Voltage Collapse Stabilization in Star DC Networks

Voltage collapse is a type of blackout-inducing dynamic instability that occurs when power demand exceeds the maximum power that can be transferred through a network. The traditional (preventive) approach to avoid voltage collapse is based on ensuring that the network never reaches its maximum capacity. However, such an approach leads to inefficient use of network resources and does not account for unforeseen events. To overcome this limitation, this paper seeks to initiate the study of voltage collapse stabilization, i.e., the design of load controllers aimed at stabilizing the point of voltage collapse. We formulate the problem of voltage stability for a star direct current network as a dynamic problem where each load seeks to achieve a constant power consumption by updating its conductance as the voltage changes. We introduce a voltage collapse stabilization controller and show that the high-voltage equilibrium is stabilized. More importantly, we are able to achieve proportional load shedding under extreme loading conditions. We further highlight the key features of our controller using numerical illustrations.