MPC-Based Load Shedding for Voltage Stability Enhancement

Impending voltage collapse can often be avoided by appropriate control of loads. However the traditional form of load control (shedding) is unpopular due to the resulting consumer disruption. Advances in communications and computer systems allow more selective load control though. Individual loads that are sacrificeable in the short-term can be switched with minimal consumer disruption. The paper considers the use of such non-disruptive load control for improving voltage stability. A control strategy that is based on model predictive control (MPC) is proposed. MPC utilizes an internal model to predict system dynamic behaviour over a finite horizon. Control decisions are based on optimizing that predicted response. MPC is a discrete-time form of control, so inaccuracies in predicted behaviour are corrected at the next control interval. A standard 10 bus voltage collapse example is used to illustrate this control strategy.