A Scalable Nyquist Stability Criterion with Application to Power System Small-Signal Stability

Abstract: A decentralized stability criterion is derived for a power system with heterogeneous subsystems. A condition for frequency stability and stability of interarea modes is derived using the generalized Nyquist criterion. The resulting scalable Nyquist stability criterion requires only locally available information and gives a priori stability guarantees for connecting new subsystems to an arbitrarily large network. The method can be applied to a general set of agents. For instance, agents with time-delays, nonminimum phase actuators or even unstable dynamics. The scalable Nyquist criterion makes no distinction between nodes with or without synchronous inertia, making it easy to include converter-interfaced renewable energy in the analysis. The method is validated on a detailed nonlinear power system model with frequency droop provided by hydro governors assisted by wind power.