Physics-Informed Neural Networks for Non-linear System Identification applied to Power System Dynamics

Varying power-infeed from converter-based generation units introduces great uncertainty on system parameters such as inertia and damping. As a consequence, system operators face increasing challenges in performing dynamic security assessment and taking real-time control actions. Exploiting the widespread deployment of phasor measurement units (PMUs) and aiming at developing a fast dynamic state and parameter estimation tool, this paper investigates the performance of Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINN) for discovering the frequency dynamics of future power systems and monitoring the system inertia in real-time. PINNs have the potential to address challenges such as the stronger non-linearities of low-inertia systems, increased measurement noise, and limited availability of data. The estimator is demonstrated in several test cases using a 4-bus system, and compared with state of the art algorithms, such as the Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF), to assess its performance.