arXiv subjects

Trager Joswig-Jones

Publications and source records attributed to Trager Joswig-Jones.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Sensitivity-Based System Strength Assessment: Mapping Power Flow and Network Topology Perturbations to System Eigenvalues

As inverter-based resources (IBRs) contribute larger shares of generation in electrical power grids, quantifying system strength becomes increasingly important for identifying stability issues introduced by these devices. While admittance model based system strength metrics have been proposed to identify control interactions in systems with high levels of IBRs, these methods depend on repeated evaluations across many operating points to understand how the state of the system impacts system strength. To address this challenge, we consider the sensitivity of system stability to perturbations in the steady-state operating point, and propose system strength metrics based on sensitivities to power injections, voltages, and line admittances. Using these sensitivities we can identify changes in the system's state (e.g. a line tripping off or a generator increasing its power output) that trigger instability mechanisms. We show that these metrics provide critical insights into system stability and can be computed much faster than repeated eigenvalue calculations. We demonstrate our approach on 14-bus and 118-bus test systems to show how the metrics can be used to find remedial actions for small-signal stability issues.

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arXiv2026

Convexity and Optimal Online Control of Grid-Interfacing Converters with Current Limits

Converter-based generators and loads are growing in prevalence on power grids across the globe. The rise of these resources necessitates controllers that handle the power electronic devices' strict current limits without jeopardizing stability or overly constraining behavior. Existing controllers often employ complex, cascaded control loop architecture to saturate currents, but these controllers are challenging to tune properly and can destabilize following large disturbances. In this paper, we extend previous analysis to prove the feasible output region of a grid-connected converter is convex regardless of filter topology. We then formulate a convex optimal control problem from which we derive a projected gradient descent-based controller with convergence guarantees. This approach drives the converter toward optimality in real-time and differs from conventional control strategies that regulate converter outputs around predefined references regardless of surrounding grid conditions. Simulation results demonstrate safe and stabilizing behavior of the proposed controller, in both the single-converter-infinite-bus systems and multi-converter networks.

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arXiv2026

Switching-Reference Voltage Control for Distribution Systems with AI-Training Data Centers

Large-scale AI training workloads in data centers exhibit rapid and periodic power swings that can induce voltage deviations in power distribution systems. Existing voltage controllers treat these swings as a generic disturbance, leading to high control effort but still large voltage violations. However, such emerging loads are not random: they alternate between two distinct operating phases. This paper exploits this structure with a decentralized switching-reference voltage control framework. By switching each voltage reference in step with the workload phases, the controller cancels the phase-induced voltage shift, holding the voltage within limits with low control effort. Because real-time communication between buses is not always available, the controller is designed to infer the reference from local voltage measurements. This paper further proves convergence under deadband and saturation. In case studies on real AI training power traces, the switching reference suppresses voltage violations, sometimes eliminating them entirely, while reducing the control effort by approximately an order of magnitude compared with conventional droop control. Further experiments confirm that it remains effective with multiple data centers and internal load smoothing.

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arXiv2026

Safe Trajectory Gradient Flow Control of a Grid-Interfacing Inverter

Grid-interfacing inverters serve as the interface between renewable energy resources and the electric power grid, offering fast, programmable control capabilities. However, their operation is constrained by hardware limitations, such as bounds on the current magnitude. Existing control methods for these systems often neglect these constraints during controller design and instead rely on ad hoc limiters, which can introduce instability or degrade performance. In this work, we present a control framework that directly incorporates constraints into the control of a voltage-source inverter. We propose a safe trajectory gradient flow controller, which applies the safe gradient flow method to a rolling horizon trajectory optimization problem to ensure that the states remain within a safe set defined by the constraints while directing the trajectory towards an optimal equilibrium point of a nonlinear program. Simulation results demonstrate that our approach can drive the outputs of a simulated inverter system to optimal values and maintain state constraints, even when using a limited number of optimization steps per control cycle.

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arXiv2025

Geometry of the Feasible Output Regions of Grid-Interfacing Inverters with Current Limits

Many resources in the grid connect to power grids via programmable grid-interfacing inverters that can provide grid services and offer greater control flexibility and faster response times compared to synchronous generators. However, the current through the inverter needs to be limited to protect the semiconductor components. Existing controllers are designed using somewhat ad hoc methods, for example, by adding current limiters to preexisting control loops, which can lead to stability issues or overly conservative operations. In this paper, we study the geometry of the feasible output region of a current-limited inverter. We show that under a commonly used model, the feasible region is convex. We provide an explicit characterization of this region, which allows us to efficiently find the optimal operating points of the inverter. We demonstrate how knowing the feasible set and its convexity allows us to improve upon existing grid-forming inverters such that their steady-state currents always remain within the current magnitude limit, whereas standard grid-forming controllers can lead to instabilities and violations.

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arXiv2025

Optimal Control of Grid-Interfacing Inverters With Current Magnitude Limits

Grid-interfacing inverters act as the interface between renewable resources and the electric grid, and have the potential to offer fast and programmable controls compared to synchronous generators. With this flexibility there has been significant research efforts into determining the best way to control these inverters. Inverters are limited in their maximum current output in order to protect semiconductor devices, presenting a nonlinear constraint that needs to be accounted for in their control algorithms. Existing approaches either simply saturate a controller that is designed for unconstrained systems, or assume small perturbations and linearize a saturated system. These approaches can lead to stability issues or limiting the control actions to be too conservative. In this paper, we directly focus on a nonlinear system that explicitly accounts for the saturation of the current magnitude. We use a Lyapunov stability approach to determine a stability condition for the system, guaranteeing that a class of controllers would be stabilizing if they satisfy a simple SDP condition. With this condition we fit a linear-feedback controller by sampling the output (offline) model predictive control problems. This learned controller has improved performances with existing designs.

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arXiv2025

Safe Control of Grid-Interfacing Inverters with Current Magnitude Limits

Grid-interfacing inverters allow renewable resources to be connected to the electric grid and offer fast and programmable control responses. However, inverters are subject to significant physical constraints. One such constraint is a current magnitude limit required to protect semiconductor devices. While many current limiting methods are available, they can often unpredictably alter the behavior of the inverter control during overcurrent events leading to instability or poor performance. In this paper, we present a safety filter approach to limit the current magnitude of inverters controlled as voltage sources. The safety filter problem is formulated with a control barrier function constraint that encodes the current magnitude limit. To ensure feasibility of the problem, we prove the existence of a safe linear controller for a specified reference. This approach allows for the desired voltage source behavior to be minimally altered while safely limiting the current output.

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arXiv2021

OPF-Learn: An Open-Source Framework for Creating Representative AC Optimal Power Flow Datasets

Increasing levels of renewable generation motivate a growing interest in data-driven approaches for AC optimal power flow (AC OPF) to manage uncertainty; however, a lack of disciplined dataset creation and benchmarking prohibits useful comparison among approaches in the literature. To instill confidence, models must be able to reliably predict solutions across a wide range of operating conditions. This paper develops the OPF-Learn package for Julia and Python, which uses a computationally efficient approach to create representative datasets that span a wide spectrum of the AC OPF feasible region. Load profiles are uniformly sampled from a convex set that contains the AC OPF feasible set. For each infeasible point found, the convex set is reduced using infeasibility certificates, found by using properties of a relaxed formulation. The framework is shown to generate datasets that are more representative of the entire feasible space versus traditional techniques seen in the literature, improving machine learning model performance.

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