IEEE T&D Asia 2009

Development of Voltage stability Index using

synchro-phasor based data
Sangwook Han, Student Member, IEEE and B. Lee, S. Kim, Y. Moon

There are many known applications for wide area voltage

stability monitoring with PMUs. Most of them are evaluated
theoretically and some of them are even using in practice.
Voltage Instability Prediction (VIP) [1] is the world famous
algorithm for monitoring the voltage stability. It uses only one
local measurement and predicts the voltage collapse by
observing the Z-index. In order to calculate a thevenin
impedance of system, parameter estimation method like least
square solution is used because there are 4 unknown values
and just 2 equations. So it can has the time delay which is not
suitable for real-time. In Additional the result is not reliable if
PMU is not installed on a radial bus.
Corridor Monitoring [2] is also well-known method. It
measures the both ends of transmission corridors and then
makes the voltage stability index. It is a main advantage that
this algorithm doesnt require parameter estimation, so do not
Index TermsWide Area Voltage stability Index, have the time delay. But it is a disadvantage that a large
Synchronised measurement, Phasor Measurement Unit.
number of PMUs are necessary to obtain robust results.
There are the other methods about voltage stability such as
Real-Time Indicator of Local Voltage Instability, Voltage
I. INTRODUCTION
degradation monitoring and so on [3-5]. Every method has
HE recent development of phasor measurement units merits and demerits as mentioned above algorithms.
(PMU) makes dynamic network supervision possible. The
It is very important to select the method appropriate to the
traditional method of monitoring power system, SCADA/EMS, Korean system from many voltage stability indices. In this
cant get synchronized data. Although they have same time paper, an advanced algorithm, WAVI (Wide Area Voltage
tags, it is not really same time because clocks in equipments stability Index), which is suitable for monitoring voltage
are different slightly. And it is too difficult to monitor the stability of KEPCO system is introduced. It uses only voltage
power system due to technologic limits of SCADA/EMS and current phasor data obtained from PMUs without
systems. But the information obtained from PMU is coupling with EMS data. It is computationally unburden so
synchronized by global positioning system (GPS). Every data that it can be applied to real-time situation. It is remodeled in a
has same time tags and indicates same time really. It allows part of calculating parameter from the developed voltage
the creation of dynamic snapshots of the situation in a wide stability index like VIP and Corridor Monitoring. Since the
area of a power system. Accurate, time-tagged phaor data can algorithm is founded considering the KEPCOs plan installing
be transmitted almost in real time to control center for the PMUs on major buses in Korea, it is very appropriate to
monitoring and analysis purpose. This gives the possibility of detect voltage instability in KEPCO system.
a wide range of stability monitoring and control applications.
WAVI is performed using an actual system in Korea. 2007
Korean peak system (1500-buses) is applied to WAVI
This work is the outcome of a Manpower Development Program for
analysis. Case study shows that it can predict the voltage
Energy & Resources supported by the Ministry of Knowledge and Economy collapse in Korea.
Abstract-- Through the development of phasor measurement
units (PMU), various aspects of power system dynamic behavior
could be monitored and diagnosed. Monitoring dynamic voltage
stability becomes one of achievements we can obtain from PMUs.
It is very important to select the method appropriate to the
KEPCO system since there are many voltage stability indices.
In the paper, we propose an advanced WAVI (Wide Area
Voltage Stability) for monitoring dynamic voltage stability. It
reflects the PMU installation plan of KEPCO, thus it is suitable
for KEPCO system specially. The salient features of the proposed
index are; i) it uses only PMU measurements without coupling
with EMS data. ii) it is computationally unburden so that it can
be applied to real-time situation. The proposed index is applied
to the KEPCO test system and the result shows that it
successfully predicts voltage instability through the comparative
studies.

(MKE)
Sangwook Han is Ph.D student in the School of Electrical Engineering at
Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, (e-mail: hswrain@korea.ac.kr ).
Byongjun Lee is a professor in the School of Electrical Engineering at
Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. (e-mail: leeb@korea.ac.kr )
Sangtae Kim is a senior researcher at Korea Electric Power Data Network
Co. (KDN), Seoul, Republic of Korea, (e-mail: jesteka@kdn.com )
Younghwan Moon is the head of electric power research division at Korea
Electrotechnology Research Institute, Changwon, Republic of Korea. (e-mail:
yhmoon@keri.re.kr )

II. WIDE AREA VOLTAGE STABILITY INDEX

A. Detecting the voltage instability
WAVI(Wide Area Voltage stability Index) shows whether
the power system is stable or not. It uses similar way to VIPs
Z-index. Figure 1 shows the concept of the VIP in a Thevenin

equivalent system. Z app divided by Z Thev is Z-index.

the first Zg from the VIPs result, Eth.

I1

Zg

Eth

Zth

ZT

I2

Eg

Thevenin Equivalent of the Rest of System

Load

Zapp = V/I

V1

Zs

Zl

V2

I2

ZTh

ETh

V2

Z app

Fig. 3. Reduction to a thevenin equivalent.

Fig. 1. Local bus and system Thevenin equivalent.

Zl =

From circuit theory, maximal power transfer occurs when

Z app equals to Z Thev . The apparent impedance Z app is the

Zs =

(1)

v2
i2

(2)

v1
i1 i 2

v1 v 2
i2

ratio between the voltage and current phasors measured at the

bus. When the loading is normal, the Z app is much greater

ZT =

than the Z Thev . In other words, the Z-index is approximately

zero. When the system suffers voltage instability, the
difference between the two impedances approaches zero. The
Z-index is increased by about 1.0.
WAVI uses the same way, so WAVI is a real number,
0.0~1.0. If the index indicates over 1.0, the system will be
unstable theoretically. Similarly, the index under 1.0 tells that
the system is stable.

Z Th = Z T +

B. Foundation of WAVI method

WAVI(Wide Area Voltage stability Index) is very similar
to the method introduced in reference[2]-[3]. It has just little
differences. Figure 2 shows concept of WAVI method. It
needs at least two PMUs since it uses data obtained from two
kinds of area, the metropolitan and the non-metropolitan area.
Transmission lines
Area 1

V1

I1

Area 2

V2
I2

Fig. 2. A wide area system and an equivalent circuit.G

We make the virtual bus in the metropolitan area. Its

voltage is the average of all buses in the metropolitan area
where the PMU is installed. We make also the virtual bus in
the non-metropolitan area. The current flowed from the each
bus will be the sum of flow of lines which link the two areas.
Then we make the Figure 3 form. KCL and KVL help
compose the equations.
It is an issue to calculate the Zg, impedance of generators
and transformers in the generation area. We can calculate
continuously if we obtain Zg once. We use the VIP method in
order to derive the first Zg. We performed VIP method using
the virtual bus in the non-metropolitan area. And we obtained

(3)
(4)

1
1
Zg

1
Zs

(5)

Zapp = Zl

ETh = v 2

Z Th + Z app

(6)

Z app

C. WAVI Using Only 1 Areas Data

Since a PMU is the latest and rather expansive equipment,
a few PMUs are installed in KEPCO system yet. Also the
installation process is not easy, so it must be limited the
number of PMUs set up on real systems. Thus it is very
important to reduce the number of PMUs as can as possible
and monitor the voltage stability using just them.
It is possible to calculate The WAVI in one area. A PMU
gives us voltage and current phase data. If it offers currents of
all lines which are connected with bus installed PMUs and we
know the line impedance, voltage and current phase data of
end of the line can be obtained [5]-[8]. Therefore, when we
applied WAVI method to KEPCO system, we monitored just
one side of the lines. Assuming that line impedances are
known, we need only half of the number of PMUs. Equation
(7)~(8) help calculate the voltage and current phase data of
end of the line.
S *
B
V2 = V1 j V1 Z
V1
2

B
V 2 V1
I2 =
+ j V2
2
Z

(7)
(8)

V1 : voltage of bus #1
I1 : current of bus #1
V2 : voltage of bus #2
I2 : current of bus #2
S : power transferred bus#1 to bus#2
Z : R+jX, impedance of line
B : charging susceptance of line

The result of comparing this advanced method and original

WAVI is exactly same on a same contingency scenario. The

voltage of end of the line couldnt be calculated if two circuits
are open, since the current would be zero, but it is not critical
problem because the original WAVI also be affected by the
line currents. Their difference is only 1.0E^-7 so it is expected
that it also detects voltage instability situations well. The cost
of installing PMUs will decrease and PMUs could be installed
in another important bus.

about t=88s, simulation is terminated because of voltage

collapse.

III. APPLYING WAVI TO KEPCO SYSTEM

KEPCO system has very special characteristics. Most loads
are massed in the metropolitan area located in the northern
part of South Korea. And most generations are crowed in the
non-metropolitan area located in the southern part of South
Korea. So, the power flows from south to north. There are six
lines which are the most important lines in KEPCO system.
They supply most of the power needed in metropolitan area.
Therefore, observing the both sides of those six lines, 12
PMUS, is the best solution for the monitoring voltage stability
in KEPCO. The impedance of those lines is known value, so 6
PMUs are required.
But six is not small number at this stage. KEPCO is
planning to install 10 PMUs totally for monitoring not only
voltage stability but small signal stability and transient
stability. Because the number of PMUs available for
monitoring voltage stability is limited, it is important to find
an adequate number of PMUs and proper locations.
In this paper, a compromise between accuracy and
economical will be proposed. The number of PMUs which has
the best performance is 6, but reducing is expected. The
accuracy of algorithm decreases, when the number of PMUs
decreases. 3 set up scenarios are assumed and compared.
1. 6 PMUs ( All 6 lines)
2. 3 PMUs ( Hwasung-Asan line + 765kV lines)
3. 1 PMUs ( Hwasung-Asan line)
Traditionally, voltage stability problem occurs often at
Hwasung-Asan transmission line in KEPCO system. So a
PMU is installed on this line on scenario #3. There are two
765kV based lines in KEPCO system, which flow a very large
amount of power. Thus the two PMUs are added on those
lines on scenario #2. 6 PMUs are set up on every six lines on
scenario #1.
Fig.4 shows the KEPCO system and the major transmission
lines. It is assumed that the PMUs installed in one sides of
each lines according to the scenarios. The voltage and current
of another side derive from line impedances. The virtual
bus#1 and #2 are made by binding the buses in the nonmetropolitan area and the metropolitan area respectively. The
initial Zg is 0.001679899-j0.000126401, which is obtained
from VIP method.
For the time domain simulation, 2007 KEPCO peak power
flow data is used. Table 1 shows the contingency scenario.
This is not practical scenario, but is good example to observe
WAVI.
Fig.5 is the voltage magnitude of Hwasung bus. According
to occurring contingencies, voltage magnitude decreases. At

Fig. 4. KEPCO system and the network of virtual buses.

TABLE I
CONTINGENCY SCENARIO

At
time
10 sec
20 sec
30 sec
40 sec
50 sec

From

To

Singapyeong
Sinansung
Hwasung
Gonjiam
Chungwon

Sintaebaek
Sinseosan
Asan
Sinjaecheon
Sinokcheon

CK
T
1
1
1
1&2
1&2

Fig. 5. Voltage magnitude of Metropolitan Area on a contingency scenario.

Zth, Zapp and WAVI depending on the number of installed

PMUs are described in Fig.6. WAVIs, Fig.6.(b), (d) and (f),
indicate 1 at the end of the simulation, so we can say that
every WAVI can predict the voltage collapse well. But it
didnt reflect the contingency scenario at 20s and 40 s in
Fig.6.(f). It isnt increasing. The Zapp should be decreasing
according to a contingency but it increases at 30s. Therefore
monitoring the voltage stability with only 1 PMU is not robust.
Although the result of 3 installed PMUs is less accurate than
the result of 6 installed PMUs, it is sufficiently available for

V. REFERENCES

detecting the voltage instability. As a result, installing 3 PMUs

is a compromise between accuracy and economy.

Papers:
[1]
[2]
[3]

(a) Zth and Zapp (6 PMU)

(b) WAVI (6 PMU)

[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]

(c) Zth and Zapp (3 PMU)

D. E. Julian, R. P. Schulz, K. T. Vu, W. H. Quaintance, N. B. Bhatt and

D. Novosel, Quantifying Proximity To Voltage Collapse Using The
Voltage Instability Predictor(VIP), 2000 IEEE, Jul.2000.
Mats Larsson and Joachim Bertsch, Monitoring and Operation of
Transmission Corridors, Power Tech Conference Proceedings, 2003
IEEE Bologna, 23-26 June 2003, on page:8pp. Vol.3.
Mats Larsson, Christian Rehtanz and Joachim Bertsch, Real-Time
Voltage Stability Assessment Of Transmission Corridors, 2003 IFAC
Khoi Tien Vu and Damir Novosel, Voltage instability predictor (vip)method and system for performing adaptive control to improve voltage
stability in power systems, United States Patent, May 15,1998.
Xu, B. and Abur A., Observability Analysis and Measurement
Placement for Systems with PMUs, IEEE paper 0-7803-8718-X/04,
2004, pp 1-4
Baldwin, T.L., Mili, L. Boisen, M.B. and Adapa,R., Power system
observability with minimal phasor measurement placement, IEEE
Transactions on Power Systems, 8, No.2, May 1993, pp707-715
Khatib, A. R., Nuqui, R. F., Ingram, M.R. and Phadke, A.G., Real-time
estimation of security from voltage collapse using synchronized phasor
measurements, IEEE paper 0-7803-8465-2/03, 2004

(d) WAVI (3 PMU)

VI. BIOGRAPHIES
Sangwook Han
He received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical
Engineering from Korea University, Korea in 2004
and 2006 respectively. He is currently a Ph.D
candidate in the School of Electrical Engineering at
Korea University.

(e) Zth and Zapp (1 PMU)

(f) WAVI (1 PMU)

Fig. 6. Zth, Zapp and WAVI depending on the number of installed PMUs

IV. CONCLUSION
In the paper, we propose the index WAVI which is suitable
for KEPCO system. WAVI uses only PMU measurements
without coupling with EMS data. It is computationally so fast
that it can be applied to real-time situation.
WAVI uses similar method to VIPs Zindex. It shows the
value between 0.0~1.0 whether the system is stable or not.
The equation of WAVI is so simple. It can be justified using
just KCL and KVL. It is an issue to calculate the Zg. We use
the VIP method in order to derive the first Zg. We performed
VIP method using the virtual bus in the non-metropolitan area
and obtained the first Zg.
Applying WAVI to KEPCO system, we saw that WAVI
could detect the voltage instability. And a compromise
between accuracy and economical are proposed. The optimal
number of PMUs is 3. Although the result of 3 installed PMUs
is less accurate than the result of 6 installed PMUs, it is
sufficiently available for detecting the voltage instability.
It is still an issue to decide a location of the PMUs and
select the optimal algorithm monitoring voltage stability.
KEPCO plans installing 3 PMUs for voltage stability sooner
or later. It will be corrected if they have spare money. The
algorithm also will be adjusted according to the plans.

Byongjun Lee
He received B.S. degree from Korea University,
Seoul, Korea in 1987, M.S. and Ph.D degrees in
Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University
in 1991 and 1994 respectively. He is currently a
professor in the School of Electrical Engineering at
Korea University.

Younghwan Moon
He received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical
Engineering from Seoul University, Korea in 1979
and 1981 respectively. He received Ph.D degree in
Electrical Engineering from U. of Texas of
Arlington in 1990. He is currently the head of
electric power research division at Korea
Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI).

Sangtae Kim
He received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D degree
from Myongji University, Yongin, Korea, 1996,
1998, 2002, respectively. His main research areas
are digital signal processing, protective digital relay,
Protection system design for IPP transformer
protection, wide area monitoring/control/protection
system, and artificial intelligence application to
power system. He is a researcher at Korea Electric
Power Data Network Co. (KDN)