Date of Graduation

12-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (MSEE)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Electrical Engineering

Advisor/Mentor

McCann, Roy

Committee Member

Wu, Jingxian

Second Committee Member

Balda, Juan

Keywords

Adaptive Control Method; Critical Clearing Time; Reliability Standards; Renewable Generation

Abstract

Improving power transmission and quality has been an area of research interest over the past decades and was improved using renewable energy resources, mainly wind, and solar generation. Renewable energy penetration into power grids aims to replace some traditional synchronous generators, affecting the overall power system with reduced gas emissions that help with climate change and pollution issues. However, renewable generation in power systems ranging from microgrids to national grids is subjected to large disturbances that affect its transient stability, which is measured by its critical clearing time. As increased amounts of renewable generation connected to power systems have resulted in reduced critical clearing times of the remaining conventional generators that are needed for grid stability. The use of standard control system design methods, such as full-state feedback and pole placement, can overcome stability limitation and increase the critical clearing time, yet their effect can be degraded with variable transmission line parameters. This thesis investigates the utilization of the Model-Reference Adaptive Control method (MRAC), a sophisticated control method that handles parameter uncertainty in power systems and enhances their resilience to faults. Using MATLAB to develop the reduced order Heffron-Phillip Model parameters and initial operations, it is then tested in Simulink to evaluate the critical clearing time, control inputs, and overall grid stability during a fault condition under three cases: without control, with a conventional PID-PSS, and with MRAC-PSS. The simulation results show that the standard control methods, designed using fixed parameters, proved to be unreliable under actual variable impedances in power grids. The findings show the necessity of using a more reliable control method that ensures the system’s stability, increases critical clearing time, and resilience against fault tolerance. This was achieved using the MRAC control method, as it provided real-time parameter adaptation. Thus, integrating renewable generation in power grids introduces challenges that can be overcome using adaptive control strategies, enabling reliable operation and add to the benefits of renewable penetration. Keywords: Renewable Generation, Critical Clearing Time, Adaptive Control Method, Grid Reliability Standards, Simulation

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