The network of Chugoku Electric Power Co. is connected to the networks of other utilities, and a fault occurring in the network may cause loss of synchronism between the group of generators belonging to the western side of the network and that of the remaining generators. In order to prevent a wide‐area blackout, a power system stabilizing controller is implemented which checks the results of numerous stability calculations, selects generators to be shed for stabilization if instability is predicted, and sheds them when a fault actually occurs. This paper describes the development and application of a new approach to the construction of an external equivalent for use by power system stabilizing controllers. © 2001 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 134(4): 1–9, 2001