Frequency Event Detection and Mitigation in Power Systems: A Systematic Literature Review

Modern power systems characterized by complex topologies require accurate situational awareness to maintain an adequate level of reliability. Since they are large and spread over wide geographical areas, it is inevitable that failures will occur. Various generation and transmission disturbances, such as generator and transmission line tripping and load disconnection, give rise to a mismatch between generation and demand, which manifest as frequency events. These events can take the form of negligible frequency deviations or more severe emergencies that can precipitate cascading outages, depending on the severity of the disturbance and efficacy of remedial action schema. The impacts of such events have become more critical recently due to increased levels of renewable penetration and distributed energy resources, which have caused a decline in system synchronous inertia. Due to the repercussions, it is indispensable to arrest such disturbances on time by activating primary frequency control measures. In this paper, a comprehensive systematic literature review is presented on the techniques used for event detection in power systems and the methods of primary frequency response in modern power systems. The paper also highlights the impacts of severe frequency events within power systems.