Fault‐tolerant load frequency control for one‐area power systems with time‐varying delays and actuator failures

Abstract This paper focuses on fault‐tolerant load frequency regulation of a one‐area power system subject to time‐varying delays and actuator failures. A novel stochastic actuator failure model is proposed by incorporating the probabilistic nature of faults, enabling a more realistic representation of system uncertainties. A sufficient condition is derived via the construction of an appropriate Lyapunov functional that ensures the mean‐square stability of the closed‐loop system. Furthermore, the treatment of coupling terms in linear matrix inequalities (LMI) is reformulated as a W‐problem, and a less conservative controller design method is proposed to enhance robustness under uncertainty. Finally, numerical simulation demonstrates the proposed method is both effective and practical. The method is particularly suitable for one‐area systems with moderate complexity and known failure distributions, but its performance may degrade in large‐scale multiarea systems or under highly unpredictable failure dynamics.