Impact of network degradation on load frequency control of large interconnected power system

Due to the extensive geographical coverage of the power system, the load frequency control (LFC) performance is impacted by communication delays and packet loss that occur during the exchange of control and measurement signals. In the literature on LFC of large interconnected power systems, communication delays are often assumed to be arbitrary or time-varying values based on probability distributions or estimation models. Most studies neglect realistic delays based on the actual communication technology present in the system despite its practical significance. Furthermore, the impact of packet loss in LFC studies has been largely overlooked in the existing literature. This research work presents a comprehensive investigation into the impact of real-time communication delay and packet loss on LFC performance in large interconnected power systems. The simulation results demonstrate the significant impact of communication network impairments on LFC performance. The classical simulation results are validated using Real-Time Hardware-in-the-Loop (RT-HIL) simulation.