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Power system performance improvement by using an SVC device

Article · February 2015

DOI: 10.1109/ISFEE.2014.7050555

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 Power System Performance Improvement by
using an SVC Device
ALI ABDULWAHHAB ABDULRAZZAQ, MIRCEA EREMIA, Senior Member, IEEE,
LUCIAN TOMA, Member, IEEE
 cost as compared to some classical equipments.
Abstract— This paper presents the performances of the static
VAr compensator (SVC) in controlling the voltage under various
perturbations that may occur in the transmission power system.
By controlling the voltage, SVC is indirectly contributing to the
enhancement of the loading capability of the transmission
network. Simulations were performed on the test network called
TEST2 using the EUROSTAG software. Both static and dynamic
simulations were performed, while analyzing the voltage control
and the change in the reactive power under various disturbances,
as well as the power losses under steady-state.
Index Terms— Dynamic Simulation, Static VAr Compensator,
Power System stability
I. INTRODUCTION
T HE power systems are increasingly undergo higher
loading, in many cases close to the technical limits, due to
the continuous increase in power demand. Therefore,
controlling the power flow in the network is an important
issue in the planning and operation of power system. Voltage
control as activity to avoid the voltage collapse and thus major
blackout in the power system have been among the main
preoccupations for the power system specialists.
There are several conventional controllers such as
transformer tap changers, phase shifters or mechanically
switched compensators which are used for improving the
static and dynamic stability margins. However, these
controllers are not fast in response and have so many
limitations [1]. In order to avoid these drawbacks, the FACTS
devices have gained their place in the power system control
due to their fast and reliable response in controlling a wide
range of parameters. Flexible AC Transmission System
(FACTS) devices are used to ensure power system security
and reliability by appropriate control objectives, as well as to
increase the transient and dynamic stability, transfer capacity
and reliability of the system [2],[3]. In particular, the SVC is
the best technical option for voltage control despite the higher
This work was founded by the Foundation of Technical Education, from
Baghdad, Iraq.
Ali Abdulwahhab Abdulrazzaq is PhD student at University “Politehnica”
of Bucharest, Department of Electrical Power Systems, within a program
founded by Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research /
Foundation of Technical Education, from Baghdad, Iraq. (e-mail:
aliabdulwahhab@yahoo.com).
Prof. Mircea Eremia and Assoc. Prof. Lucian Toma are with University
“Politehnica” of Bucharest, Faculty of Power Engineering, Department of
Electrical Power Systems, Bucharest, Romania.
978-1-4799-6821-3/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE
The FACTS concept has introduced a number of new
approaches and techniques to address power system stability
[4]. One of the earliest components from the FACTS family is
the SVC, introduced in the 1970s [5]. The SVC can be used in
power systems to improve voltage control [6],[7] improve
transient stability [8], increase transmission capacity [9] and to
improve power system damping [10].
Previous work has shown that the SVC should be placed at
the weakest bus of the system to maximize its effect [11]. The
weak buses can be identified by eigenvalue based modal
analysis [12] or by using sensitivity analysis [13].
The SVC devices is able to rapidly and smoothly supply or
absorb reactive power by controlling the firing delay angles of
thyristors (valves). They have been used in transmission and
distribution systems for voltage and reactive power control
[14], [15]. SVCs have been used for high performance steady
state and transient voltage control. SVCs are also used to
dampen power swings, improve transient stability, and reduce
system losses by optimized reactive power control [16].
II. MODELING THE SVC COMPENSATOR
The SVC is modeled by a shunt variable admittance and can
be placed either at the terminal bus of a transmission line or in
the middle of a long line. SVC is basically a shunt connected
static VAr generator that can exchange capacitive or inductive
current with the power system so as to maintain or control
specific power variables; typically, the control variable is the
system bus voltage.
SVC is a shunt devices that consists typically of one
thyristors controlled reactor and several thyristor switched
capacitors. Filters should be also considered because they can
produce reactive power.
The capacitors can be switched ON or OFF only, whereas
the current through the reactors can be varied from zero to the
rated current. Depending on the demand for reactive
current/power, there can be a large number combinations
between the reactor and the capacitors. When inductive
reactive power is demanded in order to decrease the bus
voltage, the capacitors are switched off, while the current
through the thyristors is varied to achieve the exact reactive
power to be absorbed. When capacitive power is required to
increase the bus voltage, the necessary number of capacitors
are switched on, and the surplus of reactive power is absorbed
by the reactor.
A. Steady-state model determined with the following formula:
In steady state, an SVC can be seen as a variable Qi = Vi2BSVC (2)
susceptance. Figure 1 illustrates the SVC model, that takes and its sign depends of the sign of the susceptance BSVC.
into account the transformer susceptance (BT), additionally to Inductive reactive power is taken with positive sign, and
the capacitive susceptance (BC) and the inductive susceptance capacitive reactive power is taken with negative sign.
(BL).
B. Dynamic model
System connection bus k The main advantage of the SVC device as compared to
Vk other classical voltage control static devices is the very short
ISVC ISVC
time response by virtue of the high performances of the power
BT
electronic. SVC is equipped with a voltage regulator, which
BSVC
determines the SVC susceptance by appropriate combination
between the reactor and the capacitors.
BC Figure 3 shows the block diagram of the SVC control
system available in the Eurostag software. The measured bus
BSVC voltage Vk is compared with the reference voltage Vref. The
BL
model includes a loop current calculated in terms of the bus
voltage and the actual susceptance of SVC, which is
a) b) multiplied by a factor representing the slope reactance XSL.
Fig. 1. SVC modeling: a) structure; b) Simplified model. The resulting value is added to the error voltage, between the
reference voltage and the bus voltage. In terms of the resulted
The typical steady-state control law of a SVC used here is error, the regulator will calculate the necessary reactive power
depicted in Fig. 2, and may be represented by the following to be injected/absorbed. The output signal of the regulator,
voltage-current characteristic [17]: BSVC (p.u.), is a signal proportional to the reactive power to be
Vk Vref  X SL ˜ I SVC (1) compensated in Figure 3. The controller is proportional-
where Vk and I SVC stand for controlled bus voltage and SVC integral type.
device current, and Vref denotes the reference voltage. Typical Qmax
Vref
values for the slope X SL are in the range of 0.02 to 0.05 p.u., +
Vk 1 1+sT1 K 1 1-sTB BSVC
depending on the SVC device rated parameters; an appropriate 6 K s
1+sTM1 1+sT2 1+sTSM 1+sTB [p.u.]
slope is required to avoid reaching the capability limits in case
of small variations of the bus voltage. 1 Qmin
The control law corresponding to the SVC characteristic 1+sTM2
(Fig. 2) is the following:
XSL
x if the monitored voltage is larger than the reference
voltage, Vk ! Vref , then the SVC device is absorbing
reactive current; Fig. 3. SVC dynamic model implemented in the Eurostag program [18]
x if the monitored voltage is smaller than the reference
voltage, Vk  Vref , then reactive current injection into the The parameters of the SVC regulator shown in Figure 3 are
presented in Table I.
bus is required.
Table I. Parameters of the SVC. model
V
C Parameters Value
Vmax K [-] Regulator gain 20
B
V0 P [MW] Active power 0
A Qmax [MVAr] Maximum supply of reactive power 200
Vmin
Qmin [MVAr] Minimum supply of reactive power -200
XSL [%] Slope 0.05
T [-] Constant of the integrator limiter 0.74048
Control domain T1 [s] 10
T2 [s] Time constants for control system 10
ISVC
TB [s] Time delay for activation of thyristors 0.004
ICmax 0 ILnom ILmax TM1 [s] Time constant of measuring voltage 0.004
Fig. 2. Steady State V-I characteristic of the SVC.
TM2 [s] Time constant of measuring current 0.004

The reactive power produced/absorbed by SVC can be

 III. CASE STUDY The variables presented in Tables II and III are:
The simulation was performed on the test network called R – branch resistance;
TEST 2, which consists of 13 buses, 15 transmission lines X – branch inductive reactance;
B – branch capacitive susceptance;
(single and double circuit), 8 loads and 5 generating units.
Pc – active load power ;
The slack bus is associated to bus 12. The total active power
Qc – reactive load power;
generation is 1291 MW, and the total active power load is
Pg – active generated power;
1265 MW. The network nominal voltage is 220 kV Figure 4 Usp – specified voltage at generator buses;
illustrates the one-line diagram of the test network [19]. Qmin – minimum reactive power at generators;
Qmax – maximum reactive power at generators;
CTE-BETA
2× 200 MW 5 AREA 2 G stands for generator buses, C stands for consumer/load
~ buses, and S stands for the slack bus.
6
CTE-GAMA
4 C3 7 3×100 MW A. Steady-state performances
C2 8 ~ In both steady-state and dynamic simulations, this paper
3
CTE-ALFA C4 focuses on the voltage control.
2×200 MW 2 9
C1 After steady-state simulation, a voltage value of 0.944 p.u.
~ C5
was identified at bus 10, which is outside the safe limits in a
1 10
transmission network, that is ±5% with respect to the nominal
CTE-RO1 value. Because bus 10 is located on the border between the
3×330 MW C7 C6 AREA 1
~ two areas, it is expected that the voltage at this bus is a
12 CHE-RO2 constraint on the power that can be transmitted between the
2×170 MW
C8 two areas.
~
13 11 In order to bring out the voltage at bus 10 within safe limits,
Fig. 4. one-line diagram of TEST 2 an SVC was installed at this bus, having the limits [-200cap ,
200ind] MVAr. In the Eurostag software, an SVC is modeled
The branch data of the test network are presented in Table as a simple generator, with reactive power limits. When the
II, and the bus data are presented in Table III. reactive power necessary to bring the voltage to reference
value is outside the capability limits, the bus to which the SVC
TABLE II. BRANCH DATA. is connected is transformed into an uncontrolled bus, and the
From To
No. of Length R X B reactive power produced is determined in terms of the bus
circuits [km] [] [] [S] voltage.
1 2 1 150 9.9 60.6 416
2 3 1 80 5.3 32.3 222 Figures 5 shows the voltage level in the test network at bus
2 4 1 112 7.1 45.2 311 1, 8, 9, 10 and 11 in the presence and in the absence of the
5 6 2 100 3.3 20.9 544 SVC device installed at bus 10. Simulation has shown that a
6 7 1 90 6.65 37.9 243 reactive power of 142 MVAr should be produced by the SVC
7 8 1 70 4.6 28.3 195
7 9 1 60 4 24.2 167 device at bus 10 in order to bring out the voltage at the
9 10 1 80 5.3 32.3 222 nominal value (1 p.u.). At the same time, the voltages at the
1 10 1 75 5.5 31.5 202 buses located in the vicinity of bus 10, that is buses 1 and 9,
10 11 1 120 7.9 48.5 333 are indirectly improved, eventually very close to the nominal
11 13 1 80 5.3 32.3 222
11 12 1 55 3.6 22.2 153 value. On the other hand, the voltage at bus 8, for instance, is
12 13 1 83 5.5 33.5 230 not affected by the SVC because it is directly controlled by the
1 12 2 150 4.9 31.4 812 generators located at bus 7, which is a normal situation.
4 5 1 60 4 24.2 167

TABLE III. BUS DATA.

Bus Pc Qc Pg Usp Qmin Qmax
No. Type [MW] [MVAr] [MW] [kV] [MVAr] [MVAr]
1 C 250 155 0 220 0 0
2 G 0 0 255 230 0 190
3 C 60 35 0 220 0 0
4 C 190 130 0 220 0 0
5 G 0 0 240 225 0 180
6 C 220 135 0 220 0 0
7 G 0 0 240 225 0 180
8 C 65 35 0 220 0 0
9 C 130 70 0 220 0 0
10 C 200 140 0 220 0 0 Fig. 5. Voltage level in the networks, with and without SVC.
11 G 0 0 165 233 -60 160
12 S 0 0 395 235 0 300 Figure 6 presents the contribution of reactive power from
13 C 150 90 0 220 0 0
the five generators in both cases. It shows that when using the
SVC, several generators are unloaded in reactive power, thus p.u.

1.00
increasing their reactive power limits.
0.99

0.98

0.97

0.96

0.95

0.94

0.93

0.92

s
0 20 40 60

Fig. 6 . Reactive power generation by each generator, with and without SVC. VOLTAGE AT BUS : 10 WITH SVC Unit : p.u.
VOLTAGE AT BUS : 10 WITHOUT SVC Unit : p.u.

Analysis of the power losses in the two cases shows that, Fig. 8. Voltage at bus 10, for load increase, in case with and without SVC.
under steady-state conditions, the active power losses are
p.u.
decreased when adding the SVC; this is because the voltages 0.990
are improved.
0.985

0.980

0.975

0.970

0.965

0.960

0.955

Fig. 7 . Active power losses, with and without SVC. 0.950

0.945
B. Dynamic simulation 0 20 40 60
s

VOLTAGE AT BUS :1 WITH SVC Unit : p.u.

In order to verify the effectiveness of the SVC device under VOLTAGE AT BUS :1 WITHOUT SVC Unit : p.u.

dynamic perturbations, three events were assumes: load

increase, load decrease, and line disconnection. Fig. 9. Voltage at bus 1, for load increase, in case with and without SVC.
p.u.

B1) Load increase at bus 10 0.985

A sudden load increase was assumed at bus 10, that is 30%

for the active power meaning 60 MW, and 15% meaning 21 0.980

MVAr, in both cases, with and without SVC. The event was 0.975

simulated in the Eurostag software to occur at the instant

0.970
t = 5 s after the simulation was started. The simulation was
performed for a time window of 60, sufficient damping any 0.965

transient oscillation. For interest are the voltage at bus 10 and

0.960
voltages at the busses located in the vicinity of bus 10.
Figures 9, 10 and 11 illustrate the voltage variation in buses 0.955

10, 1 and 9. The simulation results shows the evident 0.950

contribution of the SVC device, first to achieve a bus voltage

close to the nominal value, then to rapidly stabilize the 0.945

voltage, after the disturbance, also to a value very close to the 0.940

nominal one. 0 20 40 60
s

VOLTAGE AT BUSE : 9 WITH SVC Unit : p.u.

VOLTAGE AT BUS : 9 WITHOUT SVC Unit : p.u.

Fig. 10. Voltage at bus 9, for load increase, in case with and without SVC.
 The voltage at bus 11 is a special case because here a p.u.

generator is controlling the voltage. In the case of load

increase, the generator is no longer to keep the voltage at the 0.995

specified value. However, in the presence of SVC, the voltage

is significantly improved.
0.990

p.u.

0.985

1.058

1.056 0.980

1.054

0.975

1.052

0.970
1.050

1.048
s
0 20 40 60
VOLTAGE AT BUS : 1 WITH SVC Unit : p.u.
1.046 VOLTAGE AT BUS : 1 WITHOUT SVC Unit : p.u.

1.044
Fig. 13. Voltage at bus 1, for load decrease, in case with and without SVC.

1.042

s
Again, a special case in bus 11, where the SVC is limiting
0 20 40 60
VOLTAGE AT BUS :11 WITH SVC Unit : p.u. the voltage to increase too much.
VOLTAGE AT BUS : 11 WITHOUT SVC Unit : p.u.

p.u.
Fig. 11. Voltage at bus 11, for load increase, in case with and without SVC.
1.076

B2) Load decrease at bus 10 1.074

A sudden load decrease was assumed at bus 10, that is -30%

for the active power meaning -60 MW, and -15% meaning -21 1.072

MVAr, in both cases, with and without SVC. The event was 1.070

simulated again to occur at the instant t = 5 s after the

simulation was started. 1.068

Figures 12, 13 and 14 show the voltage variations at buses

1.066
10 and 1. Initially the voltages at the load buses located
around bus 10 was lower that the nominal value. After the 1.064

load has decreased, as expected, the voltage has increased.

The voltages were brought out to values around the nominal 1.062

value, but with less effort from the SVC and generators, as 1.060

also was shown in Figure 6.

s
0 20 40 60
VOLTAGE AT BUS : 11 WITH SVC Unit : p.u.
p.u. VOLTAGE AT BUS : 11 WITHOUT SVC Unit : p.u.

1.01 Fig. 14. Voltage at bus 11, for load decrease, in case with and without SVC.

1.00 B3) Disconnection of line 1-10

The electrical power systems are continuously undergone
0.99 various changes in topology or other parameters. For instance,
disconnecting a line duting load valley is a practice for the
0.98 system dispatchers. However, if not properly verified, a line
disconnection may lead to undesired load flows and
0.97 unacceptable voltage levels.
In this case, the disconnection of the line between buses 1
0.96
and 10 was assumed to occur at the instant t = 10 s after the
simulation was started.
0.95
Figures 15 and 16 show the voltage variation at buses 1 and
s
10 in the case when line 1-10 is suddenly disconnected. The
0 20 40 60
VOLTAGE AT BUS : 10 WITH SVC Unit : p.u. simulation results show that without SVC the voltage at bus
VOLTAGE AT BUS : 10 WITHOUT SVC Unit : p.u.
10 may decrease to unacceptable value because of reactive
Fig. 12. Voltage at bus 10, for load decrease, in case with and without SVC. power deficit, while the voltage at bus 1 will increase because
of the increased reserves of reactive power.
In the case with SVC, the voltage at bus 10 can be kept at
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