2011 IEEE Symposium on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ISIEA2011), September 25-28, 2011, Langkawi, Malaysia
Transient Stability Analysis on Sarawak’s Grid using
Power System Simulator for Engineering (PSS/E)
Arfah Marini Mohamad, Norazlan Hashim, Noraliza Hamzah, Nik Fasdi Nik Ismail, Mohd Fuad Abdul Latip
Faculty of Electrical Engineering
UniversitiTeknologi MARA (UiTM)
40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
azlan4477@salam.uitm.edu.my
Abstract— Transient stability analysis has become one of the
major analyses in the power system to ensure the system stability
to withstand a major disturbance. The effect of transient
occurrence can lead to malfunction of electronic control
equipment. Transient analysis can be conducted using simulation
software package. One of the commercial simulation software
package that used by industry worldwide is Siemens Power
System Simulation for Engineering (PSS/E). This research paper
highlights the usage of PSS/E to analyze Sarawak’s Grid System
stability using the simplest dynamic model that has been
embedded into the program. To observe transient analysis using
PSS/E, basic machine model such as generator, exciter and
governor were used by varying default data in the program to
find the best simulation output. This paper also analyzed the
theory of critical clearing time (CCT) of fault occurrence
between a transmission line near to the generator and far from
the generator. CCT appears to be lesser when the fault occurs at
a transmission line near to the generator. On the contrary, when
fault occurs far from the generator, the duration of CCT is
greater. The stability of the system is observed based on the
machine rotor angle, machine speed, output electrical power and
terminal voltage.
Keywords-Transient Stability Analysis; PSS/E; Critical Clearing
Time;
I. INTRODUCTION
Stability studies are generally categorized into two major
areas: steady state stability and dynamic stability. Steady state
stability is the ability to regain synchronism after encountering
slow and small disturbance while dynamic stability is the
ability to regain synchronism after encountering small
disturbance in the long time frame [1]. Transient is an event
occurs that is undesirable and momentarily in nature and
categorized under dynamic stability [2]. Transient stability
arises in power system in determining the stability of the
system to withstand the transient conditions following a major
disturbance [1]. Transient analysis can be divided into two
types: oscillatory transient and impulsive transient. Oscillatory
transient is a sudden, non-power frequency change in the
steady-state condition and bidirectional variation in voltage,
current or both in power line. Impulsive transient is also a
sudden, non power frequency change in the steady-state
condition but unidirectional variation in voltage, current or
both in power line [2]. Capacitor switching commonly
happens in the power system internally, leads to the oscillatory
transient while lightning occurs externally in the system and
978-1-4577-1417-7/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE
leads to the impulsive transient. Transient stability studies are
important because the effect of common problem that rose
when transient occurs can lead to malfunction of electronic
controlled equipment. Moreover, the insulators may shatter
when high fault current flows in the transmission line,
damaging the poles transformer and other equipment
connected to the line. This problem may cause the adjustable
speed drive to shut down abruptly.
The objective of this paper is to analyze the transient
stability of a practical data in Sarawak Power System by
analyzing the characteristic of machine states namely; rotor
angle, machine speed, terminal voltage and output electrical
power with respect to the fault critical clearing time (CCT)
after the occurrence of a three-phase fault at the respective
transmission line. This paper also test the theory of critical
clearing duration time when the fault occurred far from the
generator and critical clearing time when fault occurs at the
line closer to the generator.
II. POWER SYSTEM SIMULATOR FOR ENGINEERING (PSS/E)
Power System Simulator for Engineering (PSS/E) is a
simulation software product from Siemens. The simulation
program consists of comprehensive transmission system
planning including optimal power flow and transient stability
analysis. The analysis that can be performed using PSS/E
includes load flow analysis and transient analysis. Load flow
analysis is performed under the category of steady-state
analysis while transient stability is performed under dynamic
analysis. In load flow analysis, PSS/E investigates the load
flow stability in a network. The generation and load must have
a small difference in order to achieve stability. Transient
analysis was performed in PSS/E to examine the immediate
response after fault condition and inspect the fault critical
clearing time (CCT). This paper uses the technique of trial and
error method in determining the CCT of the system. The fault
duration was increased gradually using the step time of 0.01s
until the system appears to be unstable by observing
machine’s rotor angle as a reference point. The CCT is
obtained by calculating the midpoint between the fault time
when the system starts to be unstable and the time before that
(where the system still in stable state). The stability of the
system can be observed by using the Simulation Output File,
embedded within PSS/E. The procedure in running transient
stability analysis is shown in the flowchart in Figure 1.
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 2011 IEEE Symposium on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ISIEA2011), September 25-28, 2011, Langkawi, Malaysia

Start Magnetic saturation is excluded for clarity. In PSS/E model,

Run Load Flow Analysis
Convert To Dynamic Data File
Read Dynamic Data
(Generator, Turbine-Governor & Exciter)
Run Transient Stability Analysis
Apply Three-Phase Fault at Cleared at tct
Analyze Graphs Obtained
rotor speed variations are reflected in the internal voltage and
in the generator terminal current [4]. The stator resistance, Ra
is neglected and the mechanical power is the input to the
synchronous generator. The stator flux is derived from stator
currents and the exciter voltage [5]. The parameters of
Increase fault GENROU model is shown in the Table I.
clearing time
gradually TABLE I. MACHINE DATA FOR GENROU MODEL FOR SARAWAK’S GRID SYSTEM
( tct=0.01s)

Is System Stable? YES

NO
Stop

Figure 1. Flowchart of Transient Stability Analysis in PSS/E

III. MACHINE MODELS

In conducting dynamic analysis using PSS/E to performed
transient analysis, the three most important dynamic basic
machine models such as generator, exciter and governor must
be taken into account.
B. Simplified Exciter Model (SEXS)
A. Round Rotor Generator Model (GENROU)
Figure 3 below illustrate the block diagram of simplified
In this research, the generator model used is round rotor exciter system. SEXS model represents no specific type of
machine model, GENROU for thermal generation units as excitation system, but rather the general characteristics of a
shown in Figure 2 below [4]. GENROU represent solid rotor wide variety of properly tuned excitation systems. SEXS
generator at sub-transient level. GENROU was used to model is particularly useful in cases where an excitation
produce machine speed and rotor angle for transient stability system must be represented and its detailed design is not
observation. All generator models in PSS/E ultimately present known. The gain, K, time constant, TE, and limits EMAX, EMIN,
the electric transmission network with a positive sequence are a basic representation of the excitation power source. Time
source voltage where instantaneous amplitude and phase are constants TA and TB provide the transient gain reduction
known and current is to be determined. needed to allow satisfactory dynamic behavior with high
X 'd' − X ι steady-state gain. SEXS model is the most common exciter
X 'd − X ι model used in order to perform analysis and producing
generator main field voltage, EFD. [3]
1 − 1 X 'd − X 'd' +
E fd + + + ψd
− Td' 0S − Td''0S X 'd − X ι
X 'd' − X ι
' ''
X ad I fd X −Xd d
(X 'd − X ι ) 2

+ Id
X d − X 'd +

X q − X 'q Iq
Figure 3. Simplified Excitation System in PSS/E
' ''
X −X
q q
TABLE II. EXCITER DATA FOR SEXS MODEL FOR SARAWAK’S GRID SYSTEM
(X 'q − X q ) 2
X 'q' − X ι

1 1 X 'q − X 'q'
Tq' 0S Tq''0S X 'q − X ι − ψq
''
X − Xι
q
'
X − Xι
q

Figure 2. Block Diagram of flux-current relationships of GENROU model in

PSS/E with magnetic saturation neglected.

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 2011 IEEE Symposium on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ISIEA2011), September 25-28, 2011, Langkawi, Malaysia
C. Turbine-Governor Model (TGOV1)
The turbine-governor models are designed to give
representations of the effects of power plants on power system
stability. They are not intended to be used in studies of the
detailed behavior of individual plants. Because of the wide
variety in the details of individual turbine controls, the PSS/E
models do not attempt to give a high degree of exactness for
any given plant; rather they represent the principal effects
inherent in conventional steam turbine, gas turbine, nuclear,
and hydro plants. Governor model used in this research paper
is TGOV1, a simple model representing governor action and
the reheater time constant effect for a steam turbine. The ratio,
T2/T3, equals the fraction of turbine power that is developed
by the high-pressure turbine. T3 is the reheater time constant,
and T1 is the governor time constant. The TGOV1 governor
diagram is shown in Figure 4 below.
Figure 4. TGOV1 governor model in PSS/E
TABLE III. GOVERNOR DATA FOR TGOV1 MODEL FOR SARAWAK’S GRID
SYSTEM
IV. SYSTEM MODEL
A. Sarawak System Network
Sarawak practical data consists of 131 buses located in
seven different areas in Sarawak, Malaysia. The areas covered
are Kuching, Sri Aman, Kemantan, Sibu, Bintulu, Miri and
Grid. The highest bus base kV is 275kV and the lowest is
11kV. The data consists of 34 machines and 65 loads. The
swing bus is bus 1509 located within the Grid area. The swing
bus real generation power, PG after solving load flow solutions
are 101.4MW and reactive power generation, QG is -
27.9Mvar. The load flow was solved using full Newton
Rhapson method and the system reached the tolerance after 3
iterations. The Swing bus holds the largest power generation
throughout the system. The highest and lowest real power, P
and apparent power, Q in the Sarawak practical data is
summarize in Table IV below. In observing the dynamic
stability of the network system, the three-phase fault was
applied at two transmission lines; closest to the generator and
far from the generator. This method was applied to observe the
difference in CCT at two different locations. In order to
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inspect the worst condition, the same fault is applied to the
nearest transmission line from bus 4501 to bus 9501. The
second case study using Sarawak practical data is to inspect
the CCT during fault occurrence far from the generator.
Taking further transmission line connecting Grid area with
Bintulu area, the fault is applied between the bus 5501 and
3501. The Sarawak’s Grid network was reconstructed in
PSS/E and was illustrated in the Figure 21 under appendix
section.
TABLE IV. SUMMARY OF MACHINE AND LOAD DATA
Bus PG (MW) QG (Mvar)
Machine 1509 101.4 -27.9
1101 0.0 0.0
Bus PL (MW) QL (Mvar)
Load 3101 12.2 0.0
3115 0.0 0.0
V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
In this paper, the analysis is perform in order to observe the
response of machine states in the Sarawak’s Grid data after
occurrence of three-phase fault at the respective transmission
lines. The critical fault clearing time is determined using trial
and error method in PSS/E by increasing the fault duration
time gradually using a step time of 0.01s from the minimum
value to maximum value. The critical fault clearing time (tcct)
is obtained by calculating the midpoint between the fault time
when the system starts to be unstable and the time before that,
where the system still in stable state. Transient stability
analysis in this research paper observes the rotor angle,
voltage, machine speed and electrical power of the respective
system.
Figure 5 to 8 shows that graph of rotor angle, voltage, speed
and electrical power at Sarawak’s Grid Network Data when
the fault occurs at transmission line near to the generator. The
fault clearing time is less that critical clearing time (tct < tcct).
After fault removal, the rotor angle seems to be settling back
to its original phase, and the system is said to be transiently
stable. The voltage, speed and electrical power also follow the
same phase as the rotor angle, by returning to its stable state
after occurrence of a small transient due to the three-phase
fault.
Figure 9 to 12 shows the result when the fault clearing time
exceeds the critical clearing time (tct > tcct). The machine’s
rotor angle in figure 9 will continue to go out of phase,
without returning to the original phase. This can be said as the
network system is in unstable condition. The dynamic system
model is unable to sustain the fault and loses its synchronism.
Based on this case, the critical clearing time obtained was at
0.105s. Similar to the case of fault occurrence on the line near
the generator, figure 13 to 20 shows the result for stable and
unstable condition at fault occurrence at a transmission line
located far from the generator. Table V and VI showed the
summary of result in all three cases that was done in this
research.
 2011 IEEE Symposium on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ISIEA2011), September 25-28, 2011, Langkawi, Malaysia

A. Sarawak System Network (near the generator)

Figure 5. Plots of rotor angle at all generator (tct = 0.10). (Stable) Figure 9. Plots of rotor angle at all generator (tct = 0.11). (Unstable)

Figure 6. Plots of voltage at all busses (tct = 0.10). (Stable) Figure 10. Plots of voltage at all busses (tct = 0.11). (Unstable)

Figure 7. Plots of Speed at all generator (tct = 0.10). (Stable) Figure 11. Plots of Speed at all generator (tct = 0.11). (Unstable)

Figure 8. Plots of electrical power at all generator (tct = 0.10).

Figure 12. Plots of electrical power at all generator (tct = 0.11).
(Stable)
(Unstable)

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 2011 IEEE Symposium on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ISIEA2011), September 25-28, 2011, Langkawi, Malaysia

B. Sarawak System Network (far)

Figure 13. Plots of rotor angle at all generator (tct = 0.17). (Stable) Figure 17. Plots of rotor angle at all generator (tct = 0.18).
(Unstable)

Figure 14. Plots of voltage at all busses (tct = 0.17). (Stable) Figure 18. Plots of voltage at all busses (tct = 0.18). (Unstable)

Figure 15. Plots of Speed at all generator (tct = 0.17). (Stable) Figure 19. Plots of Speed at all generator (tct = 0.18). (Unstable)

Figure 16. Plots of electrical power at all generator (tct = 0.17). Figure 20. Plots of electrical power at all generator (tct = 0.18).
(Stable) (Unstable)

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 2011 IEEE Symposium on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ISIEA2011), September 25-28, 2011, Langkawi, Malaysia

TABLE V. SUMMARY OF RESULT ANALYSIS WHEN THREE-PHASE FAULT ACKNOWLEDGMENT

OCCURS NEAR A GENERATOR FOR SARAWAK’S GRID SYSTEM
The financial assistance of the Faculty of Electrical
Faulted line Fault Duration (sec) Stability
0.10 Stable
Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA is greatly
4501-9501 0.105 tcct appreciated.
0.11 Unstable
REFERENCES
TABLE VI. SUMMARY OF RESULT ANALYSIS WHEN THREE-PHASE FAULT [1] K.C. Tham, "Power System Stability", Information Technology
OCCURS FAR FROM THE GENERATOR FOR SARAWAK’S GRID SYSTEM and Electrical Engineering, University of Queensland, pp. 1-109,
2003.
Faulted line Fault Duration (sec) Stability
[2] P. Kundur, "Power system stability and control", New York: Mc-
0.17 Stable
Graw-Hill, 1994
5501-3501 0.175 tcct
[3] Siemens, "Program Application Guide, Volume II for PSS®E
0.18 Unstable
Version 32.0", Siemens Power Technologies International, 2009.
[4] “PSS/E 25, On-line Documentation”, Schenectady, US: Power
Technologies, Inc., December 1997.
VI. CONCLUSIONS [5] J.G Slootweg, "A Study of the Eigencalur Analysis Capabilities of
Power System Dynamics Simulation Software", Department of
This research paper conducts a transient stability analysis Electrical Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm,
on Sarawak’s Grid data system. The response of transient Sweden, June 2002.
stability was observed using PSS/E simulation package, based [6] P.K. Iyambo, R. Tzoneva, "Transient Stability Analysis of the
on machine’s rotor angle, terminal voltage, speed and also IEEE 14-Bus Electric Power System", AFRICON 2007, pp. 1-9,
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electrical power. Sarawak’s Grid data was used to clarify the [7] H. Li and Z. Chen, "Transient Stability Analysis of Wind Turbines
theory said that the line far from a major generator held a with Induction Generators Considering Blades and Shaft
longer CCT. This paper proves the theory by applying the Flexibility", 33rd Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial
same three-phase fault at two different transmission lines; one Electronics Society, 2007. (IECON 2007), pp. 1604-1609, 2007
[8] A. M. Mihirig and M. D. Wvong, "Transient Stability Analysis of
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Thus the theory is proven.

APPENDIX

FIGURE 21.SARAWAK’S GRID MODEL IN PSS/E

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