10.

2 Voltage Performance of a System 177

Reactor Capacitor
performance performance

Q Q

Fig. 10.3 V–I characteristics of an SVC

with a connected capacitor/reactor is, in fact, a PQ bus. Besides being fixed, its
reactive power generation can not be, instantly, changed. These types of reactive
power resources are named as static resources.
Now consider a PV bus in which its voltage may be kept fixed at a specified value.
A simple example is a bus with a connecting generator (P, nonzero) or with a
synchronous condenser.6 From a load flow analysis, the reactive power generation,
Q, is determined. It is generated/absorbed by the generator or the condenser. Pro-
vided it is within the reactive power capability of the resource, it may be generated/
absorbed, instantly, while its value is dictated by the system conditions and not fixed.
These types of reactive power resources are considered as dynamic types.
Another type of a dynamic resource is an SVC7 with an almost instantaneous
response and a V–I characteristics such as the one shown in Fig. 10.3. Within its
reactive power capability range, its voltage is fixed. Outside the range, it behaves
as either a capacitor (more than Q)  or a reactor (lower than Q).
Why do we have to use a dynamic resource, while it is a more expensive
element in comparison with a static type?
Suppose that the voltage profile of a system is acceptable for normal conditions.
Now if a contingency (such as a line outage) happens, the voltages on some
specific buses may drop to unacceptable values, even though the reactive power
generations of some PV buses are increased. One way to overcome the problem is
to switch in a capacitor, if available, at the problematic buses. The difficulty,

6
See the list of the references at the end of this chapter.
7
Static Var Compensator (For further details, see the list of the references at the end of this
chapter). Note that although static is used in its name, an SVC is considered to be a dynamic
resource due to the explanations cited above. The term static is used here to show that an SVC
does not have any moving element.