Performance of flocking-based control schemes in smart grid applications

Flocking control has recently been used in smart grid applications to stabilize power systems during a transient instability period. Based on consensus and cooperation of multi-agent control systems, flocking control uses cyber information about the power system to help achieve stability after the occurrence of a fault in the power system. Recent work showed that such controller can be useful in a smart power grid; however, issues of the controller´s power usage, stability time, and frequency deviation have not been investigated yet. This paper investigates the effect of the power generators´ inertia on these issues in a WECC 3-generator power system. Results of this work show that the location of the fault affects the relationship between the generators´ inertia and the investigated measures.