ABSTRACT The virtual synchronous generator (VSG)–based photovoltaic system is affected by the external environment and sudden changes in load, which can lead to deteriorations in dynamic characteristics of power and frequency and even system instability. To ensure the dynamic performance and stability of the system, it is necessary to adjust the inertia‐damping parameters in time. This paper proposes a new cooperative adaptive control strategy for VSG inertia and damping parameters by analyzing the output angular frequency change and angular frequency deviation during the dynamic process of the system. Segmental adaptation is based on the size of the perturbation. The parameter selection rule is improved to increase the sensitivity of the parameter adjustment, and the improved sign function is used to prevent the parameter overmodulation problem. Finally, the proposed strategy is verified to effectively improve the system response speed and antidisturbance ability by comparing it with the traditional strategy on the MATLAB/Simulink simulation platform.