Small-Signal Stability Criteria in AC Distribution Systems—A Review

AC distribution grid is prone to instability due to negative impedance and constant power nature of the load if it is dominant with power electronics-based components. There are various time-domain and frequency-domain modelling methods which use various methodologies and analytical tools. Also, there are many small-signal stability analysis (SSSA) methods and their different variants for different specific conditions and situation. This paper presents a review of SSSA methods in AC distribution grid using impedance-based models in a synchronous reference frame (SRF). By simplifying and converting the system into load and source subsystem, the impedances of both subsystems are determined by perturbation method. For a single-phase system, Hilbert transform can be used to derive the equivalent SRF model. Afterwards, the Nyquist stability criterion can be used for stability analysis.