Design of novel UPFC based damping controller for solar PV integrated power system using arithmetic optimization algorithm

Abstract Integrating renewable energy sources like solar power into traditional power systems poses challenges. One such challenge is the effect of renewable power plants, which use power electronics, on the grid’s stability. Specifically, these plants can impact small-signal stability by either damping or exacerbating low-frequency oscillations. This paper introduces a novel Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) based damping controller specifically designed for Solar Photovoltaic (PV) integrated power systems. It employs an Arithmetic Optimization Algorithm (AOA) to optimize the UPFC damping controller parameters and mitigate low-frequency oscillations in the power system. The objective function minimizes the Integral Time Absolute Error (ITAE) of speed deviations under varying loading conditions. The proposed technique is utilized simultaneously to control the modulation index of series and phase angle of shunt converters of UPFC. The MATLAB/simulation results obtained effectively from the proposed technique which is actualized and identify both detrimental and beneficial impacts of increased PV penetration for small signal stability performance. The study reveals both the small-signal stability of the system and its response to large disturbances that alter the active power balance and frequency stability. The results of the analysis demonstrated with single and multimachine environment by comparing with the other optimizations like PSO, DE, DE-PSO and GWO, the proposed one is effective for damping out the oscillations. The effectiveness of the proposed damping controller is further confirmed through real-time validation using the OPAL-RT setup.