Our paper on decentralized stability certificates in IBR-dominated grids [1] has been accepted to the PowerUp Conference. Congrats Zhimeng!
[Bibtex] [Abstract] [Download PDF]
Small-signal instabilities, such as unforced sub-synchronous oscillations (SSOs), are increasingly observed in inverter-based resource (IBR) dominated grids. While decentralized stability certificates offer a scalable means to avoid instability onset, they are typically derived under restrictive network-state assumptions–such as small angle differences or negligible voltage drops–that cannot capture how departures from these conditions affect system stability. In this paper, we develop a network model and a decentralized analysis framework that explicitly characterizes how reactive power mismatches, line loading, and inverter control parameters jointly determine small-signal stability. We show that increased steady-state reactive power mismatches and line loading lead to more stringent conditions on admissible inverter droop gains. These results make decentralized stability certificates explicitly network-state dependent, showing how network stress shrinks the set of stabilizing local controller parameters.
@inproceedings{wcgpm2026powerup,
abstract = {Small-signal instabilities, such as unforced sub-synchronous oscillations (SSOs), are increasingly observed in inverter-based resource (IBR) dominated grids. While decentralized stability certificates offer a scalable means to avoid instability onset, they are typically derived under restrictive network-state assumptions--such as small angle differences or negligible voltage drops--that cannot capture how departures from these conditions affect system stability. In this paper, we develop a network model and a decentralized analysis framework that explicitly characterizes how reactive power mismatches, line loading, and inverter control parameters jointly determine small-signal stability. We show that increased steady-state reactive power mismatches and line loading lead to more stringent conditions on admissible inverter droop gains. These results make decentralized stability certificates explicitly network-state dependent, showing how network stress shrinks the set of stabilizing local controller parameters.},
author = {Wang, Zhimeng and Chatterjee, Sushobhan and Geng, Sijia and Pates, Richard and Mallada, Enrique},
booktitle = {PowerUp Conference},
grants = {Global-Centers-2330450; DOE-ASCR-826565},
month = {6},
pubstate = {accepted},
record = {accepted Jun. 2026, submitted Feb. 2026},
title = {Decentralized Stability Certificates in IBR-Dominated Grids: The Role of the Network State},
url = {https://mallada.ece.jhu.edu/pubs/2026-POWERUP-WCGPM.pdf},
year = {2026}
}