JonJawnsyYu

26October2009

Lab1
Objectives
In this lab, our objective is to simulate a simple singlemachine infinitebus configuration using the
PowerWorldSimulatorsoftware.Wedesignalocalgeneratorsystem(asynchronousgenerator)having
a nominal generation capacity of 500MW and with no predefined peak generation (that is, the
generatorismodelledashavinginfinitegenerationcapability).
Inthismanner,wecanexplorevariousphenomenalikepowertransfer,powersystemstabilityandthe
effectofshuntcompensationonthemidline.Wemodela600kmspanoftransmissionlinewithashunt
compensationdeviceinstalledat the midline (300kmfrom bothends)and determinethestability limit
withandwithoutthiscompensationdeviceenabled.
SingleLineDiagram

Methodology
Because PowerWorld does not have a concept of an infinite bus system, we simulate it by using a
generator on the slack bus that does not enforce power generation/absorption limits, allowing it to
generateorabsorbasmuchpowerasnecessary.Boththelocalsynchronousmachineandtheinfinite
bus generator are set to have Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR) in order to maintain the voltage
magnitudeat1.0perunit.
Observations
Thefollowingtablelistssomeobservationswithoutanymidlinecompensation:
Generated SendingLineVoltage MidlineVoltage InfiniteBusVoltage
100MW
1.0005.06 1.1512.12 1.0000
200MW
1.00010.25 1.1484.71 1.0000
300MW
1.00015.50 1.1427.34 1.0000
400MW
1.00020.86 1.13310.02 1.0000
500MW
1.00026.39 1.12212.78 1.0000
600MW
1.00032.16 1.10715.67 1.0000
700MW
1.00038.27 1.08918.72 1.0000
JonJawnsyYu
26October2009

800MW
1.00044.89 1.06522.03 1.0000
900MW
1.00052.28 1.03425.73 1.0000
1000MW
1.00061.02 0.99330.09 1.0000
1100MW
1.00072.79 0.92735.98 1.0000
1167MW
1.00090.35 0.81244.76 1.0000
1170MW Catastrophicpowersystemfailure
Allvoltagemeasurementsareinperunitwitha1000MVAsystembase.
Asindicatedfromtheabovechart,localgenerationof500MWresultsinamidlinevoltageof1.122per
unit.Thechallenge,then,istodesignacompensationdevice(ashuntinductorinstalledatthemidline
bus)tobringthevoltagedowntothedesired1.050perunitvalue.
Using a continuous shunt compensation element (which essentially models the operation of a
synchronouscondenser)installedatthemidline,wecandeterminetheexactamountofreactivepower
needed to bring the voltage down to our desired value. At 500MW, the condenser behaves as an
inductorthatconsumes236.6Mvarofreactivepowerandthemidlinevoltageis1.050asdesired.
By varying the inductance around the 236Mvar region, we find that a nominal rating of 214.0 Mvar
results in an actual reactive power consumption of 236.0 Mvar, bringing the midline voltage down to
1.050for500MWofgeneration.
Thefollowingchartshowsthesystemvoltagesafterinstallationoftheshuntinductor:
Generated SendingLineVoltage MidlineVoltage InfiniteBusVoltage
100MW
1.0005.46 1.0822.55 1.0000
200MW
1.00010.99 1.0785.31 1.0000
300MW
1.00016.58 1.0728.11 1.0000
400MW
1.00022.32 1.06210.98 1.0000
500MW
1.00028.26 1.05013.94 1.0000
600MW
1.00034.50 1.03417.07 1.0000
700MW
1.00041.19 1.01420.41 1.0000
800MW
1.00048.55 0.98724.09 1.0000
900MW
1.00057.05 0.95228.34 1.0000
1000MW
1.00067.80 0.89933.72 1.0000
1100MW
1.00090.88 0.76045.26 1.0000
1101MW Catastrophicpowersystemfailure

In this case, because of the reactive compensation installed in shunt with the (invisible) linecharging
capacitances,thereactanceoftheinductorcompensatesforaportionoftheFerrantieffectandbrings
JonJawnsyYu
26October2009

thevoltagedown.However,thisresultsinpowersysteminstabilityearlierthanintheuncompensated
case,givingamaximumpowertransferofonly1100MW.Notefromtheabovethatthe1.00pumidline
voltagevalueoccurswithasendingsidegenerationofbetween700and800MW,ratherthanattheSIL
of1000MW.
Graphs
The following graph demonstrates the change in the midline voltage with power generated (and
thereforetransferred)acrossthelines.Notethatthepowergenerateddoesnotequaltheactualpower
transferredacrossthelinesbecausesomeofitislostduringtransmission(asheatingofthelines).

Theaboveplotincludesinformationfromthefirstpartofthelab(withoutcompensation)aswellasthe
second part, where a fixed inductor is installed at Bus 3. If a synchronous condenser is placed at the
midline instead of the fixed inductive element, the midline voltage will remain at the 1.050 setpoint
regardlessoftheothersystemvoltages,duetothereactivepowerdynamicallyinjectedintoorremoved
fromthesystem.
Discussion
Whatistheeffectofvaryingpowerflowsonmidlinevoltage?Explain.
Aswecanseefromthegraph,themidlinevoltageishigherthanthatatboththesendingandreceiving
ends,aphenomenonknownastheFerrantieffect.Physically,itisduetothelinechargingcapacitances
(linetoline and linetoground via the air). As the generated power increases, however, the series
inductance of the line begins to play a greater role. When we are transferring power at a rate higher
than the SIL limit (we only have two such measurements of this before the system goes unstable), we
canseethattheuncompensatedvoltagedropsbelow1.0perunit.

0.80
0.85
0.90
0.95
1.00
1.05
1.10
1.15
1.20
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
V
o
l
t
a
g
e

(
p
e
r

u
n
i
t
)
PowerGenerated(MegaWatts)
PowervsMidlineVoltage
Without
Compensation
ShuntInductor
JonJawnsyYu
26October2009

Thevoltageisverycloseto1.00puattheSurgeImpedanceLoading(SIL),whichis,inthiscase,1000MW.
This particular figure is consistent with the given line parameters (500 kV, R=0.028 /km, X
L
=0.325
/km, B
C
=5.2 S/km) according to Appendix H: Transmission Line Parameters. The SIL as indicated on
AppendixHisindeed1000MW.
Because it is significantly less expensiveboth in terms of initial investment and ongoing maintenance
coststo install solidstate power electronic components on highvoltage lines, I simulated a simple
fixed reactor (inductor) installed at Bus 3. As we can see from the above graph, the shunt inductor
resultsinaconstantperunitvoltage drop,butthepowervs.midlinevoltagerelationshipremainsthe
same.
Wastherealimittotheoutputpowerofthesynchronousgenerator?Explain.
By default, the generator is set to have a generation limit of 1000MW and an unlimited amount of
reactive power (both capacitive and inductive). In my experiment, I raised the generation maximum
limit to 3000MW to allow me to see what other factors limit the power transferred from the local
machinetotheinfinitebus.
With that limit aside, there are other factors limiting the total stability of the system. Most notably,
bothsides(themachineandtheinfinitebus)ofoursystemmaintainedavoltageof1.0perunit,whichis
necessary if there are other loads connected to a nearby local bus. This results in a tightly restricted
voltageprofile.
Fromtheclassicpowertransferequation,neglectingtheresistanceonthetransmissionlines:
P
12
= I
1
I
2
1
X
sin o
Because the bus voltages must necessarily remain the same, the only thing we can do to increase
transferred power from the generator to the infinite bus is to increase the difference in power angles.
However,thesystemislimitedbecauseincreasingtheangleover90degreesresultsininstability.
Inoursimulation,wemeasuredadifferenceinsendingandreceivinganglesthatexceeded90degrees
andyetremainedstable;thisisprobablyduetoaflawinPowerWorld.Evenso,notethattheangleis
stillcloseto90degrees.Inthecompensatedconfiguration,wehadadifferenceof90.88betweenthe
localsystemandslackbusbeforethesystembecameunstable.
Whathappenedwhenthatlimitwasreached?
Whenthepowersystemreacheditsmaximumstabilitylimit,therewasacatastrophicfailureresultingin
ablackout.

JonJawnsyYu
26October2009

Whateffectdidthecompensatorthatyoudesignedhaveonthebusvoltagesandangles?
Because the compensator counteracts the effects of linecharging capacitance, it resulted in a lower
midlinevoltagethanwouldhavebeenpossibleotherwise.However,inordertoensurethesamepower
transfer while having a lower midline voltage, the power angle must increase slightly (per the above
power transfer equation). As a result, the system becomes unstable earlier, at 1101MW instead of
1167MW.
Conclusions
Inthiscomputerizedsimulation,wesawtheeffectofchangingpowertransferonthesending,midline
and infinite bus voltages. We performed a load flow study under various load/generation conditions.
We saw the effect of compensation installed at the midline bus on power system stability. We also
learnedhowtomakeuseofvariousfeaturesofthePowerWorldSimulatorsoftwaretomodelandlearn
frompowersystems.