Cooperative Active Power Balance in Wide-Area Interconnected Power Systems Using Complex Network Control

In wide-area interconnected power systems, cooperative active power balance is increasingly challenged by the intensifying couplings among the generation, information, and control networks, necessitating advanced load frequency control strategies with enhanced communication design and effective frequency regulation signal processing. To address this, a wide-area load frequency control framework is proposed from a complex networked control system perspective. Specifically, a multilayer coupling network is established to explicitly characterize the coupling topologies in wide-area interconnected power systems. To balance measurement accuracy and communication cost, an advanced dual-stream communication architecture is developed. Moreover, a composite area control error is proposed to streamline control actions while maintaining system stability. Based on this, a topology-aware distributed controller is further developed to achieve cooperative active power balance. Rigorous stability analysis and controller synthesis are provided. Extensive simulations on the IEEE 39-bus system evaluate the active power balance response under three typical power grid topologies and two load operating modes, demonstrating the effectiveness and universality of the proposed frequency control framework as well as the merits of the dual-stream communication architecture.