Abstract
A Wide Area Measurement System (WAMS) can extend and effectively improve a controllers' capability of damping inter-area low-frequency oscillations in interconnected power systems. This paper presents an implementation of a Wide Area Fractional-Order Proportional-Integral-Derivative (WA-FOPID) damping controller to improve the system damping. A modal analysis approach is proposed to identify the best location for the WA-FOPID controller and the optimal combination of input signals. The differential evolution optimization algorithm is used to determine the optimal controller parameters, and a nonlinear time-domain-based objective function is formulated to minimize the time-weighted errors. The proposed approach is successfully applied to a two-area four-machine system, as well as to a practical multi-area power system. The nonlinear time-domain simulations indicate that the proposed WA-FOPID damping controller can effectively dampen inter-area oscillations and improve system stability. irrespective of the severity or location of disturbances.