Coordinated tuning of power system controllers using metaheuristic techniques

This paper presents a new methodology for the coordinated tuning of power system stabilizers, automatic voltage regulators, and static Var compensators, considering various operating and loading conditions. The proposed method is based on the maximization of the damping ratio, which is calculated from the closed-loop state matrix. The optimization process is performed using different metaheuristic techniques, including Genetic Algorithm, Particle Swarm Optimization, and Differential Evolution. In order to obtain the closed-loop state matrix (containing all controllers) for each candidate solution, a new procedure is proposed, which is based on simple modifications of the closed-loop state matrixes of each operating condition. This procedure is simple, but very efficient from the computational point of view. The proposed tuning methodology is tested using the standard IEEE 14-bus test system, the New England system, and the New England/New York interconnected system. Finally, time-domain simulation results are presented, which demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.