AbstractIn this paper, a new control approach is proposed for the transient stabilization of a single‐machine infinite‐bus power system. The proposed method is based on linear parameter varying (LPV) modeling of the nonlinear power system and the design of a gain‐scheduled output feedback controller. It is well‐known that when large disturbances or a fault occurs, the nonlinearity inherent in power systems can no longer be ignored. The proposed method can handle the nonlinear model directly. First, we show that the nonlinear model can be transformed equivalently into an LPV system with the rotor angle as the scheduling parameter. Then, a gain‐scheduled output feedback controller is designed based on robust pole placement and L2‐gain minimization. Simulation results verify that the proposed method is better than well‐tuned conventional power system stabilizer (PSS) control. Copyright © 2010 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.