Power System Rotor Angle Stability Enhancement Using Lyapunov-Based Trajectory Tracking Controller and Model Reference Adaptive Control

It is vital that the synchronous generator rotor angle be kept stable to avoid disastrous consequences such as the loss of synchronism amongst generators within a power system network. Once it is unstable, the time that is taken to remedy this is advised to be 5–10 s for smaller power systems and 15–20 s for larger ones. The instability that is caused by poorly damped Low-Frequency Electromechanical Oscillations (LFEOs) may result in inter-area oscillations, where a group of generators in one area oscillates against those in another area, thus affecting the stability of the entire network. This paper explores two control architectures, namely, a nonlinear Lyapunov-based trajectory tracking controller and a Model Reference Adaptive Controller (MRAC) as options to enhance the stability of the rotor angle. The performance of each of these controllers was assessed under steady-state conditions, and then, the synchronous generator was subjected to Gaussian noise and an impulse. While the first one is aimed at emulating small variations in the system loads that are responsible for inter-area oscillations, the latter one is an attempt to explore their performance for transient stability.