Voltage Control in Power Systems

Abstract - Voltage control in electric power systems can become a major problem in a restructured electricity market. In the vertically operated mode, adequate control schemes were implemented to operate the power system within specific limits by means of appropriately coordinated devices, such as generator excitators, online tap changers and reactive compensation devices. In a competitive market with dispersed and autonomous generation, system operation will have to be adapted according to the decentralised power production structure. This new control philosophy will have to be supported by scientific research, based upon a variety of mathematical tools. Continuation loadflow with calculation of stability indices is the appropriate tool for static studies. These indices can be used as a measure to predict the distance to voltage collapse. Bifurcation analysis provides insight in the stability behaviour of the power system dynamics. Bifurcation diagrams and parameter charts can be used to visualize the instability as a function of the network parameters, such as shunt capacitors, generated and consumed active powers, and line admittances. Keywords: Power System Dynamic Stability, Voltage Control, Power Distribution

I. INTRODUCTION In distribution system,tha consumers nearer to ha transformer are prone to get higher voltage and he farthest r consumer are prone to get lower voltages.similarly in a radial feeder system he consumer at the end of The restructured electricity market will have a major impact on the way power systems will be controlled. The power system concept in Western Europe, up till now consisting of vertically-integrated utilities with centralised control, is rapidly changing into a structure comprising a diversity of entities on the generation, transmission and distribution level. This will go along with a distribution of the control responsibility and authority. offering low prices to power brokers or individual consumers and therefore, will need to cut costs, both regarding investments and exploitation. If no technical boundary conditions are imposed, these IPPs will invest in high power factor units for contract use. This implies very low reactive margins to support the voltage profile of the network the producer is connected to. The units will be controlled to follow the short term active load forecast as specified by the contracting user, not accounting for reactive power requirement of the system. Similar conclusions can be drawn for cogeneration units where the heat output is often the controlling parameter. In the deregulated environment the control of the transmission network will undoubtedly lead to an optimisation in the sense of maximum use. The increased loading of the lines could strengthen the need of maintaining an appropriate voltage profile in the network

in order to prevent line outages and subsequent problems of voltage collapse. Voltage stability can be considered as the ability of an electric circuit to maintain an acceptable voltage level in all system nodes [1]. As systems tend to be operated closer to their technical limits, problems with voltage stability are expected to increase in the near future. Therefore, the physical implantation of the units in the power system will have to be studied. The total amount of reactive power, as well as the distribution over the generators, can be optimised in order to minimise the power losses and to guarantee a prescribed voltage profile on the system buses. A sensitivity study in the planning stage can thus lead to an optimal allocation of power generating units in the system. However, this optimal allocation scheme is not likely to be implemented. As a high and flat voltage profile is preferred, the need arises to provide the necessary reactive power on a local basis. Under the present economical regulations IPPs are not likely to volunteer in these ancillary services. Incentives must then be given in order to encourage the IPPs to play a supporting role in the voltage stability of the grid. This leads to a completely different assessment of the value of active and reactive power as compared to the current situation. This can be economically justified by considering the avoided costs of extra power flow controllers, such as FACTS devices, large capacitor banks or synchronous compensators. Various

alternatives are presented in the paper. In this paper the influence of Independent Power Producers is assessed with regard to their implications on the voltage profile and the power flow. A simple three-bus system is studied considering the IPP, the grid and a variable load. Both static and dynamic aspects are taken into account.II. SYSTEM MODEL The interaction of an Independent Power Producer, the grid it is connected to by means of a set of overhead lines an/or cables, and the load can be on the simplied system of Fig. 1 [2]. It consists of an infinite bus (E0) representing the grid, a generator (Em) representing the IPP and a combined load (PL, QL), connected by passive admittances. A capacitor is included at the load terminals to correct the power factor. The static part of the load itself has a constant power (P1, Q1). The induction motor model is described by two differential equations: P and Q are the active and reactive power delivered to the motor, V and are the amplitude and the angle of the voltage at the motor terminals. The parameters are experimentally determined. The generator is represented as a constant voltage amplitude Em with rotor dynamics described by a second order differential equation, including inertia (J) and damping (cm). Finally the models are combined to result in a set of 4 first-order differential equations: Fig.1. Network representation

 rotor angle. The basic model uses the parameters, expressed in pu, as indicated in [2]. In part III the attention will be focused on the static analysis of this system, neglecting the dynamics of generator and load. This comes down to an assessment of the loadability of the system, with special emphasis on the role of the active power output of the generator. Part IV will be dedicated to the full dynamic analysis of the system with the study of bifurcations. III. STATIC POWER FLOW BASED ANALYSIS The disappearance of an equilibrium can in some cases be studied with static power flow analysis based upon the steady-state load and network characteristics. Assuming a voltage-independent power demand, the system loadability limit is attained at the nose of the PV- or QV-characteristic. For obvious reasons this point is called a limit point, a turning point or a fold. In dynamic stability analysis it's also called a saddle-node bifurcation. This is motivated by the stability behaviour of the two approaching points (one of which is a stable node, the other being an unstable saddle point) when they are interpreted as equilibria of differential equations [3, p.54]. However, for a purely static load, both points where network and load characteristic intersect, are stable equilibria. Therefore, the notion bifurcation is not used in this context to avoid conceptual confusion. The upper operating point is of

course the desired one since it corresponds to higher voltage and lower current. It's wellknown that a continuation power flow with natural parameter continuation fails at a limit point. This point is characterised by a zero eigenvalue, causing a singular Jacobian. Different possible solutions exist to overcome this problem [3, p.135], such as local parametrisation techniques, consisting in choosing one of the system variables as parameter, or pseudo-arclength continuation where the solution is sought in the hyperplane perpendicular to the tangent vector at a given distance. The equations for this continuation procedure applied to the power flow system are summarised in Appendix 1. The smallest absolute eigenvalue of the Jacobian can be used as an index to predict the margin to the loadability limit. However, it doesn't seem to be a good indicator due to the sharp variation close to the turning point. Other indices have been proposed and implemented in real-time systems. Most of them measure the distance to a critical operating point. A comparison of these indices can be found in [4]. A simple and reliable indicator is the ratio of the voltage V at a loaded node, divided by the voltage V0 at the same node without load. This gives a measure of the loading degree of the system [5]. A critical value for this ratio can be derived

= 2 2.cos 2 exp . 0 load grid load grid j V V (3) where grid and load are representative angles for the grid impedances and the loads respectively. This "No-load Volt"-index can then, amongst other indices, be used to assess the loadability situation applied to a situation with autonomous generation with IPP's. The effect of a variation in the IPP's power output is shown on Fig.2. The voltage at the load terminals is plotted as a function of the static reactive load for different values of the generator output. The loadability limit corresponds E00 Emm

C V Y00 /2 Ymm /2 1 1 , QQQ PPP L L =+ = +to the point with vertical tangent. It can be concluded that a higher power output shifts the nose of this QV-curve to the left. Meanwhile, the critical voltage value increases. Whether the loadability limit or the "No-load Volt-index" according to 3, is used, the conclusion is that problems are more likely to exist when the IPP delivers a higher power output. This concept of loadability must therefore be recognized and appropriate incentives must be developed to forestall similar problems. The assessment of the value of active and reactive power must therefore not be limited to purely economic principles of matching supply and demand, but has to incorporate system constraints in an appropriate way. This area of research is relatively new, but will gain considerable interest in the near future. 0.8

0.85 0.9 0.95 1 1.05 1.1 1.15 1.2 8 8.5 9 9.5 10 10.5 11 Q1 [pu] V [pu] Pm=1pu Pm=2pu Pm=3pu Pm=4pu Fig.2. Network loadability IV. DYNAMIC BIFURCATION ANALYSIS A. Introduction Most of the voltage stability indices are based on a static load model. However, this is an approximation of the real system behaviour which is a dynamical process, influenced by load and generator dynamics. The study of large disturbances (transient stability) takes these dynamics into account. In this part it will be shown that the dynamic characteristics of the system can also influence the smallsignal stability of a power system. B. Bifurcation analysis Bifurcation analysis is the adequate mathematical

framework to determine any possible loss of stability in a quasistatic way. The effect of smooth parameter variations on the stability properties can be studied with continuation algorithms applied to the combined system of algebraic and differential equations. In this work the system of equations is solved with the software program AUTO [6] which uses a pseudo-arclength continuation strategy. It also contains a number of routines which can be used to detect limit points and bifurcations as a function of a system parameter. The only bifurcations that are likely to occur in single parameter systems of ODE's are saddle-node bifurcations (SNB) and Poincar-Andronov-Hopf bifurcations [7] which are often referred to as Hopf bifurcations (HB). As already mentioned, at a saddle-node bifurcation two equilibrium points coalesce and disappear. This can be detected by studying the eigenvalues of the Jacobian, one of which becomes zero at a SNB. Sometimes this phenomenon is seen as the only one responsible for destabilising a system. However, destabilisation can also occur when two complex conjugate eigenvalues cross the imaginary axis simultaneously. The equilibrium point becomes unstable and a branch of periodic solutions emanates. These periodic oscillations can in turn be stable (soft loss of stability associated to a supercritical HB) or unstable (hard loss of stbility associated to a subcritical HB). The occurrence of a Hopf-bifurcation (HB) can be traced in a time-simulation by changing one of the relevant system parameters [8]. In Fig.3 the variation of the state

variables is shown as a function of time with the reactive load Q1 constant at 11.09 pu after a slow increase from the equilibrium at 10.89 pu during the first 4 s. It is clear that the initial state of equilibrium is lost at the HB and the voltage collapses after transient phenomena at t = 165 s. Fig.3. Stability loss after HB This quasi-static continuation on Q1 with the periodic oscillations occurring after a HB can adequately be repeated using equilibrium system equations. This procedure "jumps" over the transient phenomena and only calculates solution points where the time derivatives equal zero. An important advantage of this solution method is that both unstable and stable solutions can be calculated, which is sometimes very useful in explaining the transitions from one type of behaviour to another. Besides, periodic solutions can also be calculated applying periodicity constraints as a kind of boundary conditions for the system of equations. The results can then be presented in a bifurcation diagram (Fig.4). Stable and unstable equilibria are represented by a solid and a dashed line respectively, whereas stable and unstable periodic solutions are represented by dots and circles respectively. Both extrema of the periodic oscilla-tions are shown. The Hopfbifurcation that was crossed to produce Fig.3, can be found at H1. There, a new branch of (initially unstable) periodic solutions appears. This branch has a limit point at PK, after

which the oscillation becomes stable with a period of around 1.7 s. The system can get into this periodic state due to a perturbation applied to the equilibrium state.Fig.4. Basic bifurcation diagram The state marked PD1 is the first of a set of perioddoubling bifurcations (PDB), which eventually end up in a chaotic solution [9, 10]. At the end of the branch, the inverse period-doubling bifurcations occur (only the last one is marked with PD2) and the branch of periodic solutions joins the branch of equilibria at H2. We notice that the classic stability limit (the SNB) corresponds with K, and consequently overestimates the value of Q1 leading to instability. C. Influence of active powers P1 and Pm In Fig.5a the equilibria are shown on 2 bifurcation diagrams, corresponding to P1 = 0 pu and P1 = 1.45 pu respectively. Fig.5a. Hopf-bifurcation lines with P1 as parameter Fig.5b. Parameterchart corresponding to Fig.5a The active power of the generator in the computations is kept at 1.0 pu, with the infinite bus as swing generator. For P1 = 1.45 pu, AUTO detects no HBs anymore. The Hopf-bifurcation line is again mapped on this figure, with parameter values given in Fig.5b. An increasing static active load P1 shifts the first HB (H1) to higher Q1-values, although the nose of the diagram shifts to the left with higher load. Meanwhile the voltage at the load terminals diminishes. The second HB (H2) moves simultaneously to lower Q1-

values, until both points meet at P1 = 1.40 pu. This point is marked with HH. The disappearance of the HBs can be attributed to the relative contribution of generator and net with respect to the total generated power. When the infinite bus is predominant, the HB's dont appear. This can be verified by studying continuation on the generator active power Pm. Increasing this parameter provokes an increase in the power flow to the infinite bus, if the load is unchanged. The bifurcation lines with corresponding parameter chart are given on Fig.6a and Fig.6b. It was shown in part III that higher values of Pm cause instability at lower values of Q1. Consequently the dashed nose-shaped bifurcation diagram in Fig.6a shifts to the left. From Fig.6b it is clear that the Hopf-bifurcations shift in the same direction. Besides the distance between H1 and H2 increases. On the other hand, when the active power of the generator is diminished and the motor is fed from the stiff net, the Hopf-bifurcations disappear (marked with HH2). Fig.6a. Hopf-bifurcation lines with Pm as parameter Fig.6b. Parameterchart corresponding to Fig.6aD. Influence of line admittances Y0 and Ym The shorter the electrical distance from the load to the infinite bus (higher admittance Y0), the more the nosecurve shifts to the right, so that more reactive power can be supplied. Hopf-bifurcations and corresponding periodic solu- tions move in the same direction, as is shown on Fig.7a and Fig.7b. Only at very high admittance values

HBs disappear (marked by HH3). From that point on classic theory is valid again and equilibria are stable until the limit point. Similar calculations can be performed to study the influence of the load-generator admittance. For small admittances (Ym < 2.75 p.u.) the generator dynamics are relatively insignificant, whereas for large admittance values (Ym > 30 p.u.) the phase shift between generator and load becomes very small. Consequently, HBs and periodic solutions appear only for intermediate Ym-values. Fig.7a. Hopf-bifurcation lines with Y0 as parameter Fig.7b. Parameterchart corresponding to Fig.7a V. CONCLUSIONS Static loadability and dynamic stability analysis must be performed prior to the connection of IPP's to the grid. Loadability analysis can be based upon continuation power flow studies with simultaneous calculation of indices predicting the position of the limit point (the nose) in the PV- or QV-curve. When the dynamics of generator and load are taken into account in the mathematical model, a full dynamic analysis becomes possible. Bifurcation analysis detects the Hopfbifurcation where a branch of periodic solutions emanates from a branch of equilibria. As this instability precedes the limit point computed by classical stability analysis, attention must be paid to the parameter values where the Hopf-bifurcations occur. The calculations presented in this paper lead us to the

following conclusions. Active power output of the IPP must not be treated as an independent quantity, but studied in relation to the voltage profile in the system, since it might facilitate voltage decrease or even collapse. High static reactive loads at a node with an induction motor should be avoided, even if theyre compensated by means of capacitors. The appearance of Hopf-bifurcations becomes more difficult and eventually impossible when the active load at nodes with induction motors is higher. When the dynamics of the motor dominate the combined load, there is an increased risk of periodic oscillations occurring in the system. Overloaded cables or transmission lines can play a significant role with respect to the parameter values where Hopf-bifurcations occur.