Persistence of Multiple Interaction Paths for Individual Inter-Area Modes

Dominant interaction paths are the passageways containing the highest modal content of particular oscillations in interconnected power systems. For the case of inter-area modes, pinpointing the dominant path that corresponds to each mode may allow for the extraction of signals that bear a significant modal content at a particular inter-area frequency. Strong modal content for these inter-area modes may also be spread onto secondary paths. These secondary paths bear similar properties as those shown by dominant paths. The aim of this study is thus to demonstrate the persistence of both dominant and secondary paths by employing “network modeshape” properties. The existence of the paths is verified by nonlinear time-domain simulations where modal content at each inter-area frequency is extracted. The proper selection of feedback signals from the dominating paths may increase the flexibility of WAPODs by providing a number of signal choices to be used as backup in the presence of contingencies.