PSS Design Using Optimization Search Methods

In this paper, optimization methods are applied to the design of power system stabilizers aiming to improve small-signal stability. Three performance indices are employed as objective functions, one of them taking explicitly robustness as a design requirement, leading to a nonsmooth, nonconvex optimization problem. Two optimization direct search methods are employed to solve that problem. These methods are compared with a hybrid method suited to nonsmooth, nonconvex optimization problems. Application to two test systems show that the power system stabilizers designed using the direct search methods are comparable to the ones designed by the hybrid method.