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Practices of
Reactive Power Management
and Compensation
Dr. Hong Chen
PJM Interconnection LLC

IEEE/PES General Meeting 2008

July 23, 2008

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 Motivation

• Reactive power management is essential to

reliable system operation, and also affects
economic efficiency of real power dispatch.
• Proper compensation for providing reactive
power and reactive power capability ensures
an adequate, reliable and efficient supply of
reactive power, and encourages sufficient
investment on producing reactive power.
• The reactive supply and voltage control is one
of the Ancillary Services provided by
generators.
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 Reactive Power Management

• Maintain voltage through voltage schedules and

voltage limits
Voltage High Normal Emergency Load Voltage Voltage
Level Low Low Dump Drop Drop
(KV) Warning Violation
765 1.05 0.95 0.92 0.90 2.5% 5-8%
500 1.10 1.00 0.97 0.95 2.5% 5-8%
345, 230 1.05 0.95 0.92 0.90 4-6% 5-8%
138, 115, 1.05 0.95 0.92 0.90 4-6% 5-10%
69
34 1.10 0.92 0.90 0 5% 8%

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 Reactive Power Management

• Monitor Voltage Condition

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 Reactive Power Management
• Monitor reactive reserve
•

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 Reactive Power Management

• Verify reactive capability curve (D-curve)

– Report to ISO
– AVR maintaining specified bus voltage
– Multi-point leading and lagging test

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 Reactive Power Management

• Reactive Transfer Interface

– Defined as a set of lines, mainly 500KV lines
– Monitored buses
– Set of contingencies
– Interface margin

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 Reactive Power Management

• Reactive transfer interface limit

– Voltage drop and voltage collapse analysis
under contingency
– Continuation Power Flow method
– Maximum transfer using “worst case” scenario,
i.e. the lower of
• Voltage drop violation point
• Emergency low voltage point
• Voltage collapse point minus interface margin

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 Reactive Power Management
• Real-time transfer monitoring

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 Reactive Power Management

• Control actions
– No-cost controls
• Switching capacitors and reactors
• Adjusting SVC
• Adjusting generator reactive output
• Adjusting transformer tap position
• Switching lines or cables out of service
– Off-cost controls
• Curtailing non-firm transactions not willing to pay
congestion
• Re-dispatching generation
• Dispatching synchronous condensers
– Load shedding

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 Reactive Power Management

• LMP-based Congestion Management

– Thermal surrogate
• Reactive transfer interface constraint
• Local reactive support

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 Binding Frequency

• Day-ahead • Real-time

90 60
80
50
70

Percentage (%)
60 40
Percentage (%)

50
30
40

30 20
20
10
10

0 0
>=300 100-300 <100
>=1000 500-1000 100-500 <100
Shadow Price Range ($/MWh)
shadow price range ($/MWh)

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 Reactive Power Compensation

• Schedule 2: compensate generating

resources for reactive power capability
• Real-time
– Compensate for lost of opportunity cost
when being dispatched down
– Make whole based on offer price when
committed for voltage control and out-of-
merit

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 Discussions

• System Operation Impact

• Economic Incentive

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 System Operation Impact

• Redispatch for voltage/reactive control

– LMP-based congestion management based
on sensitivities to interface MW flow
– Effective control need be based on loading
margin sensitivities
– Manual dispatch for voltage support
– Dispatchable load is very desirable.
– Voltage Stability Analysis (VSA) provides
control recommendation for voltage collapse
limiting cases.
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 Economic Incentive

• Locational value of reactive power

capability
• Incentive to provide reactive power in
real-time

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 Conclusions

• VAR support is costly.

• New methods/technologies are welcome.

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