STATIC VAR COMPENSATOR: SOLUTION FOR POWER SYSTEM

SECURITY
Nwokolo, Eric Onyekachi
PG/M.ENG/15/78007
ABSTRACT
Because of complexity of power system network, the system is prone to
instability and becomes less secured. However, to meet the demand and better
security index without installation of new ones, the Flexible AC Transmission
System (FACTS) devices are one of the alternates. In this paper a Newton
Raphson (NR) flowchart was developed to find out the best operating point of a
Static Var Compensator (SVC) for the enhancement of system stability. The
proposed flowchart minimizes the security index (the overload level of the
lines) iteratively. The proposed flowchart was verified using IEEE 6 bus system.
Bus Voltages, line power flows, bus powers were obtained by the Newton
Raphson algorithm and the security index was calculated for both the cases with
and without SVC using matlab software. The results showed that the voltage
profile can be enhanced and the security index decreased by applying the
proposed algorithm. Thus, SVC can be used to maintain system stability since
the parameters improved is a function of the system behaviour.
1.0

INTRODUCTION

Power systems network are often interconnected so as to share generation

reserves consequently this increases the reliability of the power system [1]. This
increase in complexities of large interconnected networks aid in fluctuations in
reliability of power supply, which resulted in system instability, difficulties in
controlling the power flows and bus voltages security problems which resulted
in large number of blackouts in different parts of the world. The reasons behind
the above fault sequences are due to the systematically errors in planning and
operation, weak interconnection of the power system, lack of maintenance or
due to overload of the network etc [2, 3]. To overcome these problems and to
provide the desired power flow and bus voltages along the transmission line
with better system security and reliability, new transmission lines installation is
required. However, the installation of new transmission lines with the large
interconnected power system are limited to some of the factors like economic
cost, environment related issues. These complexities in installing new
transmission lines in a power system challenges the power engineers to research
on the ways to increase the power flow without installation of new ones, thus
reduction in system security [1,4,5]. The application of FACTS devices
becomes an alternative. FACTS provides the ability to increase the
controllability and to improve the transmission system operation in terms of
power flow, stability limits with advanced control technologies in the existing
1

power systems [6,7,8]. FACTS devices can be categorized into three types, such
as series compensators for controlling line flows, shunt compensators for
controlling bus voltages and combined series-shunt compensators. Static Var
Compensator (SVC) is one among the different FACTS controllers introduced
to improve the bus voltage with system security. SVC can be placed in order to
control the bus voltage based on variable susceptance [1]. Here, the Security
index is related to bus voltage and is minimized by an iterative algorithm. The
index would increase as the bus voltages reduces or increases to nominal
voltage. Therefore it can be said that if the index increases, the system security
margin will decrease. So by minimizing the security index we can improve the
security level [1, 5]. Power system security is the ability to maintain the flow of
electricity from the generators to the customers, under sudden disturbed
conditions such as electric short circuits or unanticipated loss of system
elements. The measures of power system security are amounts, duration and
frequency of customer outages. More so, maintaining power system security is
one of the major challenges facing transmission system operators today.
Reliable and secure operation of power systems is a key to the success of
deregulation. However, most of the electrical power systems in the world are
widely interconnected due to economic reasons to reduce the cost of electricity
and to improve system stability and reliability. Because of this, the challenge to
meet the high quality power supply in a power system is highly desirable. To
overcome the power system limitations like thermal, voltage and transient
stability limits, advanced controller devices provide techniques to maintain
system stability and to reduce losses. These controller devices include phase
shifting transformer, high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission, and
Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS). Among these, FACTS are highly
engineered power electronics based devices. These controllers are introduced
depending on the type of power system problems. Some of these controllers are
capable of addressing multiple problems in a power system but some are limited
to solve for a particular problem. They have the ability to control the bus
voltage, the power flow and improve the performance of the power system
without changing the topology [8-14]. SVC is one among the different FACTS
controllers introduced to improve the voltage profile at the buses [1, 13, 14]. So
many research works have been carried out on SVC but in this paper a Newton
Raphson (NR) mathematical model will be used to find out the best operating
point of a Static Var Compensator (SVC) for the enhancement of system
security using IEEE 6 bus system. Line power flows and bus voltages and bus
angles will be obtained by the Newton Raphson model and the security index
will be calculated for both the cases with and without SVC.

1.1 MODELING OF SVC

SVC is a device that consists of thyristor controlled reactor and thyristor
switched capacitor. The device is shunt connected to the system and its output is
adjusted to exchange inductive or capacitive current to maintain the bus voltage.
The SVC schematic diagram is shown in figure 1 below:

TSC

TSC

TS
CR

TC
R

Figure 1: Schematic Diagram of SVC

Considering the above figure, SVC is modelled as a variable susceptance, it
absorb or generate the reactive power to control the bus voltage so as to keep it
within the limits. The SVC equivalent circuit as a variable device is as shown in
figure 2 below:
Vk
Isvc
Bsvc

Figure 2: SVC Equivalent Circuit

1.2

MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF SVC

The mathematical modelling equation of SVC is derived as follows:

Let the current draw by the SVC be represented as
Therefore

Where Bsvc is the susceptance of the SVC, Vk is the voltage at the connecting
bus Bar; J is the Jacobian matrix.
3

Taking into consideration the reactive power drawn or injected into the bus
=
=
Where Qsvc is the reactive power injected in to the bus
2 SVC

Qn

X L

XC
[ 2 ( SVC ) +sin }

2
Vk

X L XC

2 SVC

X L

SVC

Where

XC
[ 2 ( SVC ) +sin }

X L XC

is the firing angle

The lineralized equations of SVC, where the

variable

is taken as the state

Read System Data

[ ]
Pn
Qsvc

[ ]

n
0 Find0 initial voltage
Values
Bsvc
0 Q svc
Bsvc

Calculate initial Security index value

Also, modelling, the security index

of Place
the power
system
Now
the SVC
devicenetwork given as
n

Get voltage, Power parameters of the system

We have

Si

W i|V iV ref ,i|

Calculate New Security index value

Change
location
Where
i =bus
number, W i = weighing
Bestfactor
Fit SVC
of SVC
Check
Voltage
Si = Security index which
means howformuch
theProfile
bus voltage nearer to the ref
YES
voltage, V ref,i = Nominal voltage
The flow chart for the proposed study is shown in figure 3 below
No
New Security
Index value
S ref >S new

YES

Figure 4: Flow Chart of the

proposed study
The proposed 6 bus IEEE system is shown in figure 4 below
Bus

Bus

Bus
Bus

Bus

Bus

Figure 4: Testing circuit - 6-Bus IEEE System

The system parameters of the proposed network are as shown in table 1 below:
The nodal equation for a power system network using Y bus is written as
follows:
I =Y Bus V

The nodal equation in a generalized form for an n bus system is given as

follows:
n

Ii

Y ij V j
j=1

for i = 1, 2, 3, 4, n

The complex power delivered to bus i is given as

Pi+ jQ i=V i I i

Pi Q i

Substituting for Ii in terms of

Pi jQ i

Vi

, the equation gives

n

j=1

j=1

V i y ij y ij V j

Thus the above equation uses iterative techniques to solve load flow problems.
Hence using it in Newton Raphson algorithm
n

| yij||V i|<ij +
=
j=1

Ii

+ j

The real and reactive power at bus is given as

Pi jQi
= V i Ii
n

Pi jQi=|V i|<i | y ij||V j|< ij + j

j =1

The real and imaginary parts are separated as follows:

n

Pi

|V i||V j||y ij|cos ( ij i+ j )

=
j=1
n

Qi

|V i||V j||y ij|sin ( ij i + j )

=
j=1

Thus the equation can be written in matrix form as

[ ] =[
P
Q

][ ]

J 1 J3
J 2 J 4 |V |

Where J 1 , J 2 , J 3 , J 4 are the elements of the Jacobian

However, the difference between the scheduled and calculated values
( k)
( k)
are given as Pi and Qi is represented as
( k)

( sch)

Pi

(k )

( k)

( sch)

Qi

Pi =Pi

(k )

Qi =Qi

The new estimates for the bus parameters are calculated as

( k+1 )

|V (k+1)|

(k )

( k)

i + i

(k )

Vi

+|V (k)
i |

However, the YBus of the proposed system is computed as given below:

Table 1: System Parameters
Line to
Positive
Positive
Line
Sequence
Sequence
Number
Resistance
Reactance
6

1-2

0.05

0.20

MVA Base=100MVA

2-3

0.10

0.50

Frequency= 50 HZ

3-4

0.20

0.80

Bus Nominal Voltage =11.54kV

4-5

0.10

0.30

5-6

0.20

0.40

6-1

0.10

0.50

2-5

0.20

0.50

1.3 RESULTS
The results of the test are as shown below:

Figure 5: Bus Voltages with and without SVC

7

1.5

1
P(Mw) without SVC in
p.u

0.5

Q(Mvar) without SVC

in p.u
P(Mw) with SVC in p.u
Bus 1 Bus 2 Bus 3 Bus 4 Bus 5 Bus 6

Q(Mvar) with SVC in

p.u

-0.5

-1

Figure 6: Bus Powers with and without SVC

1
0.8
0.6
1-to-2
0.4

1-to-6
2-to-3

0.2

2-to-5
3-to-4

0
-0.2

4-to-5
5-to-6

Figure 7: Active and Reactive Power Flows in the lines with and
without SVC

0.01
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Figure 8: Security Index With and without SVC

1.4

DISCUSIONS
10

The susceptance value of the SVC was varied in the Newton Raphson load flow
program as state variable until the voltage magnitude of one per unit obtained.
The SVC power equations were combined with the system power flow
equations and linearized with respect to the state variable. The SVC shunt
variable susceptances were adjusted in the Newton Raphson algorithm in the
iteration to achieve the specified voltage. The best fit of the SVC Controller in
study was obtained by using the flow chart shown above. The standard 6-bus
testing system was tested with and without SVC to know the behaviour of the
system on bus voltages, bus powers, active and reactive power flows in the lines
and security index. Bus 1 was taken as Slack bus, bus 2, 3 and 4 were taken as
generator bus or PV bus and buses 5, 6 were taken as load buses. The SVC was
connected at bus 5 to maintain the nodal voltage to one per unit. The SVC
which was modeled as variable susceptance model in the power flows study was
adjusted in the iteration process to meet the specified value. Initially the B svc
susceptance value was taken as 0.018per unit and converges at 7 iterations.
After connecting SVC at bus 5, the voltage in the bus bar increased from 0.967
to 0.988 per unit as shown in figure 5 above. The power flows slightly changed
as shown in figure 6 above. Also, from figure 5, the voltage at bus 5 improved
from 0.984 to 0.994p.u. More so, from figure 6, the active power at the
individual buses maintained a constant value and the reactive power at the
individual buses slightly changed. Also, from figure 7, the overall active power
flows in the lines were slightly increased and the SVC injected reactive power
to the bus to maintain the bus voltage to 1per unit. However, from figure 8 the
security index of the system without and with SVC with their respective values
as 0.0049 and 0.0044 and the former were considered as reference index when
SVC is placed on the network. Thus, incorporating SVC at bus 5 the security
index value is reduced and it can be said that if the security index reduces, the
system security margin will increase. Consequently, the severity will be reduced

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and the power system security will be assured since value of security index is a
function of system stability.
1.5

CONCLUSION

In this work, a standard 6-bus network was considered and power flow program
with and without SVC was carried out. From the results shown above, we
observed that the voltage profile improved to a pre-specified value with SVC.
The power flows in the bus were slightly increased. Likewise, the active and
reactive power flows in the lines were improved with the installation of SVC.
More so, the security index of the 6 bus IEEE test circuit simulated showed that
stability of the system was assured with the installation of the SVC. So, it can
be concluded that by incorporating SVC in the network, the voltage profile,
active and reactive power flows in the lines, bus powers and the security index
improved and also the performance of SVC operating point were determine by
the proposed algorithm.
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