An introduction to normal forms of vector fields: new framework for assessing stability of highly stressed power systems

An advanced approach to modeling behavior and assessing stability of power systems has been developed in research funded by the Electric Power Research Institute. This approach, which is based on normal forms methods, enables nonlinearity in power flow dynamics to be addressed for the first time. Nonlinearity is growing increasingly significant for modern stressed power systems and has been the cause of many grid stability problems in the United States and elsewhere. Analyses using the new normal forms approach on secondand higher-order characterizations of power system dynamics are under way; already an index of stability has been discovered that predicts modal stability for power grids on-line