PV Analysis in PSSE

• The “PV” analysis process involves using a series of power flow solutions with increasing
transfers of real power (MW) and monitoring what happens to system voltages as a result.
• As the power transfers increase, the system absorbs more reactive power (VARs), resulting in
lower bus voltages.
• The voltage at a given bus compared to the amount of transfer is non-linear and could become
unstable when a small amount of power transfer results in a very large voltage decrease.
• Although the primary purpose of a PV analysis is to assess how bus voltages are impacted by
power transfers, it is also used to evaluate how branch flows are impacted by power transfers.

Typical PV curve

• The PV analysis requires a “source” subsystem that delivers the power transfer(s) and a “sink”
subsystem that absorbs the power transfer(s).
 PV Analysis in PSSE
• Create a new folder somewhere named “PV_Example”.
• Right click on your desktop (or some other folder) and select: New > Folder

Change the folder name to:

“PV_Example”

• This is where everything associated with this PV analysis will be stored.

 PV Analysis in PSSE
Launch PSSE and Open a Case  C:\Program Files (x86)\PTI\PSSE34\EXAMPLE\savnw.sav
 PV Analysis in PSSE
Open an existing Diagram (slider)  C:\Program Files (x86)\PTI\PSSE34\EXAMPLE\savnw.sld
 PV Analysis in PSSE

do a 180 MW power transfer…

from generation at buses 101 and 102

to loads in area 1
 PV Analysis in PSSE

so all generation here…

the “source” subsystem
will increase by 180 MW.

and all loads here…

the “sink” subsystem
will increase by 180 MW.
 PV Analysis in PSSE
Stop  save everything to your working directory

• navigate to your working directory

• change the file names if you like

This is an important step… you should now have two (2)

files in your working directory to edit as needed.
 PV Analysis in PSSE
Stop  create empty sub, mon, con files
• go to your working directory

• create a new text file and name it: pv_analysis.sub

• repeat this to create pv_analysis.mon and pv_analysis.con files

• you should now have five (5) files in your working directory:
 PV Analysis in PSSE
open the .sub .mon .con files with any text editor

edit the .sub .mon .con files to look like this:

don’t forget to save everything

 PV Analysis in PSSE
Or Click Here Go to: Power Flow  Contingency, Reliability, PV/QV analysis  PV analysis

Many options to choose… Next slides

 PV Analysis in PSSE
First  Build the Distribution Factor (.dfx) Data File

specify your .sub .mon .con files

click the DFAX button

type in a name for the .dfx file

click OK

you should see the contingencies processed in the output bar

 PV Analysis in PSSE
Input Analysis Options

select basecase select contingency

solution options solution options

leave disabled… not adjusting

other generation to resolve
this is handled loading issues
automatically…
PV_ENGINE_6 for this example…
total transfer is 180 MW
in 10 steps of 18 MW each
select
solution method no effect if not checking limits

normally set to Rate B 0.00 means use existing

load power factor.
for this example: no effect if not a load
both source and transfer
sink generation will
change proportional leave disabled… not wanting to
to up or down stop transfers for
reserve margin low voltage or overloads

choose No Limits… verify subsystem names

just incase your
transfer exceeds should be populated
your generator limits from previous step

choose No Limits…
unless doing a type in a name for the .pv file
load-load transfer
(which makes
no sense)
click Go to run the PV Analysis
 PV Analysis in PSSE
Getting Graphical Results
you should see a results window pop-up that looks like this

consider bus voltages

fourteen (14) contingencies plus
Basecase in the CON subsystem
(including tie-lines)…
Take notice of the contingencies
that did not reach max transfer
of 180 MW

only six (6) buses

in the MON subsystem
 PV Analysis in PSSE
Getting Graphical Results

scroll down and select contingency 154-205(1)

then select all six (6) buses

(ctrl + left click)

this trace looks suspect…

bus voltage starts off low for
this contingency, then diverges
above 144 MW of transfer.

click on the Graphics button

• this graphing tool in PSSE allows a max of eight (8) contingencies and eight (8) buses/branches to be selected
• not very useful for evaluating results when you have hundreds of contingencies, buses/branches
 PV Analysis in PSSE
Getting Graphical Results

this trace looks suspect…

bus voltage starts off low for
this contingency, then diverges
at next step of 162 MW of transfer

better viewing options for contingencies and buses/branches selected

 PV Analysis in PSSE
Getting Raw Data Results

select PV Solution
specify your .pv file

auto populated

select what tabs you want

if this dialog does not pop-up

_WXPATH = r'C:\Python27\lib\site-packages'
os.environ['PATH'] = _WXPATH + ';' + os.environ['PATH']
select what contingencies you want
try this code in the Python command line, then run again

click the Export button

 PV Analysis in PSSE
Getting Raw Data Results

• check for buses with low voltage and diverged before reaching full transfer
 PV Analysis in PSSE
Getting Raw Data Results

• branch flows show MVA … not percent of rating

• not very useful if trying to identify overloaded branches due to transfer
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