A distributed scheme for secondary frequency control with stability guarantees and optimal power allocation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel distributed control scheme for secondary frequency regulation in power networks that guarantees stability and optimal power distribution using generation measurements, adaptable to various generator dynamics.

Contribution

The proposed control method overcomes limitations of existing schemes by utilizing generation measurements and accommodating higher-order generator models, with stability and optimality guarantees.

Findings

Achieves convergence to nominal frequency and optimal power allocation in simulations.

Handles higher-order generator dynamics effectively.

Provides a computationally efficient way to select controller parameters.

Abstract

We consider the problem of distributed secondary frequency regulation in power networks such that stability and an optimal power allocation are attained. This is a problem that has been widely studied in the literature, and two main control schemes have been proposed, usually referred to as 'primal-dual' and 'distributed averaging proportional-integral (DAPI)' respectively. However, each has its limitations, with the former requiring knowledge of uncontrollable demand, which can be difficult to obtain in real time, and with the existing literature on the latter being based on static models for generation and demand. We propose a novel control scheme that overcomes these issues by making use of generation measurements in the control policy. In particular, our analysis allows distributed stability and optimality guarantees to be deduced with practical measurement requirements and permits a broad range of linear generation dynamics, that can be of higher order, to be incorporated in the power network. We show how the controller parameters can be selected in a computationally efficient way by solving appropriate linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Furthermore, we demonstrate how the proposed analysis applies to several examples of turbine governor models. The practicality of our analysis is demonstrated with simulations on the Northeast Power Coordinating Council (NPCC) 140-bus system that verify that our proposed controller achieves convergence to the nominal frequency and an economically optimal power allocation.