CMTEQ - Invidious

Chad Massala
Electrical Engineering.
Software Developer, Embedded C Development.

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CMTEQ

Synchronous Machine vs IBR in DIgSILENT – What’s really happening?

In power system studies, we often “replace” a synchronous generator with a static generator + control when modelling inverter-based resources (IBRs).

But here’s the key insight:

🔹 A synchronous machine has real physical inertia (rotating mass)
🔹 An IBR (Static Generator + Control in DIgSILENT PowerFactory) has no inertia at all

Instead, the IBR is fully control-driven:

P/Q injection is programmed
Voltage & frequency response is simulated
“Machine-like behaviour” is only emulated, not physical

👉 So yes, they can look similar in steady-state studies
❗ But dynamically, they are fundamentally different systems

Next video: I’ll show how to actually set up an IBR in DIgSILENT and replace a synchronous generator step-by-step.