Frequency drop due to loss of massive generation is a threat to power system frequency stability. Under-frequency load shedding (UFLS) is the principal measure to prevent successive frequency declination and blackouts. Based on traditional stage-by-stage UFLS scheme, a new continuous UFLS scheme is proposed in this paper to shed loads proportional to frequency deviation. The characteristic of the proposed scheme is analyzed with a closed-form solution of frequency dynamics. Frequency threshold and time delay are added to make the proposed scheme practical. A line-by-line scheme based on precise load control is introduced to implement the continuous scheme for systems without enough continuously controllable loads. The load shedding scale factor of the proposed scheme is tuned with an analytical method to achieve adaptability to different operating conditions. The adaptability of the proposed scheme is validated with 39-bus New England model and simplified Shandong Power Grid of China.

With the accelerating integration of variable renewable energies (VREs), power systems become more vulnerable to active power disturbances, and more drastic frequency dynamics emerge. The battery energy storage system (BESS) is able to handle the uncertainties of VREs, and the decreasing system inertia and frequency regulation capability. This paper proposes a chance-constrained optimal configuration scheme for the BESS to maintain both the uncertain power fluctuations and frequency deviation within predefined limits. First, the required frequency regulation capability of the BESS constrained by the maximum transient frequency deviation (MTFD) and quasi-steady-state frequency deviation (QSSFD) is estimated. Then, the kernel density estimation method is utilized to model the net power fluctuations of VREs and load. A multi-objective chance-constrained programming model accounting for the life cycle cost, energy arbitrage, uncertain power fluctuation, MTFD, and QSSFD is established to optimize the capacity of the BESS. Furthermore, the Bernstein approximation is utilized to process the chance constraint, and transform the optimization model into a deterministic form. Based on the linear weighted method and Benders decomposition, the optimization model is solved through alternating iteration. Case studies were conducted to validate the proposed scheme, showing superior performance in smoothing uncertain power fluctuations, and reducing frequency deviation under contingencies.

Numerical simulation is the key technique for large scale power system analysis. Redistribution of global renewable power via international interconnections requires new simulation tools to study the interconnected systems with different nominal frequencies as a whole. This paper introduces an open source simulation toolkit for electrical power systems (STEPS) which is hosted at Github. Its kernel is coded in C++ with major functions of power flow and electro-mechanical dynamic simulation. Flexible options are provided and configurable to improve power flow solution and dynamic simulation. Common devices and models are supported in STEPS for AC/DC hybrid system studies. Studies of interconnected systems with different nominal frequencies is supported in STEPS for research of international interconnection. Application program interfaces are provided and wrapped with Python to enable high-level interfaces for general applications. STEPS is thread safe and parallel computation is supported in both kernel and script levels to accelerate simulation. It is portable and works on Windows and GNU/Linux platforms. Cases from small to large scale systems are thoroughly tested to validate the toolkit with commercial packages as benchmarks.

Fast insecurity early warning is the key technique to resist the dynamic insecurity risk, which becomes intractable due to the strong nonlinearity of hybrid AC/DC grids and the high uncertainty of wind generation. Considering dynamic security constraints and wind power uncertainty, this paper presents an insecurity early warning method based on decision tree (DT) and semi-supervised deep learning. First, semi-supervised deep learning is deployed to estimate the dynamic security limit of the critical interface of hybrid AC/DC grids. The system security is assessed by comparing the actual power transfer of the critical interface with the security limit. Then, operating conditions (OCs) are ranked into different insecure levels according to the type of preventive control actions that is needed to ensure the system security. Finally, oblique DT is utilized to identify insecurity classification boundaries in the wind power injection space. Insecure OC sets are constructed based on these classification boundaries. Simulation results of the real-life Jiangsu-Shanghai interconnected grid in east China demonstrate that the proposed method can fast construct the insecure OC sets corresponding to different insecure levels.