SSG

REF: S001

Thursday 25 May 2006

TO: John Gleadow

Senior Adviser Transmission
Electricity Commission

FROM: Ranil de Silva

System Studies Group NZ Ltd

Discussion on Voltage Stability

of Transmission Augmentations into Auckland
(Revision 1)

1. Introduction

Previous reports on transmission augmentations into Auckland have

suggested that voltage stability will often be the binding constraint on supply
capacity into Auckland 1,2 . A peer review of these reports by GE has also
commented on the voltage stability constraints 3 .
The purpose of this report is to further discuss the voltage stability
characteristics of the Transpower proposal and alternatives.

1
‘Transmission Augmentations into Auckland : Technical Analysis of Transpower’s Proposal
and Short Short-listed Alternatives – Part I’, System Studies Group NZ Limited, S001-03 Final
Rev 0, 21 April 2006.
2
‘Transmission Augmentations into Auckland : Technical Analysis of Transpower’s Proposal
and Short Short-listed Alternatives – Part II’, System Studies Group NZ Limited, S001-04
Final Rev 0, 21 April 2006.
3
‘Review of Auckland Transmission Alternatives Reports’, GE Energy, 12 April 2006.

System Studies Group NZ Ltd PO Box 54175 Mana, Wellington, New Zealand Ph +64-4-233 9842 Fax +64-4-233 9845 www.ssgnz.com
2. PV Curves for Steady State Voltage Stability
PV curves are used to analyze ‘steady state’ voltage stability which is the
stability of the system in normal operation. (The behaviour of the system
during disturbances is studied with a dynamic stability analysis).
Figure 1 shows the general character of a PV curve as copied from the GE
peer review. The curve shows how the voltage falls as the demand increases.
The ‘nose’ of the PV curve defines the maximum demand that can be served
(the ‘Power Limit’) and the associated critical voltage.
The upper part of the PV curve is considered to be stable whilst the lower part
is considered to be unstable. Consequently normal operation is restricted to
the upper part of the curve. In addition a margin ( ‘PMargin’ ) is usually applied
between the maximum permissible demand and the nose. The criteria used
for steady state voltage stability is a 5% margin to the ‘nose’ of the PV curve.
The GE review comments that this is the same margin as is required by many
US utilities.
The SSG load flow analysis used for this study determines the maximum
permissible demand by gradually increasing the Auckland and North Isthmus
load until the load flow fails to converge. A 5% margin is subtracted from this
point to give the maximum permissible demand. (Note that thermal constraints
may require a lower demand).
Note that the load flow method used in this study is only capable of analyzing
the stable part of the PV curve and is not able to provide a solution for the
unstable part of the curve. The method may also fail to converge close to the
nose of the curve. Consequently PV curves drawn for the SSG load flow
analysis only show the upper stable part of the curve and it is assumed that
the point of non-convergence represents the nose.
If nothing else happens when an increase in demand results in the system
operating point crossing the nose of the PV curve, then the system voltage will
collapse. If this occurred in the Auckland area an interruption to supply in the
top half of the North Island could be expected. In practice if sufficient reactive
support was not available then the System Operator would not allow the level
of demand to encroach on the power margin .
(There are other more sophisticated load flow techniques that will draw the
nose of the curve but these have not been employed in this study. It is
expected that the use of these techniques would result in the same or an
increased maximum demand capacity).

2
Figure 1. General Character of a PV Curve

(Taken from GE Review)

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3. Comparison of PV Curves
Figures 2 – 4 show a number of PV curves which characterize the steady
state voltage stability of the system. Each curve shows how the voltage
(measured at Otahuhu) falls as the Auckland and North Isthmus demand
rises. These curves are plotted by solving the network load flow equations
using PSS/E for increasing levels of North Island demand. When the PSS/E
load flow fails to solve this is usually an indication that the network operating
point is approaching the point of voltage collapse 4 .
Figure 2 shows the PV curve corresponding to the winter peak demand of
2006. The assumptions behind this curve are based on the assumptions
described by the System Operator when analyzing the Upper North Island
Winter Security for 2006 5 .
In this case the maximum Auckland demand is 2095 MW under an N – G – 1
security criteria. According to the System Operator, the binding constraint is
the 5% voltage stability margin for an outage on the Otahuhu B generator
followed by a tripping of the OTA – TAK – HLY 220 kV circuit. The PV curve in
Figure 1 shows a voltage stability margin of about 6% which supports the
analysis of the System Operator.
Note the jumps in voltage as the demand increases. Each jump represents a
shunt capacitor being switched in to support the voltage.
Also note that the point of maximum capacity is around 1 pu which is well
within the normal operating range for voltage. The true nose of the curve may
be beyond the 6% margin but the load flow technique is not able to determine
this.
Figure 3 compares the PV curves in winter 2016 for the investment streams
‘400 kV in 2010’, ‘400 kV in 2017’, and ‘400 kV in 2021’. (The curve for 400
kV in 2017 also represents the curves for ‘220 kV in 2017’ and ‘HVDC in
2017’).
The margin associated with 400 kV in 2017 is about 6% whilst the margin
associated with 400 kV in 2021 is about 8% due to the extra intermediate
investments. The margin associated with the 400 kV in 2010 is about 13%
due to the 400 kV line.
Note that for all investment streams the point of maximum capacity is above 1
pu voltage.

4
Sometimes these equations do not solve when a small local imbalance exists, for example
an infeasible arrangement at one remote point of supply. When studying network
performance it is important to carefully investigate any convergence failures as otherwise
misleading and excessively conservative results would be obtained.
5
‘Upper North Island (UNI) Winter Security 2006 – Scenario & Monitoring Update’,
Transpower System Operator, 28 April 2006.

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Figure 4 compares the PV curves in winter 2025 for each of the investment
streams. It can be seen that the margins range from 5 - 6% and that the
voltage at the point of maximum capacity is above 1 pu in all cases.
These results suggest that the different investment streams will have similar
steady state voltage characteristics to the present system in winter 2006,
particularly in respect to the high voltage at the point of maximum capacity.
The difference in the characteristics relates to the power margins, not to the
voltages.

Figure 2. PV Curve for Winter 2006

PV Curve for Winter Peak 2006 - Auckland and North Isthmus Load 2095 MW
Otahuhu B 360 MW Outage and OTA-TAK-HLY 220 kV Contingency

1.10

1.08

1.06

1.04
OTA 220 kV Voltage (pu)

1.02

1.00

0.98

0.96

0.94

0.92

0.90
-10 -5 0 5 10 15
Increase in Upper North Island Load (%)

Winter 2006

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 Figure 3. PV Curves for Winter 2016
Comparison of PV Curves for Winter Peak 2016
Otahuhu B 360 MW Outage and Huntly E3P 374 MW Contingency

1.10

1.08

1.06

1.04
OTA 220 kV Voltage (pu)

1.02

1.00

0.98

0.96

0.94

0.92

0.90
-10 -5 0 5 10 15
Increase in Upper North Island Load (%)

400kV in 2010 400kV in 2017 400kV in 2021

Figure 4. PV Curves for Winter 2025

Comparison of PV Curves for Winter Peak 2025
Otahuhu B 360 MW Outage and Huntly E3P 374 MW Contingency

1.10

1.08

1.06

1.04
OTA 220 kV Voltage (pu)

1.02

1.00

0.98

0.96

0.94

0.92

0.90
-10 -5 0 5 10 15
Increase in Upper North Island Load (%)

400kV in 2010 400kV in 2017 400kV in 2021 220kV in 2017 HVDC in 2017

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4. Dynamic Voltage Stability
Dynamic stability studies are used to analyze the behaviour of the system
during disturbances such as faults. The studies have considered two aspects
of this :

1. Synchronous stability
2. Dynamic Voltage stability

4.1 Synchronous Stability

The synchronous stability of the system refers to the ability of generators to

maintain synchronism with the system during a disturbance. In general, large
oscillations between generators in different regions indicate a proximity to a
synchronous stability problem.

The results of the studies for all of the investment streams suggested that
faults between OTA and WKM are not expected to cause a synchronous
stability problem. This is because the network between OTA and WKM is
already well inter-connected with multiple circuits.

In contrast faults at SFD in Taranaki may lead to large inter-regional

oscillations between Taranaki generators and the rest of the system. This
appears to be because there is a large amount of power exported from
Taranaki via a few circuits to BPE and high impedance circuits to HLY. The
magnitude of these oscillations can be expected to increase as more power is
exported from Taranaki. This suggests a possible future synchronous stability
problem when there is high power export from Taranaki.

The results suggest that if synchronous stability in Taranaki does eventually

become a problem then the mitigation of this would not affect the choice of
investments for supply to Auckland.

4.2 Dynamic Voltage Stability

Dynamic voltage stability refers to the ability of the system to provide sufficient
reactive support to return the voltage to normal after a disturbance.

The dynamic voltage stability of the system is significantly affected by the

characteristics of the load. There is a concern that the high proportion of
induction motor load in the Upper North Island may significantly degrade the
dynamic voltage stability in the area. If most of these motors remain
connected following network faults, then the additional current drawn by the

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motors as they re-accelerate back to normal operating speed after a fault
could potentially cause the system voltage to collapse.

The results of the studies suggested that dynamic voltage stability in the
Upper North Island is similar for all of the investment streams. The reason for
this appears to be that the system strength in Auckland is not dramatically
improved in any of the investment streams – particularly for the lower voltage
buses that are fed by high impedance supply transformers where motors are
connected.
It is anticipated that a substantial portion of the motors will trip during a
transmission network fault due to de-energization of the motor contactors.
This is expected to help the voltage return to normal. On the other hand if
nearly all of the motors trip during a fault then an over-voltage can be
expected.
The sensitivity of voltage recovery to the behaviour of the motor load appears
to be an existing issue and is also common to all of the investment streams.
It is possible that under-voltages and over-voltages have not been observed
to date simply because a sufficiently severe fault has yet to occur or because
the effects of under-voltages or over-voltages have not had a significant
impact on customers.
The reality of the concern regarding voltage recovery may be confirmed by
reviewing recent disturbance records. SSG understands that results of actual
system disturbances in Auckland do not display any evidence of this potential
problem. If the disturbance records did show an under-voltage or over-
voltage following a severe fault this would support a concern about voltage
recovery in the future.

5. Suggestions from GE Peer Review

The GE review suggests that although the 5% power margin criteria is
reasonable for voltage stability, a better criteria may be a dynamic reactive
reserve margin which would ensure that sufficient reactive reserve is held to
cater for the worst contingency.
GE believe that a ‘quantitative reactive reserve planning criteria’ should be
considered. Presumably this would take the form of a fixed reactive reserve
margin which would be in addition to the existing performance criteria of a 5%
power margin.
There may be some difficulties with implementing GE’s suggested criteria :
a) The quantity of dynamic reactive reserve required will change depending
on the demand and worst contingency. The largest reserve is generally
required to handle the tripping of Otahuhu B, however if this generator is
not in service then a lesser reserve may be required to handle the tripping
of the next worst contingency.

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b) The effectiveness of the reactive reserve is dependent on its location. For
example reactive reserve at Marsden, Otahuhu, and Huntly will each have
a different ability to support voltage in Auckland.

To handle the variability in reserve quantity and location, the SSG studies
have instead checked that the increase in the post-contingent reactive
demand can be met entirely by dynamic reactive reserve sources (capacitor
switching is not required). We believe that this is equivalent to the GE criteria
in that both methods ensure that sufficient dynamic reactive reserve is held to
cater for the worst contingency.

6. Reactive Power Coordination

The transmission network in the Auckland area over the next few years will
have an increased number and type of reactive power sources 6 . Similar to
real power generation sources, the use of these devices to manage the
transmission system voltage will require coordination in response to changing
transmission network utilisation.
There is concern that the System Operator may have increasing difficulty in
continuing to manually manage the operation of the various static and
dynamic reactive power sources in the Auckland region.
To address this Transpower has already proposed to the Commission an
automatic Reactive Power Control (RPC) scheme 7 . Similar systems have
been in operation in Wellington and Christchurch for over ten years.
Transpower have undertaken to come back to the Commission with a more
fully developed proposal for a similar scheme for the Auckland area.

6
Note that a number of reactive power investments to enhance transmission capability are
currently underway, and SSG studies indicate that more of these will be necessary to extend
the capability of both the Transpower 400kV proposal and the alternative transmission
options to meet Grid Reliability standards until 2030.
7
31 October 2005, as part of Grid Development Proposal #1, approved in part by the
Commission 9 March 2006.

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7. Summary

The Transpower proposal, alternatives, and the existing system share some
common characteristics with respect to voltage stability :
a) Steady state voltage collapse tends to occur at normal operating voltages
around 1 pu. The power margin to collapse is a better indicator of system
health than the voltage itself.
b) In all investment streams there is sufficient dynamic reactive reserve to
cater for the worst contingency.
c) Voltage recovery following a disturbance is sensitive to the behaviour of
the load, in particular the tripping of motors. Mitigations for under-voltage
or over-voltage appear to be unrelated to the choice of transmission
augmentation between OTA and WKM.
d) An automated Reactive Power Control (RPC) scheme is desirable to better
support system operation, given the need to securely coordinate different
types of reactive power sources. This appears to be needed now and
regardless of the choice of the Transpower 400 kV proposal or any of the
alternatives.

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