Governor-deadband-induced sliding bifurcations in South-East European Interconnection model

Nonlinear effects in power systems have always been a concern for stability related studies. In this paper a case in which a sliding-mode equilibrium emerges is presented. This equilibrium arises from the switching operation due to the dead-band effect of speed governor control of thermal power plants. The emergence of two natural virtual equilibria corresponding to the two modes of operation (active/inactive steam power plant governors) result in a sliding equilibrium, where the system operates exactly on the frequency deadband limit. In this paper we analyze sliding bifurcations on a power system model and present results of corresponding phenomena in a model of a large part of the European Interconnection.