Next-Generation Grid Codes: Toward a New Paradigm for Dynamic Ancillary Services

Abstract: This paper presents preliminary results toward a conceptual foundation for Next Generation Grid Codes (NGGCs) based on decentralized stability and performance certification for dynamic ancillary services. The proposed NGGC framework targets two core outcomes: (i) guaranteed closed-loop stability and (ii) explicit performance assurances for power-system frequency and voltage dynamics. Stability is addressed using loop-shifting and passivity-based methods that yield local frequency-domain certificates for individual devices, enabling fully decentralized verification of the interconnected system. Performance is characterized by deriving quantitative bounds on key time-domain metrics (e.g., nadirs, rate-of-change-of-frequency (RoCoF), steady-state deviations, and oscillation damping) through frequency-domain constraints on local device behavior. The framework is non-parametric and model-agnostic, accommodating a broad class of device dynamics under mild assumptions, and provides an initial unified approach to stability and performance certification without explicit device-model parameterization. As such, these results offer a principled starting point for the development of future grid codes and control design methodologies in modern power systems.