Spontaneous synchrony in power-grid networks

By Adilson E. Motter, Seth A. Myers, Marian Anghel, Takashi Nishikawa. Nature Physics, 2013

712 citations recorded by the source corpus.

An imperative condition for the functioning of a power-grid network is that its power generators remain synchronized. Disturbances can prompt desynchronization, which is a process that has been involved in large power outages. Here we derive a condition under which the desired synchronous state of a power grid is stable, and use this condition to identify tunable parameters of the generators that are determinants of spontaneous synchronization. Our analysis gives rise to an approach to specify parameter assignments that can enhance synchronization of any given network, which we demonstrate for a selection of both test systems and real power grids. These findings may be used to optimize stability and help devise new control schemes, thus offering an additional layer of protection and contributing to the development of smart grids that can recover from failures in real time. Power-grid networks must be synchronized in order to function. A condition for the stability of the synchronous state enables identification of network parameters that enhance spontaneous synchronization—heralding the possibility of smart grids that operate optimally in real-world systems.

Subfields: Computer Networks and Communications, Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2df37881225484802df7e847bf07fae047cb3ceb

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Citations in the corpus

Cluster synchronization and isolated desynchronization in complex networks with symmetries (2013, background): “The non-trivial clusters are the nodes [1, 8], [2, 3, 7, 9], [4, 6], [5, 10] (the numbering of nodes matches the row and column numbers of A).”
Synchronization in complex networks and its application - A survey of recent advances and challenges (2014, background): “…¼ 1 4Q i ffiffiffiffiffi a2 p Di ; i ¼ 1;2; . . . ;N; or the damping coefficient Di to Di ¼ 4Q i ffiffiffiffiffi a2 p 1 Ri ; i ¼ 1;2; . . . ;N: As suggested in Motter et al. (2013), the tuning of Ri is suitable for off-line optimization of stability, because the timescales of Ri are usually…”
Synchronization in complex networks of phase oscillators: A survey (2014, methodology): “The coupling is typically quantified by the algebraic connectivity λ2(L) (Arenas et al., 2008; Boccaletti et al., 2006; Dörfler & Bullo, 2012b; Jadbabaie et al., 2004; Motter et al., 2013; Nishikawa, Motter, Lai, & Hoppensteadt, 2003; Pecora & Carroll, 1998; Restrepo et al., 2005;Wu&Kumagai, 1980), ”
Oscillators that sync and swarm (2017, background): “For example, insights from biological synchronization have shed light on neutrino oscillations [17], phase locking in Josephson junction arrays [18], the dynamics of power grids [19, 20], and the unexpected wobbling of London’s Millennium Bridge on opening day [21].”