Damping wide-area oscillations in power systems: a model predictive control design

Electromechanical oscillations in power systems have been observed ever since synchronous generators were interconnected to provide reliability and higher generation capacity, and they have become a severe threat for the safe and economic operation of modern interconnected power grids. To dampen these oscillations, wide-area damping controllers (WADCs) have been introduced by utilizing wide-area measurement systems and synchronized phasor measurement units. In this paper, we present a systematic approach for designing WADCs using a model predictive control (MPC) technique to damp interarea oscillations in the power system. The MPC controller computes optimal control signals for the excitation system of a remote generator where it will supplement the local power system stabilizers that are used as damping controllers. The performance of the proposed approach has been assessed on the IEEE 16-generator 68-bus test system, and it is shown that the interarea oscillations can be effectively and robustly damped under varying operation conditions