Inter-area Oscillations in Power Systems: A Nonlinear and Nonstationary Perspective

The study of complex dynamic processes governed by nonlinear and nonstationary characteristics is a problem of great importance in the analysis and control of power system oscillatory behavior. Power system dynamic processes are highly random, nonlinear to some extent, and intrinsically nonstationary even over short time intervals as in the case of severe transient oscillations in which switching events and control actions interact in a complex manner. Phenomena observed in power system oscillatory dynamics are diverse and complex. Measured ambient data are known to exhibit noisy, nonstationary fluctuations resulting primarily from small magnitude, random changes in load, driven by low-scale motions or nonlinear trends originating from slow control actions or changes in operating conditions. Forced oscillations resulting from major cascading events, on the other hand, may contain motions with a broad range of scales and can be highly nonlinear and time-varying. Prediction of temporal dynamics, with the ultimate application to real-time system monitoring, protection and control, remains a major research challenge due to the complexity of the driving dynamic and control processes operating on various temporal scales that can become dynamically involved. An understanding of system dynamics is critical for reliable inference of the underlying mechanisms in the observed oscillations and is needed for the development of effective wide-area measurement and control systems, and for improved operational reliability.

Inter-area Oscillations in Power Systems: A Nonlinear and Nonstationary Perspective deals with the development and application of advanced measurement-based signal processing techniques to the study, characterization, and control of inter-area oscillations in power systems. The material reviews recent advances in understanding, modeling and controlling system oscillations with special emphasis on the analysis and control of complex time-varying (and possibly nonlinear) power system transient processes.

The book is organized into eight chapters written by leading researchers who are major contributors in this field. The authors provide techniques that explicitly address the nonlinear and nonstationary aspects of the problem. Efficient methods to generate time-varying system approximations from both measured and simulated data are proposed. Attention is also given to the vital new ideas of dynamic security assessment in real-time implementations and the development of smart, wide-area measurement and control systems incorporating FACTS technologies. Application examples include the analysis of real data collected on grids in western North America, Australia, Italy and Mexico.

Inter-area Oscillations in Power Systems: A Nonlinear and Nonstationary Perspective is a comprehensive, systematic account of current analysis methods in power system oscillatory dynamics in both time and frequency domains ranging from parametric and non-parametric signal processing methods, to data-driven time-series models and statistical approaches.