A system for damping power system oscillation includes a damping device controller for generating a damping control signal to compensate for a plurality of oscillation modes in the power system oscillations and a damping device to generate a damping signal based on a damping control signal. The damping device controller includes a plurality of outer closed loop paths each including an adaptive controller configured to determine an individual oscillation mode from at least one power system measurement signal. Each adaptive controller is further configured to generate an adaptive control signal to shift at least one open loop pole of an inner loop path related to the individual oscillation mode to a closed loop location.