Auto-Synthesis of High-Performance Power System Compensators

Increased penetration of distributed energy resources presents a substantial challenge to power system stability. Rapid power fluctuations output complicate real-time supply and demand balance, impacting both both voltage and frequency regulation. Control systems must be capable of more precise disturbance rejection to minimize the impact of large transients and prevent, in the extreme case, system breakup. Feedback controllers which place a premium on high performance in their design methodology may be used to replace low order controllers currently deployed (e.g., proportional, PI, PID) to realize this goal. However, the design of high-order, large feedback systems requires accurate dynamic modelling beyond that usually available in the design of PID-type control. Thus, a method is presented here that facilitates the design of large feedback compensation for automated voltage regulators in the absence of a detailed model. Performance is characterized using a range of metrics consistent with industry standards. An additional 20 dB of feedback is shown to be available at low frequencies over a standard PID tuning method with this approach.