalent impedance of the Smart
Impedance must be very low, so harmonic current will go into
the filter branch instead of flowing into the voltage source. As
Smart Impedance passive part is composed by a capacitor
bank, an inductive reactance must be created to electronically
tune the Smart Impedance for a specific frequency. The
topology is capable of achieve multiple tuning frequencies at
the same time, by creating different active reactances for each
desired harmonic. Also, it creates an active resistance to
eliminate the residual resistance of the branch, transforming it
into an ideal tuned filter [8]. On the other hand, the hybrid
branch is capable of presenting infinite impedance for source
voltage harmonics, dampening series resonances between the
source impedance and passive filter circuit. The Smart
Impedance single-phase harmonic equivalent circuit is shown
in Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. Smart Impedance single-phase equivalent harmonic circuit.
Considering a perfectly sinusoidal source voltage (VSh = 0),
the harmonic current circulating in the source (ISh), due to load
harmonic current (ILh), is given by (1).
𝑍𝑡 + 𝑍𝐶 + 𝑍𝐴𝐶𝑇
𝐼𝑆ℎ = 𝐼 
𝑍𝑆 + 𝑍𝑡 + 𝑍𝐶 + 𝑍𝐴𝐶𝑇 𝐿ℎ
where ZS is the source impedance, Zt is the coupling
transformer short circuit impedance, ZC is the capacitor bank
impedance and ZACT is the active impedance created by the
active filter. To prevent the harmonic load current flowing into
the source, the equivalent impedance of the hybrid branch
must be very low. Ideally, if ZACT + Zt + ZC = 0 ILh will flow
through the filter branch instead of flowing into the source, so
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ZACT should be controlled as in (2).
𝑍𝐴𝐶𝑇 = −(𝑍𝑡 + 𝑍𝐶 )
The hybrid branch passive impedance is composed of the
coupling transformer impedance (Zt = rt + jωLt) and the
capacitor impedance (ZC = rc + 1/jωC). Hence, an active
inductance La should be created to electronically tune the
Smart Impedance for a specific frequency (ω) as shown in (3).
1 algorithm. The source harmonic current ISh is obtained from
ω=
√(𝐿𝑎 + 𝐿𝑡 )𝐶
This topology is capable of achieving multiple tuning
frequencies at the same time by creating different active
inductances for each desired harmonic. Also, it creates a
virtual negative resistance (rv) to eliminate the residual
resistance of the branch, as in (4), and turn it into an ideal
filter for each harmonic frequency.
𝑟𝑣 = −(𝑟𝑡 + 𝑟𝑐 )
After tuning, the branch becomes an ideal active short circuit
for the harmonic load current, by forcing the harmonic voltage
across its terminals to be zero. It has to be notice, smaller the
Smart Impedance equivalent impedance, smaller will be the
PCC equivalent impedance. This is the cornerstone of the
quasi-infinite bus concept.
On the other hand, considering only the source voltage
harmonic VSh contribution (ILh = 0), the harmonic current ISh
due to VSh, is given by (5).
𝑉𝑆ℎ
𝐼𝑆ℎ =
𝑍𝑆 + 𝑍𝑡 + 𝑍𝐶 + 𝑍𝐴𝐶𝑇
In this case, to ensure ISh = 0 the hybrid branch must present
infinite impedance (ZACT = ∞) for VSh in order to isolate the
capacitor bank from harmonics from voltage source, and
dampen resonances between source impedance and capacitor
bank.
In practical terms, the active filter is a controlled harmonic
voltage source VAfh . This can be seen substituting VAfh in the
place of ZACT in equation (1) and (5). The equation (6) shows
this result.
𝑉𝑆ℎ (𝑍𝑡 + 𝑍𝐶 )𝐼𝐿ℎ 𝑉𝐴𝑓ℎ
𝐼𝑆ℎ = + −
𝑍𝑆 + 𝑍𝑡 + 𝑍𝐶
⏟ 𝑍𝑆 + 𝑍𝑡 + 𝑍𝐶
⏟ 𝑍𝑆 + 𝑍𝑡 + 𝑍𝐶
⏟ 
contribution from
source distortion
contribution from
load distortion
To guaranty Ish = 0, i.e., no harmonic current flowing into
the source, VAfh has to be adjusted to impose the voltage
depicted in (7).
𝑉𝐴𝑓ℎ = 𝑉𝑆ℎ + (𝑍𝑡 +𝑍𝐶 )𝐼𝐿ℎ 
The term VSh guarantees no harmonic current flowing from the
source into the filter branch, which implies in infinite
harmonic impedance. While the term (Zt + ZC)ILh cancels the
harmonic voltage drop in the filter branch due to load current
harmonics, which means ideal short circuit (zero impedance).
The superposition of these two electronic generated
impedances characterizes the Smart Impedance behavior.
Smart Impedance control algorithm is based on
Proportional Resonant Controller (P+Resonant), which is the
mathematical transformation of the Synchronous Frame with
PI Controller [19]. P+Resonant controller expression is
presented in (8).
𝑘𝑟 𝑠
C(𝑠) = 𝑘𝑝 + 2 (8)
𝑠 + 𝜔2
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where kp is the proportional gain, kr is the resonant term gain
(2) and ω is the resonance frequency. High gain at its resonance
frequency provides zero steady-state error for a sinusoidal
reference. The same characteristics as the PI controller
presents for a DC reference. This feature makes possible
tracking the current reference directly from the error signal,
eliminating reference transformation and PLL synchronization

the source current IS using a notch filter [20] with the transfer
function given by (9).
𝑠 2 + 𝜔02
H(𝑠) = 2 (9)
𝑠 + 2𝜔𝑐 𝑠 + 𝜔02
where ωc represents the bandwidth of the notch filter and ω0 is
the resonance frequency. Here, ω0 is 376.8 [rad/s] (60 Hz), the
fundamental frequency, and ωc is 31.4 [rad/s] (5 Hz), which
 still ensures 25 dB attenuation for ±0.5 Hz variation in system
frequency. The notch filter extracts the fundamental
component from source current (IS1), so only the harmonic
components remains (ISh). The control strategy is based on:
when the harmonic current flowing into the source is zero, all
the harmonic current generated by the load is flowing through
the Smart Impedance branch. At the same time, the source
voltage harmonic distortion is blocked. The harmonic source
current feedback automatically provides resonance damping.
Multiple resonant controllers in parallel (10), one for each
harmonic frequency, allow compensation of several harmonics

frequencies at the same time.
21
𝑘𝑟 𝑠
C(s) = 𝑘𝑝 + ∑ (10)
𝑠 2 + (ℎ𝜔0 )2
h=3
Fig. 4 shows the control strategy. The summation of all
P+Resonant regulators, one for each frequency, generates the
voltage reference Vafh needed to tune the Smart Impedance.
The tuning procedure for P+Resonant controllers used in the
Smart Impedance is addressed in [8].
The gains used are kp=10 and kr=2000 for all harmonic
frequencies, these gains provide reasonable tradeoff between
transient and steady-state performance, system stability and
contribution from
active filter
harmonic selectivity.
The resonant controller was digitally implemented in a
TMS320F2812 32 bit fixed point DSP. The use of a correct
discretization technique is fundamental, in order to get closer
digital controller from the continuous one. Resonant
controllers are especially sensible to discretization process due
to its extremely narrow band and high gain, so any deviation
in its resonant poles leads to performance loss.
The use of inadequate discretization does not guarantee
perfect tracking and may lead to deviation of resonance
frequency [21]. The Impulse Invariant and Zero-Order Hold
(ZOH) present the best results among the others techniques
[22], [23]. In this work ZOH method was used for the
controller discretization.
Another important point, in controller discrete
implementation, is the influence of the numeric resolution for
fixed-point representation. It has been highlighted in [20], the
variations in attenuation and tuning frequencies of digital
filters due to numeric resolution. Considerable errors may
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TSG.2016.2590986, IEEE
occur, mainly in resonant controller and notch filters, when
implemented in 16-bit fixed point DSP’s. The use of 32-bit
hardware provides great coefficient resolution and high
sampling rate (40080 Hz) ensure proper digital representation
of the resonant controllers.
Fig. 4. Multiple frequency resonant control.
V. QUASI-INFINITE BUSBAR
An isolated microgrid is considered “weaker” than the
interconnected grid. An AC system can be considered weak
from two aspects [24]: a) the system impedance is high; b) the
system inertia is low. A measure of the system strength is its
short-circuit power (SC), which is given by (11).
𝑉𝑆2
𝑆𝐶 = 
𝑍𝑡ℎ
Where VS is the microgrid voltage and Zth is the equivalent
Thevenin impedance.
A system with high short-circuit power is considered a
strong grid, being less susceptible to voltage problems. An
infinite bus would have infinite short-circuit power, which
implies in zero impedance, so the bus has constant voltage and
no disturbance can affect its terminal voltage.
The Smart Impedance creates an ideal active short-circuit
for each harmonic frequency (h), as shown in Fig. 5(a). This
effect reduces drastically the source equivalent impedance for
each harmonic component (Zabh), as shown in Fig. 5(b). This
short-circuit is created for one specific frequency or several
frequencies at the same time. In this way, changing the PCC
impedance, the system will behaves like an infinite bus for the
chosen frequencies, in other words, a quasi-infinite busbar.
(a)
Fig. 5. (a) Microgrid equivalent circuit for harmonic componet “h”, with
Smart Impedance. (b) System equivalent impedance for harmonic “h”.
The dynamic evaluation of the microgrid equivalent
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impedance, considering the Smart Impedance action, is a
difficult task. The quasi-infinite bus creation is observed here
in two different ways (procedures): a) change the
commutation angle of a full bridge diode rectifier with DC
inductor choke; b) change in grid-forming converter voltage
and load current waveform of a full bridge rectifier with DC
capacitor filter.
The commutation angle (μ) of a full bridge single-phase
rectifier with DC inductor choke is mainly determined by the
AC side impedance given by (12) [25].
2𝜔𝐿𝑠
cos 𝜇 = 1 − 𝐼 
𝑉𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝐷𝐶
Where ω is the system angular frequency in [rad/s], LS is the
source inductance, IDC is the mean value of rectifier DC
current and Vmax is the peak of AC source voltage. Notice that,
when LS is zero, cos(μ) is unity and μ is zero degree. On the
other hand, if LS becomes higher, cos(μ) decreases, while μ
increases. Hence, the commutation angle (μ) gives a measure
of the source equivalent impedance.
For a rectifier with DC capacitor filter, the commutation
effect is not observed. However, it presents characteristic
current waveform and hence voltage waveform which are
strongly dependent from AC source equivalent impedance.
While the bridge diodes are conducting, just the source
impedance limits the instantaneous current flowing into the
DC capacitor. Therefore, this impedance determines the
current waveform. Larger the source impedance, larger is the
current rise time and conduction time and smaller is the
current peak. Then, during diode conduction time, the terminal
voltage is “clipped” to the DC capacitor voltage causing
voltage drop in the source impedance leading to a very
characteristic voltage distortion. Feeding by a strong source,
the rectifier current will have a narrow but high current peak.
In this case the voltage drop is small because the impedance is
very low causing little voltage distortion.
VI. PRACTICAL RESULTS
Practical tests on microgrid of Fig. 1 in islanded mode
demonstrate the Smart Impedance current harmonic
compensation, voltage disturbances mitigation and microgrid
equivalent impedance changing. The parameters of the grid-
forming converter and the Smart Impedance prototype are
shown in Table I.
TABLE I
SYSTEM SETUP
Grid-forming Converter
Rated Voltage 220 VRMS – 60 Hz
Rated Power 5 kVA
Sampling and Switching Frequency 10 kHz
Digital Signal Processor TMS320F2812
L1: 37 μH. L2: 500 μH.
LCL Filter
C1: 10 μF.
Coupling Transformer 5 kVA – 23 V:220 V
DC link Voltage 48VDC
(b)
Smart Impedance
Coupling Transformer 7.5 kVA – 440 V:127 V
Active Filter H-Bridge IGBT VSI
Sampling and Switching Frequency 40 kHz
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Transactions on Smart Grid
5

Digital Signal Processor TMS320F2812

LC Filter LF: 500 μH. CF: 0.5 μF.
Capacitor Bank (CB ) 140 μF
DC link Voltage 440VDC
DC link Capacitor 2350 μF/900 VDC

A. Islanded microgrid without compensation

Former, the converter is connected to a resistive load of
2.2kW. When only linear loads are connected to the
microgrid, no distortion problems are expected, as the grid-
forming converter provides pure sinusoidal voltage. Fig. 6
shows the converter voltage (VC) and current (IC) waveform Fig. 7. Microgrid voltage and current for Load I.
for this case, where both waveforms are sinusoidal and the
voltage total harmonic distortion (THD) is 1.1%.
Later, nonlinear loads of Table II are connected to the
microgrid, one at a time, without the Smart Impedance. These
loads represent typical loads present in household appliances
(electronic devices, compact fluorescent bulbs, etc) and
industrial equipment (adjustable speed drives, DC motor
converters, battery chargers, etc). They represent a great
concern for microgrids due to their harmonic contents.
TABLE II (a) (b)
NONLINEAR LOADS
Fig. 8. Microgrid voltage (a) and current (b) harmonic spectrum while
Load I Load II feeding Load I.

Fig. 9 shows the microgrid voltage and current waveform

when the converter is feeding Load II. This load behaves as a
harmonic voltage source [26] and its current is the result of
Current Source Type Nonlinear Voltage Source Type Nonlinear voltage difference applied on the source impedance, i.e., the
Load Load voltage difference between the source voltage and the DC
1 Φ Diode rectifier with smoothing 1 Φ Diode rectifier with capacitor voltage. This load does not impose a specific
DC inductor smoothing DC capacitor harmonic current and does not excite the LCL filter
220 V/ 2 kW 220 V/ 1 kW
resonances. On the other hand, it causes “clipping” on the
terminal voltage waveform, because of the high voltage drop
Fig. 7 shows the voltage and current waveform when the in the converter output impedance, shown in Fig. 9. Although
converter is feeding Load I. This load can be understood as a this current does not introduce harmonic overvoltage in higher
harmonic current source [26]. It imposes, into the system, a frequencies, the voltage THD is 15.7% mainly the third
current with specific harmonic content. This current excites a harmonic component as shown in Fig. 10(a). Fig. 10(b) shows
parallel resonance around the 17th harmonic in the LCL the current THD which is 64.8%.
converter output filter. It can be seen on voltage harmonic
spectrum shown in Fig. 8(a). Also, low frequency harmonics
appear due to the commutation angle (μ = 29°). It is caused by
the high value of converter output impedance. The voltage
THD is 25.3%, shown in Fig. 8(a), while current THD is
21.5%, shown in Fig. 8(b).

Fig. 9. Microgrid voltage and current for Load II.

Fig. 6. Microgrid voltage and current with resistive load.

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reduced from 29°, without compensation in Fig. 7, to about 3°,

(a)
Fig. 10. Microgrid voltage harmonic spectrum while feeding Load II.
B. Islanded microgrid with active harmonic compensation
Once Smart Impedance is connected to the microgrid, it is
expected that all the load harmonic current flows into its
branch instead of into grid-forming converter. Thus, the
resonances are no longer excited and the converter deals only
with the fundamental frequency currents.
The grid-forming converter voltage and current waveforms,
while feeding Load I with active compensation, are shown in
Fig. 11. The current becomes sinusoidal and, as the parallel
resonance and harmonic overvoltage are eliminated, the
voltage also becomes sinusoidal. This can be verified in
harmonic spectrum of Fig. 12(a), where voltage THD is 3.2%,
while current THD is 1.1% in Fig. 12(b).
with Smart Grid compensation in Fig. 14. This huge reduction
in commutation angle shows the reduction in grid-forming
converter output equivalent impedance. It means the microgrid
is now behaving like a stronger grid.
The grid-forming converter voltage and current waveforms,
while feeding Load II under Smart Impedance active
compensation, are shown in Fig. 15. All load current harmonic
(b) are flowing through Smart Impedance branch, so converter
current becomes sinusoidal and voltage drop due to converter
high output impedance is strongly reduced.
This clearly improves voltage waveform, as can be seen by
its THD, that drops to 3.8% in Fig. 16(a), while the current
THD drops to 1.4% in Fig. 16(b). Fig. 17 shows the harmonic
current (ISI) flowing through Smart Impedance branch.
The power demanded from Smart Impedance active part to
compensate Load II is 571VA. This represents 31% of Load II
apparent power.

Fig. 13. Microgrid voltage and Smart Impedance current during Load I active
compensation.

Fig. 11. Grid-forming converter voltage and current with Load I after active
compensation.

Fig. 14. Microgrid voltage and Load I current after active compensation.

(a) (b)
Fig. 12. Microgrid voltage (a) and current (b) harmonic spectrum after active
compensation of Load I.

Fig. 13 shows the harmonic current (ISI) flowing through

Smart Impedance branch. Although Smart Impedance
prototype has a maximum apparent power of 7.5kVA,
determined by its coupling transformer, the power demanded
from Smart Impedance active part to compensate Load I is
only 300VA. This represents 12.6% of Load I apparent power.
Load I current (IL) and microgrid voltage are shown in Fig.
Fig. 15. Grid-forming converter voltage and current with Load II after active
14. The reduction on commutation angle (μ) can be clearly compensation of Load II.
seen when comparing Fig. 14 with Fig. 7. This angle is

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(a)
Fig. 16. Microgrid voltage (a) and current (b) harmonic spectrum after active
compensation of Load II.
Fig. 18 shows the microgrid terminal voltage (VC) and the
Load II current (IL) during active compensation. It has to be
noticed that the current waveform differs from Fig. 9,
presenting here a higher current peak (from 9.17 A, in Fig. 9,
to 18.98 A in Fig. 18) but narrower (from 96°, in Fig. 9, to 54°
in Fig. 18). That means the equivalent impedance, limiting the
charge current of DC capacitor, is much lower, so it is possible
to transfer more current from source to DC capacitor in a
shorter period of time.
Fig. 17. Microgrid voltage and Smart Impedance current during Load II active
compensation.
Fig. 18. Microgrid voltage and Load II current after active compensation.
The remaining voltage ripple in VC, observed in Fig. 15, is
caused by a grid-forming converter dead-time compensation
mismatch. This distortion was not compensated because, in
this implementation, just the load current effect is mitigated,
which indirectly improves the microgrid voltage.
Nevertheless, voltage THD is kept inside an acceptable value.
The displacement factor between voltage and current,
presented in Fig. 11 and Fig. 15, is due Smart Impedance
capacitor bank. When the load has an inductive displacement
power factor (DPF), which is the usual case for mixed loads
composed by linear and nonlinear loads, this capacitor
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Transactions on Smart Grid
7
provides DPF compensation. However, to emphasize the
effect of source equivalent impedance reduction just for
harmonic frequencies, only nonlinear loads were used in the
experiments. These loads present unitary DPF, so the result is
an amount of capacitive reactive power left.
One has to notice, the shunt connection of the Smart
Impedance provides voltage quality improvement by reducing
voltage harmonic distortion due to harmonic currents or
(b) parallel resonances, once the voltage source is naturally
harmonic free, which is the most common situation. If the
grid-forming converter or equivalent AC generator provides a
distorted voltage, the only way to compensate that distortion is
using a series active filter [27]. The series topology has
important drawbacks, which are: it has to handle the entire
load current (fundamental + harmonic) and in case of failure,
it compromises the load supply.
C. Load power analysis
The power drained by both loads, at fundamental frequency,
was measured before and after the active compensation. Fig.
19 shows power measurements for Load I, where active power
increases from 2.11kW in Fig. 19(a), before compensation, to
2.22kW in Fig. 19(b), after compensation, which means about
5% active power increase. Notice that even though the Smart
Impedance mitigates only harmonic currents, the reduction in
commutation angle increases the rectified voltage allowing
more active power transfer from DG source to the load, at
fundamental frequency. Most of the angle between current and
voltage, in Load I, is due to commutation angle. The CosΦ (or
DPF) augmentation, from 0.95 (Fig. 19a) to 0.99 (Fig. 19b)
shows the reduction in commutation angle, which implies in a
consequent source impedance reduction. The power factor
(PF) Fig. 19 is the relation between the apparent power (S),
including harmonics, and active power (P), which also
presents an increasing value (from 0.9 to 0.93), as P becomes
larger after compensation.
(a) (b)
Fig. 19. Load I power comparison (a) before and (b) after compensation.
Fig. 20 depicts power measurements for Load II. The load
active power increases about 15%, from 0.97kW in Fig. 20(a),
before compensation, to 1.12kW in Fig. 20(b), after
compensation. In this case, the reduction of voltage drop on
grid-forming converter output impedance causes an
improvement on AC voltage, which reflects in higher DC
capacitor voltage, consequently increasing the power delivered
to the load. For Load II, the CosΦ, which considers only
fundamental frequency, presents a small variation, from 0.99
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TSG.2016.2590986, IEEE
(Fig. 20a) to 0.98 (Fig. 20b). The PF, which considers the
harmonic current content, is reduced from 0.76 (Fig. 20a) to
0.61 (Fig. 20b). This happens because the Load II current
THD increases when the source impedance gets smaller, in
other words the grid gets stronger.
(a)
Fig. 20. Load II power comparison (a) before and (b) after compensation.
VII. CONCLUSIONS
Distributed generation (DG) is a very important issue
nowadays. Most DG implementations use power electronics
converters as front-end and are integrated in microgrids that
can operate isolated from the main grid. These microgrids are
much weaker, concerning equivalent impedance, than the
interconnected power system, what makes them more
susceptible to power quality problems. Converter output LCL
filters can become a source of harmonic parallel resonance
when supplying nonlinear loads, degrading microgrid voltage.
Smart Impedance working principle was presented and
practical results have shown that it is a reasonable solution to
mitigate harmonic currents undesired effects in isolated
microgrids. The elimination of these harmonic currents reduce
voltage distortions and suppress parallel resonances,
improving microgrid voltage quality. Finally, these features
can be interpreted as a transformation of a weak microgrid
into a quasi-infinite bus when its equivalent impedance is
reduced. This effect, in regular power grids, is achieved with
the addition of more generators in parallel. The proposed
approach does not require additional generation capacity
(active power supply) to obtain a similar effect. The Smart
Impedance achieve similar result just dealing with harmonic
power.
Comparing to other techniques, based on modifying output
converter admittance, this approach is meant to be a “plug and
play” solution, not requiring any modification in already
installed converters. In addition, it provides both current and
voltage harmonic mitigation, which is not commonly reached
in harmonic droop schemes. The solution has shown to be
robust, concerning the operational behavior, low power rate
relating to load apparent power and, due to its shunt
connection, do not compromise the basic microgrid operation
in case of failure.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank the National Council for
Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq),
Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education
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Transactions on Smart Grid
8
Personnel (CAPES), Minas Gerais Research Foundation
(FAPEMIG), and Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency
Research and Development (ANEEL R&D) for supporting
this project, and the Editor and the reviewers for improving
the quality of this paper.
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Robson B. Gonzatti (S’10) received the B.Sc.
degree in automation and control engineering,
M.Sc. and D.Sc. degree in electrical engineering
from the Itajuba Federal University, Itajuba,
Brazil, in 2011, 2012 and 2015 respectively, where
he is currently a Professor in the Electrical
Engineering Institute. His research interests
include power electronics, active power filters,
renewable energy resources and control systems.
Silvia Costa Ferreira (S’11) received the B.Sc.,
M.Sc. and D.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering
from Itajuba Federal University, Itajuba, Brazil, in
2010, 2012 and 2016, respectively. She is currently
a Professor in Lavras Federal University, Lavras,
Brazil. Her research interests include digital signal
processing, adaptive filters, power electronics,
active power filters and harmonics
Carlos Henrique da Silva (M’09) received the
B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the São
João del Rei Federal University, Sao João del Rei,
Brazil, in 2003, and the M.Sc. and D.Sc. degrees in
electrical engineering from the Itajuba Federal
University, Itajuba, Brazil, in 2005 and 2009,
respectively, where he was a Professor in the
Electrical Engineering Institute, from 2010 to 2013.
Currently, he is a Professor at Ouro Preto Federal
University, Ouro Preto, Brazil. His research
interests include active power filters, digital signal processing and control
systems.
1949-3053 (c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
9
Rondineli Rodrigues Pereira (M’14) received the
B.Sc. degree in computation engineering, the
M.Sc., and D.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering
from the Itajuba Federal University, Itajuba, Brazil,
in 2007, 2009, and 2011, respectively. From 2010
to 2012, he was a Professor at Federal Center of
Technological Education of Minas Gerais,
Leopoldina, Brazil. Since 2013, he is a Professor at
Itajuba Federal University. His research interests
include digital signal processing, adaptive filters,
control algorithms for active power filters, harmonics, and power quality. Dr.
Pereira was a recipient of the Second Prize Paper Award from the Industrial
Automation and Control Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications
Society (2009).
Luiz Eduardo Borges da Silva (M’88–SM’13)
received the B.S. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical
engineering from Itajuba Federal University
(UNIFEI), Itajuba, Brazil, in 1977 and 1982,
respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from École
Polytechnique de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada,
in 1988.
He was a Visiting Professor with the University
of Tennessee, Knoxville,TN, USA, in 1998. He is
currently a Professor of the Electronic Engineering
Institute and Head of Power Electronics at UNIFEI. He has directed many
projects in the field of industrial electronics, and coauthored over 300
technical papers. He has supervised more than 80 master and doctoral thesis.
His research focuses on power electronics, electronic power systems, power
converters, and applications of adaptive and intelligent control in industrial
problems.
Germano Lambert-Torres (M’90–SM’13–F’14)
received the B.S. degree in economics from the
South Minas Gerais Economic and Social Sciences
Faculty, Itajuba, in 1981; the B.S. degree in
mathematics from the Itajuba Faculty of Sciences
and Letters, Itajuba, in 1981; the B.S. and M.Sc.
degrees in electrical engineering from the Itajuba
Federal University (UNIFEI), Itajuba, Brazil, in
1982 and 1986, respectively; and the Ph.D. degree
in electrical engineering from the École
Polytechnique de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada,
in 1990.
From 1983 to 2012, he was a Professor in the Electrical Engineering
Department, UNIFEI. From 2000 to 2004, he was the Dean of Research and
Graduate Studies at UNIFEI. From 1995 to 1996, he was a Visiting Professor
at the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada. He is currently Director
of R&D at PS Solutions, Itajuba, Brazil. He also serves as a consultant for
many power industries in Brazil and South America, and he has taught
numerous IEEE tutorials in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. He has completed
more than 80 M.Sc. and Ph.D. thesis supervisions and published more than
500 journal and conference technical papers. He is also the author/editor or
coauthor of nine books, more than 30 book chapters and 60 transactions
papers on intelligent systems and nonclassical logic.
Prof. Lambert-Torres was a recipient of several awards, including the
Technical Committee Working Group Recognition Award on New
Technologies and Practical Applications from the IEEE Power and Energy
Society (PES) in 2006, the Outstanding Leadership as Member of the
Intelligent System Applications to Power Systems (ISAP) Board of Directors
from the International Council of the International Conference on ISAP in
2007, and the Technical Committee Working Group Recognition Award on
Multi-Agent Systems from the IEEE PES in 2008. He serves on a number of
committees related to intelligent systems, including the IEEE and the
International Councilon Large Electric Systems (CIGRÉ). He served as the
General Chair for ISAP in 1999 and 2009, as well as the Vice-General Chair
for ISAP in 2001 and for the Congress on Logic Applied to Technology in
2003 and 2007. He is a Member of the ISAP International Board.