In this paper, a nonlinear robust control approach is applied to design a controller for the Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM). A robust control dynamic model of STATCOM in a one-machine, infinite-bus system is established with consideration of the torque disturbance acting on the rotating shaft of the generator set and the disturbance to the output voltage of STATCOM. A novel recursive approach is utilized to construct the energy storage function of the system such that the solution to the disturbance attenuation control problem is acquired, which avoids the difficulty involved in solving the Hamilton-Jacobi-Issacs (HJI) inequality. Sequentially, the nonlinear disturbance attenuation control strategy of STATCOM is obtained. Simulation results demonstrate that STATCOM with the proposed controller can more effectively improve the voltage stability, damp the oscillation, and enhance the transient stability of power systems compared to the conventional PI+PSS controller.

In this paper, a decentralized control problem is considered for multimachine power systems with nonlinear interconnections and disturbances. A direct feedback linearization compensator is employed to cancel most of the nonlinearities, and then a backstepping procedure is applied to deal with the interconnections and to reduce the effects of a disturbance that does not satisfy the matching condition. In this procedure, the disturbance is handled by using a smooth approximation of the signum function. Practical stability is achieved under the assumption that the infinite norm of the disturbance is known. However, even in the case where the infinite norm of the disturbance is not known precisely, the proposed control system still guarantees $L_2$ stability. Furthermore, the origin is globally uniformly asymptotically stable in the absence of the disturbance. A three-machine power system is considered as an application example.

In this paper a new excitation control scheme that improves the transient stability of multi machine power systems is proposed. To this end the backstepping technique is used to transform the system to a suitable partially linear form. On this system, a combination of both feedback linearization and adaptive control techniques are used to confront the nonlinearities. As shown in the paper, the resulting nonlinear control law ensures the uniform boundedness of all the state and estimated variables. Furthermore, it is proven that all the error variables are uniformly ultimately bounded (DUB) i.e. they converge to arbitrarily selected small regions around zero in finite-time. Simulation tests on a two generator infinite bus power system demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control.

In this paper a new adaptive, decentralized excitation control scheme proposed to enhance the transient stability of multimachine power systems is extensively analyzed with respect to its robustness and disturbance attenuation. As shown in the paper, both robustness and disturbance attenuation can be effectively improved by suitably selecting the design parameters of the proposed controller. Particularly, some simple rules for the selection of the control gains and the adaptation parameters are extracted which, as it is proven, may be essential for the system performance. Simulation tests on a two generator infinite bus power system absolutely confirm the theoretical results.

As a new control strategy, the Nonlinear PID (NLPID) controller has been introduced successfully in power systems. The controller is free of planting model groundwork during the design procedure and is therefore able to be achieved quite simply. In this paper, a nonlinear PID controller used for a superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) unit connected to a power system is proposed. The purpose of designing such a controller is to improve the stability of the power system in a relatively wide operation range. The design procedure takes into account the active and reactive power cooperative control scheme as well as the simple structure so as to be more apt to practical utilization. Simulation is carried out to investigate the performance of the proposed controller in a high order nonlinear power system model under the. MATLAB environment. The results show satisfactory performance and good robustness of the controller. The feasibility of the controller is testified as well.

A novel neuro controller based simple neuro-structure with modified error function is introduced in this paper. This controller consists of two independent controllers, known as the voltage regulator and the angular controller. The voltage regulator is used to modify terminal voltage for the purpose of tracking a reference voltage. The angular controller is utilized to guarantee the stability of the system. In this structure each neuron uses a linear hard limit activation function that depends on the controlled variable and its derivatives. There is no need for parameter identification or any off-line training data. Two proposed controllers are merged by a smooth switch to build a complete controller. The effectiveness of the proposed novel control action is demonstrated through some computer simulations on a Single-Machine Infinite-Bus (SMIB) power system.

Transient stabilization with voltage regulation is investigated for a synchronous generator when the mechanical power is perturbed to any unknown value within its physical bounds so that the operating point of the system shifts to an unknown point. An adaptive excitation controller is designed based on the backstepping method with tuning functions. It will be shown that the adaptive control law proposed can achieve the convergence of the system states to the new equilibrium point in correspondence with the real value of the unknown mechanical power and the regulation of the terminal voltage to the required value. Simulation results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller for the transient stabilization and voltage regulation.

Interactions among multiple control functions of a UPFC installed in a power system have been observed in power system simulation and been reported in authors' previous publications [1,2]. This paper presents new analytical results about these observed interactions and concludes that they are due to the control conflict between the series and shunt part of the UPFC, which are connected through the internal common capacitor inside the UPFC. Investigation in the paper reveals, for the first time as far as the authors are aware of, that the linkage pattern of UPFC series and shunt part decides whether the control functions implemented by the UPFC series and shunt part conflict each other or not. This linkage pattern of UPFC series and shunt part can be described by the flow of active power through the UPFC at steady-state operation of the power system. Hence in order to predict the possible interactions among multiple control functions of the UPFC, an interaction indicator is proposed in the paper which is the direction and amount of active power flow through the internal link of the UPFC series and shunt part at steady-state operation of the power system. This proposed interaction indicator can be calculated from power system load flow solution without having to run simulation of the power system with UPFC controllers installed. By using the indicator, the interactions among multiple control functions of the UPFC caused by badly set controller's parameters are excluded. Therefore the indicator only identifies the possible existence of inherent control conflict of the UPFC.

This paper proposes a combination of the Thyristor Controlled Series Capacitor (TCSC) and Static Var Compensator (SVC) installation for enhancing the damping performance of a power system. The developed scheme employs a damping controller which coordinates measurement signals with control signals to control the TCSC and SVC. The coordinated control method is based on the application of projective controls. Controller performance over a range of operating conditions is investigated through simulation studies on a single-machine infinite-bus power system. The linear analysis and nonlinear simulation results show that the proposed controller can significantly improve the damping performance of the power system and hence, increase its power transfer capabilities. In this paper, a current injection model of TCSC is developed and incorporated in the transmission system model. By using equivalent injected currents at terminal buses to simulate a TCSC no modification of the bus admittance matrix is required at each iteration.

Based on the stability margin provided by the EEAC, the unstable contingencies can be classified into sets according to their unstable modes. This two-part paper develops a globally optimal algorithm for transient stability control to coordinate preventive actions and emergency actions. In the first part, an algorithm is proposed for a set of contingencies having identical unstable modes. Instead of iterations between discrete emergency actions and continuous preventive actions, the algorithm straightforwardly searches for a globally optimal solution. The procedure includes assessing a set of insufficient emergency schemes identified by the EEAC; calculating the related preventive actions needed for stabilizing the system; and selecting the scheme with the minimum overall costs. Simulations on a Chinese power system highlight its excellent performance. The positive results obtained are explained by analogizing settlements for 0-1 knapsack problems using the multi-points greedy algorithm.

Part-I of this two-part paper develops an optimal algorithm for transient stability control to coordinate the preventive actions and emergency actions for a subset of contingencies with an identical unstable mode. In this portion, several subsets of contingencies having dissimilar unstable modes are dealt with. Preventive actions benefiting a subset of contingencies may go against the stability of others, thus coordination among the optimal schemes for individual subsets is necessary. The coordination can be achieved by replacing some preventive actions with contingency-specified emergency actions. It is formulated as a classical model of economic dispatch with stability constraints and stability control costs. Such an optimal algorithm is proposed based on the algorithm in Part-I of the paper and is verified by simulations on a Chinese power system.

This paper presents a new approach to Thyristor Controlled Phase Shifter (TCPS) control. In this paper we have proposed a nonlinear coordinated generator excitation and TCPS controller to enhance the transient stability of a power system. The proposed controller is able to control three main parameters affecting a.c. power transmission: namely excitation voltage, phase angle and reactance in a coordinated manner. The TCPS is located at the midpoint of the transmission line. A nonlinear feedback control law is proposed to linearize and decouple the power system. The design of the proposed controller is based on the local measurements only. Simulation results have been shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller for the enhancement of transient stability of the power system under a large sudden fault.

Deregulations and market practices in power industry have brought great challenges to the system planning area. In particular, they introduce a variety of uncertainties to system planning. New techniques are required to cope with such uncertainties. As a promising approach, probabilistic methods are attracting more and more attentions by system planners. In small signal stability analysis, generation control parameters play an important role in determining the stability margin. The objective of this paper is to investigate power system state matrix sensitivity characteristics with respect to system parameter uncertainties with analytical and numerical approaches and to identify those parameters have great impact on system eigenvalues, therefore, the system stability properties. Those identified parameter variations need to be investigated with priority. The results can be used to help Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) and Independent System Operators (ISOs) perform planning studies under the open access environment.

The paper describes some of the challenges that face the control of nonlinear interconnected power systems. The challenges include the selection of appropriate control and information structures that could range from a completely decentralized to a fully centralized structure. Once a structure is proven to be feasible, the effectiveness of control signals needs to be assessed. Analytical tools are derived for this purpose in the first part of the paper, and they are illustrated with a case study that involves the design of a damping decentralized controller using a Thyristor Controlled Series Compensation device. The second part of the paper deals with the load following and tracking problem through automatic generation control for a system that has been re-structured or deregulated. This problem can be solved using a completely decentralized scheme. It is solved here using fuzzy rules and with an emphasis on compliance with NERC's standards and reduction of wear and tear of the equipment. It is illustrated with a test system that has three interconnected control areas. Finally, comments on the economics of control and the author's vision are presented.

The proliferation of technology has made global conduction of business increasingly dependent upon the availability of reliable power. As a result, alternate power systems are being installed and expanded to protect the broadening scope of critical electrical loads. Bus transfer restores designated critical loads to an alternate source when utility derived service becomes inadequate or goes out of service due to any contingency. This paper describes the practices, requirements and implementation of bus transfer of motor loads to an alternate source of power. A new high-speed automatic bus transfer scheme is proposed which includes the development of a new algorithm for determining the type of bus transfer required and the realization of the scheme by using modem protection devices and intra-substation communication facilities.