Model‐Based Control Framework for Frequency and Voltage Stability in Islanded Microgrids with Low Inertia

Microgrids operating in islanded mode face significant frequency and voltage instability, particularly when dominated by inverter‐based renewable energy sources (RESs) with inherently low system inertia. This study presents a layered hierarchical control strategy that integrates three novel components: (1) an adaptive virtual synchronous generator (VSG) with coupled frequency–voltage co‐regulation, wherein both the inertia constant H ( t ) and the Q-V droop coefficient m Q ( t ) are dynamically tuned based on real‐time frequency deviation and battery state‐of‐charge (SoC); (2) a delay‐compensated consensus protocol employing second‐order Padé approximants to maintain distributed secondary control stability under communication delays up to 500 ms; and (3) a tri‐objective hybrid model predictive control (MPC)–genetic algorithm (GA) optimization framework for battery energy storage system (BESS) coordination, simultaneously minimizing frequency deviation, voltage deviation, and SoC degradation. Simulation results for a 500 kW microgrid with 70% renewable energy penetration demonstrate that the proposed framework significantly outperforms traditional fixed‐inertia VSG and droop control methods. Key outcomes include: frequency deviations limited to 0.05 Hz (vs. 0.38 Hz for fixed‐inertia VSG), voltage regulation maintained within ± 1.2% (vs. ± 4.2%), system stabilization time reduced by 30%, and communication load reduced by 50%. The BESS SoC remained within the safe 20%–80% operating range across all tested disturbance scenarios.