A Field Test to Determine PSS Effectiveness at Multigenerator Power Plants

This paper presents a new field test to adequately assess the oscillation damping effectiveness of the PSSs in a multigenerator power plant. The test allows estimating the location of the dominant open-loop poles (i.e., in the absence of PSSs at the multigenerator plant) from frequency response measurements of the closed-loop multivariable system. This test was first carried out at the Itaipu 60-Hz power station, which was generating 4000 MW at the time. The test validation was made through comparison of obtained frequency response measurements with computer simulations of a detailed dynamic model of the Brazilian interconnected power system.