Towards a distributed control regime for robust synchronization and power sharing of inverter-based ac power networks

Abstract

The objective of the proposed research is 1) to develop a general dynamic condition sufficient to ensure frequency synchronization of inverter-based AC power networks, and 2) to develop a distributed control regime that is capable of guaranteeing that the above condition holds for a scalable class of such networks. I will first develop a structure-preserving model of an arbitrary network whose sources are all inverters operating frequency-droop control. By applying graph theoretic methods to the model, I will show that there exists a “safe operating region” of the state space such that if the network angle trajectory stays in this region, then frequency synchronization is shown by Lyapunov-like methods. By analogy to similar problems solved in other applications, I will develop a new distributed control regime to constrain a network of the target class to the safe operating region, thus guaranteeing frequency synchronization. These techniques may form the basis for future development of ultra-reliable, scalable inverter-based networks.