Distributed frequency control for stability and economic dispatch in power networks

We explore two different frequency control strategies to ensure stability of power networks and achieve economic dispatch between generators and controllable loads. We first show the global asymptotic stability of a completely decentralized frequency integral control. Then we design a distributed averaging-based integral (DAI) control which operates by local frequency sensing and neighborhood communication. Equilibrium analysis shows that DAI recovers the nominal frequency with minimum total generation cost and user disutility for load control after a change in generation or load. Local asymptotic stability of DAI is established with a Lyapunov method. Simulations demonstrate improvement in both transient and steady-state performance achieved by the proposed control strategies, compared to droop control.