This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been
fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TPWRS.2018.2815153, IEEE
Transactions on Power Systems
Impedance Matching for VSC-HVDC
Damping Controller Gain Selection
M. R. Safari Tirtashi, Student Member, IEEE, O. Samuelsson, Senior Member, IEEE, J. Svensson, and
R. Pates
 Generally, modal analysis of a linearized power system model
Abstract— The impedance matching concept is employed in
this paper to select the optimum gain of a VSC-HVDC damping
controller. The damping controller of the DC link is based on
control of active power in proportion to the difference in local
frequency at the VSC-HVDC converter stations. To explain
impedance matching, the small-disturbance electro-mechanical
dynamics of a power system is transformed to an equivalent LC-
circuit. The VSC-HVDC damping controller corresponds to
introducing a resistor in the circuit model. Using impedance
matching to select resistor value in the circuit model is equivalent
to selecting damping controller gain that gives maximum
damping ratio. An analytical derivation is conducted for a
linearized model of a generic two-area power system, including
an expression for the optimum gain. It is also shown how the
concept may be employed without a circuit model and that the
optimum value is hardly affected by changes in power flow. Then
the performance of the proposed approach in multi-mode test
systems and with nonlinearities is evaluated using dynamic
simulations in DIgSILENT PowerFactory. The results show that
impedance matching maximizes the targeted mode damping ratio
while non-targeted modes are not negatively impacted.
Index Terms— Damping, impedance matching, inter-area
mode, power system dynamics, VSC-HVDC
I. INTRODUCTION
I NTER-AREA oscillations in power systems are usually
observed when a group of generators in one part of the
system are connected to a group of generators in another part
by weak tie lines. These oscillations may limit the transfer
capacity of the transmission lines and might lead to system
break up [1]-[3]. To minimize the effect of inter-area
oscillations, active power modulation using damping actuators
is an effective solution which has been exercised by network
operators such as WECC since the 1970s [4]. Among possible
actuators, VSC-HVDC is particularly attractive since it
permits direct modulation of active power with no change in
reactive power. A VSC-HVDC link between two areas in an
AC system thus has great leverage on oscillations between
these areas [5]. Once a VSC-HVDC link is installed between
two areas, to improve the small signal stability, the DC link
damping controller must be well designed.
M. R. Safari Tirtashi, O. Samuelsson and J. Svensson are with the Division
of Industrial Electrical Engineering and Automation, Lund University, SE-221
00 Lund, Sweden (e-mail: ielreza@iea.lth.se).
R. Pates is with the Department of Automatic Control, Lund University,
SE-223 63 Lund, Sweden (e-mail: richard.pates@control.lth.se).
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provides valuable information about mode controllability and
mode observability to be used to design the damping
controller [6]. The gain selection task is normally done
through visual inspection of a root locus or through
optimization [7]-[11].
In this paper, the impedance matching concept is applied to
select the optimum gain of the VSC-HVDC damping
controller to achieve the maximum possible damping. The
damping control of the DC link is based on the control of
active power in proportion to the difference in local frequency
at the converter stations. It can be formulated as P  Kf
where P is a supplementary damping control signal added to
the active power set-point, K is the gain of the controller and
f is the difference in local frequency at the VSC-HVDC
converter stations. This type of damping controller is already
used in reality [12], [13]. It needs no phase compensation and
is limited just to gain selection as concerned in the paper.
The work presented in [14] has some similarities to what we
have done here in this paper. The same type of the damping
controller for the VSC-HVDC link is considered there to
modulate the active power of the DC link to damp out the
electro-mechanical oscillations. The Four-Machine Two-Area
test system [6] as we used here is considered to evaluate the
controller performance. To find out the optimum gain which
gives the maximum damping, visual inspection of
corresponding root locus plot is carried out.
When the gain of utilized damping controller increases, the
root locus plot starts on the imaginary axis, loops into the left
half-plane and returns to zeros on the imaginary axis. This is a
generic property of this type of damping controller. The key
point of this paper is to show that impedance matching
concept can be used to find the point of maximum damping.
Compared to advanced optimization and visual inspection
of a root locus method for gain selection, the impedance
matching application method presented in this paper is simpler
for implementation and it could lead to a self-tuning
controller. It also gives intuitive understanding which ‘‘is
generally more important to the overall successful operation of
the power system than the many available, elegant control
design techniques’’ [15].
Only a limited number of publications concern the
impedance matching application in power system small-
disturbance electro-mechanical stability context. The concept
has previously been used to qualitatively explain the root locus
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Transactions on Power Systems
when active power at one point is modulated in proportion to
local frequency deviation [16]. It also has been used to select
the optimum gain for PSS [17]. Moreover, in [18], an
impedance matching based controller is designed to extinguish
electro-mechanical waves in power networks.
In [19], we introduced the impedance matching concept
application for VSC-HVDC and energy storage gain selection
in a very short format. This paper comprehensively explores
the idea presented in [19] with eigenvalue analysis and time
domain simulations for different test systems and different
loading conditions. It also provides analytical support to
determine the optimum gain of the VSC-HVDC damping
controller from circuit model parameters also without the
circuit model.
To do so, first the proposed method is illustrated using a
linearized model of a generic two-area power system. Then to
extend the concept application and evaluate its performance in
multi-mode test systems, for different operating conditions,
the non-linear time domain simulations are carried out for
Four-Machine Two-Area [6] and NORDIC32 [20] test
systems. Also the eigenvalue analysis is carried out for both
test systems. The results are provided and thoroughly
discussed.
The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: Section
II describes the optimum gain selection based on impedance
matching with and without circuit model. Section III describes
the non-linear test systems. Dynamic simulation results are
provided and discussed in section IV and finally section V
concludes the paper.
II. GAIN SELECTION BASED ON IMPEDANCE MATCHING
To explain the proposed method, a generic two-area power
system with one inter-area mode from [21] is considered, see
Fig. 1. The damping control of active power for the VSC-
HVDC link is in proportion to the difference in local
frequency:
d supplementary control signal) to mimic a resistor operation to
PDC  K (1   2 ) (1)
dt
where K is the gain of the damping controller and i is the
voltage phase angle at bus i as shown in Fig. 1.
The implemented damping controller of the VSC-HVDC
link in this paper is depicted in Fig. 1(b). f1, f2 are the
measured frequencies at converter stations, K is the gain of the
damping controller, Psch is the scheduled power (set-point) and
Pref is the reference power.
Using the local feedback signals for HVDC damping
controllers than the wide-area measurement based signals is
supported in [22]. The local signals are more robust against
the loss of communication and changes in the network. But the
authors drop the idea of using the local signals because of the
possible limitation on the maximum damping influence on the
swing modes due to the nearby-zeros in the associated root
locus plot and the gain margin needed to avoid destabilization
of the local non-swing modes. So it is important to achieve the
maximum possible damping of the inter-area mode as we
carried out here. Also the other modes are not negatively
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impacted.
The small-disturbance electro-mechanical dynamics of a
power system can be translated to an equivalent circuit model
with inductances and capacitances [23], [24]. A linearized
classic second order generator model then translates to an LC-
circuit and a line to an inductance. The resulting equivalent
circuit model of the generic two-area power system is shown
in Fig. 1(c). As it can be seen, the power system includes a
VSC-HVDC link, while the circuit model has a resistor,
RHVDC, which represents damping control of the HVDC link.
X1  X'd1 XT1 V1 1 X3 PAC V2  2 X2  X'd2 XT2
E1 1 E2 2
PDC
G1 G2
(a) P1 P2
(b)
L1 L3 L2
i2
C1 i1 C2
 
V 1 R HVDC
V2

(c)
Fig. 1. (a) Two-area system with VSC-HVDC with p.u. magnitudes for
normal loading condition:E1δ1=1.070°, E2δ2=1.07-60°,V1θ1=1-21°,
V2θ2=1-40°. (b) Implemented damping controller of the VSC-HVDC link.
(c) Equivalent circuit model that reproduces the small disturbance electro-
mechanical dynamics including RHVDC, which represents the damping
controller.
It should be noticed that the transformation of the power
system model to an equivalent LC circuit is visually similar to
LCL filters [25] which are usually used to interconnect an
inverter to the utility grid. The active damping methods [25]
are applied there to solve the natural resonance problem of the
LCL filters. In both our method also for active damping
methods, the converter control is changed in a way (adding
add some damping. In active damping methods, the damping
controller is implemented for an LCL circuit while in our
approach the damping controller is ultimately applied for a
power system model. Also, in our approach, we formulate the
damping problem in a way to apply the impedance matching
to find out the optimum gain which gives the maximum
damping ratio. But in active damping methods there is no such
a formulation to determine the optimum gain and the gain of
the controller is mainly selected based on the converters
design requirements, specifications and limitations [25]-[27].
The procedure to select the optimum gain based on the
impedance matching concept is explained in the following.
A. Power System Model and Equivalent Circuit Model
The first step to select the optimum gain for the damping
controller based on the impedance matching concept is to
match the power system model with the equivalent circuit
model. To do so, first the equations that describe the power
system are presented then the linearized state-space model for
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Transactions on Power Systems

power system with inclusion of the VSC-HVDC link is X1 X 2 X

derived. The focus is to derive the state matrix of the 1   , 2  3 (12)
K1 K 2 K3
linearized power system model. Moreover, the state-space
K1, K2 and K3 are the linearization constants.
model for the equivalent circuit is derived. By making the
To validate the linearized power system model of Fig. 1(a)
system matrices for power system and equivalent circuit equal,
presented in (9), K=0.2 (damping controller gain) is
then the parameters for the equivalent circuit model are
considered as arbitrary value and the response of the power
determined. This derivation process is explained here.
system non-linear and linear models to an impulse disturbance
The classic second order generator model [6] is considered
in G1 mechanical power are compared and shown in Fig. 2 for
for G1 and G2 as follows:
G1 speed deviation in rad/s. The power system data used for
di the simulation (normal loading condition) is provided in Table
 i  s (2)
dt I. Based on the Fig. 2, the linearized model in (9) agrees well
2H i di with the non-linear model in the small-disturbance electro-
 Pmi  Pei  D i i (3)
s dt mechanical dynamic behavior.
where i , i , s , Hi, Pmi , Pei and Di are rotor angle, rotor 0.14
non-linear
linear

speed, rotor synchronous speed, inertia constant, mechanical

power, electrical power and damping coefficient of generator
i.
0.06
Applying the power balance at buses 1 and 2 leads to the
following:
EV VV 0
P1  1 1 sin(1  1 )  1 2 sin(1  2 )  PDC (4) 0 2 4 6 8 10
X1 X3 Time (s)
Fig. 2. G1 speed deviation (rad/s) for non-linear and linear power system
V2 E 2 VV
P2  sin(2   2 )  1 2 sin(1  2 )  PDC (5) models for closed-loop system with gain K=0.2 following the impulse
X2 X3 disturbance in G1 mechanical power (5% for 100 ms).
Next introduce:
For the equivalent circuit model the following state vector is
z1  1  1 (6)
considered:
z 2  1  2 (7) X  V1 V2 i1 i 2 
T
(13)
 2  2 depends on z1 and is not needed to derive the state Then the state matrix is:
space model.
 1 
Considering (1), the damping control of VSC-HVDC link is 0 0 0 
written as: C1
 
1
d
PDC  K (z 2 ) (8) A   0 0 0 

(14)
dt C2
    R R HVDC3 
 3 HVDC 3 
The above equations yield the following linearized power 3

system model:  0 0 R HVDC 4  R HVDC 4 

d where:
( X )  AX (9)
dt 1 1
3  , 4  (15)
where the state vector ΔX is: L1  L 2 L3
T
  Clearly the state matrices, (11) and (14), have the same
 z1 z 2  structure and if the circuit parameters are chosen as:
X  1  2  (10) 2 H1 2H 2
 X1 X3  C1  , C2  , RHVDC=1/K
 K1 K 2  s s

and the state matrix A with Di=0 is: X1 X X
L1  , L 2  2 , L3  3 (16)
  s  K1 K2 K3
0 0
2H1
0 
the two state matrices in (11) and (14) are exactly the same
  and the models are exactly equivalent. The equivalence can
0 s
0 0  only be expected to be valid at the operating point where the
 2H 2 
A (11)
1 1 1 1  power system model was linearized. This equivalence is more
  accurate than the approximate method presented in [23]. Here
 1 1 K1 K1 
 the operating point is considered for determination of the
1 1 
0 0  inductances of the equivalent circuit as considered in [24]
 K 2 K 2  also, while it has not been taken into account in [23].
Where: The power system model data complemented with normal,

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Transactions on Power Systems
reverse and zero loading conditions and the associated
equivalent circuit model from (16) are provided in Table I.
TABLE I
POWER SYSTEM AND EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT MODEL DATA
Power System Equivalent Circuit
H1=4.63, H2=4 MJ/MVA
D1=D2=0 (p.u./(rad/s)) (Normal and reverse loading
p.u. magnitudes: conditions)
X1=X2=0.25, X3=0.35 C1=0.0295, C2=0.0255
(Normal loading condition) L1=L2=0.2690, L3=0.3688
P1=P2=1.5, PAC=0.9, PDC=0.6
(Reverse loading condition)
P1=P2=-1.5, PAC=-0.9, PDC=-0.6 Zero loading condition:
(Zero loading condition) C1=0.0295, C2=0.0255
P1=P2=0, PAC=0, PDC=0 L1=L2=0.2336, L3=0.35
B. Impedance Matching for Optimum Gain Selection
Once the power system model is equal to the equivalent
circuit model, the optimum gain for damping controller is
selected based on the impedance matching concept as
described here. Without damping control (K=1/RHVDC =0), the
systems in Fig. 1 are both undamped and when the swing
mode is excited, energy will oscillate between the two areas in
power system or between the two capacitances in the
equivalent circuit. When damping control is introduced with a
low gain, i.e. low value of K=1/RHVDC, swing energy will be
dissipated in RHVDC and the oscillation is damped as
oscillatory eigenvalues move left, see root locus plot in Fig.
3(a). It should be noted that the root locus plots for the power
system and circuit model coincide. When the damping
controller gain increases and reaches high values, the
oscillatory eigenvalue moves to the undamped zeros on the
imaginary axis corresponding to RHVDC being (close to) a
short-circuit leaving the circuit again without RHVDC. To select
the optimum gain, optimum RHVDC, the impedance matching
concept is applied: the maxim oscillation energy is dissipated
in RHVDC when RHVDC=RHVDCOPT=|Z| where Z is the complex
impedance of the circuit model seen from the terminals of
RHVDC evaluated at the resonance frequency. Having the
damper, adding RHVDC in the equivalent circuit, changes the
resonance frequency. To calculate this frequency, an iterative
procedure is applied, see Appendix A. Using L and C values
in Table I gives RHVDC=2.91 at OPT  10.2 rad/s, where
OPT is the absolute value of the relevant eigenvalue.
The resulting poles indicated in Fig. 3 show that impedance
matching indeed gives pole locations with maximum damping
ratio. Damping ratio is used by many TSOs to specify
minimum damping; usually 5% [2]. For the pole location at
  j the damping ratio is calculated as:
   /  2   2 (17)
As the circuit and power system model in Fig. 1 are
equivalent, the root locus in Fig. 3 for changing RHVDC is thus
valid also for changing the gain KHVDC in the power system
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model. KHVDC=1/RHVDC=0.344 thus gives maximum damping
ratio.
The optimum RHVDC and OPT can also be determined
analytically from the circuit model parameters as presented in
Appendix B. This gives the same values as the iterative
procedure.
(a) (b)
11.5 12.5
10.5 11.5
Imag
Imag
10.5
9.5
9.5
8.5
-2 -1 0 1 2 8.5
-2 -1 0 1 2
Real
Real
Fig. 3. Root locus of oscillatory mode when changing KHVDC=1/RHVDC with
pole locations corresponding to no control (x), zeros (o) and impedance
matching (*) indicated as well as lines through (*) and the origin. (a) Normal
and reverse loading conditions. (b) Zero loading condition. Plots for circuit
model and power system coincide.
To evaluate the robustness of the proposed method, also
reverse and zero loading conditions from Table I are
investigated. For the reverse loading condition, the root locus
plot is the same as for the normal loading condition, Fig. 3(a).
Also the optimum gain is calculated as the same as normal
loading condition. For the zero loading condition, the root
locus plot is shown in Fig. 3(b). Using L and C values in Table
I for the zero loading condition and based on the iterative
procedure provided in the Appendix A gives KHVDC= 0.348 at
OPT  10.8 rad/s. In this case, although the root locus plot
changes pretty much from the normal loading condition the
calculated optimum gains are very close to each other.
To further investigate, the robustness of the proposed
method is evaluated for different initial damping of the
electro-mechanical mode. By setting the mechanical damping
of the synchronous generators D to 0, +2 and -2, the cases
where the oscillatory eigenvalue lies on the imaginary axis, in
the left halfplane and in the right halfplane are investigated. In
all cases the method gives maximum damping ratio at
optimum gains that differ first in the third digit.
C. Optimum Gain Selection without Circuit Model
In a circuit, impedance matching means applying a
voltage, uˆ sin t  , at the terminals of RHVDC, then measuring the
current amplitude iˆ and setting the RHVDC to |Z|= uˆ / iˆ . This
procedure can be translated to a power system context: the
active power output of VSC-HVDC link is modulated to
excite the electro-mechanical dynamics in open-loop, then
measuring the difference in local frequency at VSC-HVDC
converters. Doing this for a range of frequencies gives the
Bode magnitude plot of the transfer function from active
power input to frequency deviation output; see Fig. 4. It
should be noted that to derive the Bode plot, the damping
control is off but mechanical damping D1=D2=2 is introduced
to avoid infinite and zero amplitude gains.
The critical issue is to know at which frequency to read the
amplitude. Based on the proof provided in Appendix B for the
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Transactions on Power Systems

equivalent circuit model, the relevant frequency is the

0.02
(a) Frequency deviation (pu) (b) K=0.347

geometric mean of the open-loop pole frequency P and the

Active power (pu) K=0
0.03 0.01

frequency of the corresponding zero Z, OPT= PZ . At 0.01

OPT the Bode-diagram in Fig. 4 for normal loading condition
0

reads 9.29 dB=1/0.343. This means a gain KHVDC=0.343 which -0.01 -0.01

agrees well with the circuit model value.

-0.03 -0.02
For the reverse loading condition, the Bode-diagram and the 50 51 52 53
Time (s)
54 55 0 5 10
Time (s)
15 20

optimum gain is the same as the normal loading condition. For

the zero loading condition, the Bode-diagram is derived and
plotted in Fig. 4(b). At the geometric mean frequency, the
Bode-diagram reads 9.31 dB=1/0.342 which corresponds to
the gain KHVDC=0.342.
The Bode-diagram can be obtained from a linearized power
system model. But it can also be obtained from repeated time
simulations of a model that may be non-linear. To exemplify
this, Fig. 5 shows simulation of the (linearized) power system
model where the VSC-HVDC link active power is
sinusoidally modulated with amplitude 0.01 p.u and frequency
OPT. The output signal amplitude is 1/0.347 times the input
signal amplitude, which again agrees with the circuit model
value.
Sinusoidal excitation of the output active power of the
VSC-HVDC link is however unrealistic in reality due to the
large gain near the resonance frequency. A better option, to be
investigated, is a non-sinusoidal, possibly low-level, probing
signal [13] together with appropriate system identification
methods to extract the relevant gain information. If successful,
the result is then an impedance matching-based self-tuning
procedure for VSC-HVDC damping controller.
To demonstrate the performance of damping control with
optimum gain in the time domain simulation, Fig. 5 also
shows the response of the power system model at normal
loading condition to an impulse disturbance. As it can be seen,
with optimum gain, the electro-mechanical oscillations die out
within 5 s.
(a) (b)
30
30
20
Magnitude (dB)
Magnitude (dB )
Fig. 5. Simulation of two-area system in open-loop. (a) VSC-HVDC link
active power modulation. (b) Response in active power on the parallel AC
line to impulse disturbance in G1 mechanical power (5% for 100 ms) for
closed-loop system with gain KHVDC=0 and 0.347.
III. MULTI-MODE TEST SYSTEMS IN DIGSILENT
POWERFACTORY
To validate the proposed approach on more complex
networks, two test systems are considered; 1) Four-Machine
Two-Area system with inclusion of VSC-HVDC link, Fig. 6
and 2) NORDIC32 test system, Fig. 7. Both test systems and
their associated controllers are modeled in DIgSILENT
PowerFactory [28].
For the first test system, the VSC-HVDC link with 200 MW
nominal capacity is installed in parallel to the AC lines
between buses 7 and 9, see Fig. 6. This test system is mainly
used in the paper to evaluate the performance of the proposed
controller for three different loading conditions; 1) Normal
loading with 350 MW AC transfer from West to East. 2) Zero
loading with 0 MW AC transfer. 3) Reverse loading with 350
MW AC transfer from East to West.
On the other hand, the main reason for using the
NORDIC32 test system is because of its many electro-
mechanical modes. Thereby, the impact of the impedance
matching based gain selection for the damping controller on
non-targeted modes can be well investigated. This test system
has similarities with the Swedish power network and its
original form is well damped, mainly because of well-tuned
PSS units. To challenge the impedance matching based gain
selection for the damping controller, all PSS units are
disabled.
The VSC-HVDC link with 250 MW nominal capacity is

20

10 10
installed between buses 4072 and 4044. This position
represents the Fenno-Skan link [29] between Sweden and
0 0
Finland.
-10 -10

10 (rad/s) 15 10 (rad/s) 20
Fig. 4. Gain plot of Bode-diagram of power system in Fig. 1 with VSC-HVDC
active power as input and difference in frequency at the converters as output.
Damping control is off but mechanical damping D=2 is introduced to avoid
infinite and zero amplitude gains. Indicated frequencies are P (left), OPT
(middle) and Z (right). (a) Normal and reverse loading conditions. (b) Zero
loading condition.

Fig. 6. Four-machine two-area test system with VSC-HVDC link.

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Fig.7. NORDIC32 test system with VSC-HVDC link corresponding to the
Fenno-Skan link.
IV. DYNAMIC SIMULATION RESULTS
In this part, to evaluate the performance of the impedance
matching based gain selection for the damping controller in
the presence of many electro-mechanical modes, nonlinearities
and for different operating conditions, the two test systems
presented in section III are considered.
A. Four-Machine Two-Area Test System
As mentioned, this test system is mainly used to evaluate
the performance of the proposed controller at different loading
conditions. This test system has one poorly damped inter-area
mode and two local modes, see Table II.
TABLE II
ELECTRO-MECHANICAL MODES OF THE FOUR-MACHINE TWO-AREA SYSTEM
Mode Electro-mechanical modes Damping ratio (%)
K=0 K=3.84 K=0
1 -0.07  j3.53 -0.59  j3.87 2.34
2 -0.59  j6.72 -0.61  j6.73 8.75
3 -0.75  j6.90 -0.77  j6.93 10.90
To improve the damping of the inter-area mode, the
optimum gain of the supplementary controller should be
selected. To calculate the optimum gain based on the
impedance matching concept, the Bode-diagram of the Four-
Machine Two-Area test system with VSC-HVDC active
power as input and difference in frequency at the converters as
output for normal loading condition is derived and is shown in
Fig. 8(a). Reading the Bode-diagram at the geometric mean
frequency gives KOPT=3.84 as optimum gain.
By changing the gain of the VSC-HVDC damping
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Transactions on Power Systems
controller from 0 to 7, the relevant part of root locus plot of
the targeted mode is derived from DIgSILENT PowerFactory
and is shown in Fig. 8(b). It should be noted that the targeted
mode is the most impacted mode (inter-area mode for this test
system) by the VSC-HVDC link. As it can be seen, impedance
matching indeed gives pole locations with maximum damping
ratio.
(a)
20
(b)4.4
4
0
Magnitude (dB)
Imag
3.6
-20
3.2
-40
2 4 6 8 10 -0.8 -0.4 0
Frequency (rad/s) Real
Fig. 8. (a) Gain plot of Bode-diagram of Four-Machine Two-Area test system
under normal loading condition with VSC-HVDC active power as input and
difference in frequency at the converters as output. (b) Root locus of targeted
mode when changing the gain from 0 to 7 with pole location corresponding to
impedance matching (*) indicated as well as line through (*) and the origin.
To evaluate the performance of the impedance matching
based gain selection for the damping controller, a solid three-
phase fault is applied at the middle of one of the AC lines
between buses 7 and 8, see Fig. 6. The self-clearing fault is
applied at 5 s and removed at 5.1 s. The non-linear simulation
results including the faulted line active power, angular
separation between G1 and G3, VSC-HVDC link active power
and the control effort (modulated active power) are shown in
Fig. 9.
As it can be seen, without any supplementary control, the
system response is poorly damped while with the proposed
impedance matching based gain selection damping controller,
the oscillations are well-damped and disappear within 5-10 s.
Moreover, to evaluate the robustness of the proposed
impedance matching based gain selection approach against the
network parameters change, disconnection of the faulted line,
see Fig. 6, 100 ms following the fault is considered. The
optimized gain for normal loading condition without any
network parameters change, KOPT=3.84, still gives very good
performance in damping the electro-mechanical oscillations.
K=3.84 To assess the impact of the impedance matching based gain
15.06 selection for the damping controller on system electro-
9.09 mechanical modes, Table II shows the eigenvalues of the
Four-Machine Two-Area system for zero and optimum gains.
11.15
With optimum gain, the inter-area mode, mode 1, damping is
greatly improved and the damping ratio of the non-targeted
modes (local modes) improved slightly.
To further investigate the performance of the proposed
impedance matching based gain selection damping controller
over radically different loading conditions, Fig. 10 shows the
faulted AC line active power and angular separation between
G1 and G3 for zero and reverse loading conditions with fixed
gain optimized for the normal loading condition. The same
three-phase solid self-clearing fault as applied for normal
loading condition is considered here.
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Transactions on Power Systems

(a) 250 the Fenno-Skan link connects these areas, it is expected to

55
Optimum
(b) Optimum

200
Zero
50
Zero
have considerable leverage on mode 2.
Tie-line active power (M W)

Angular separation (deg)

To calculate the optimum gain of damping controller to
150 45
improve mainly the damping ratio of mode 2 based on the
100 40 impedance matching concept, the Bode-diagram of the
50 35
NORDIC32 test system with VSC-HVDC active power as
input and difference in frequency at the converters as output is
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
30
0 5 10 15 20 25 derived and is shown in Fig. 11. Reading the Bode-diagram at
(c) 280 Time (s)
(d)60
Time (s)
the geometric mean frequency gives KOPT=4.96.
260
50 The studied fault case used to evaluate the performance of
40
the impedance matching based gain selection for the damping
DC link power (MW)

Control effort (MW)

240 30

20
controller is a three-phase short-circuit at bus 4012, at 5 s, for
100 ms cleared by disconnection of the line 4012-4022. The
220
10

200 0
simulation results are shown graphically in Fig. 11 for zero
and optimum gains.
-10
180
-20

160 -30 It can be clearly seen that with the impedance matching
0 5 10 15 20 25 0 5 10 15 20 25
Time (s) Time (s) based gain selection for the damping controller, the electro-
Fig.9. Dynamic response of the Four-Machine Two-Area test system under mechanical damping characteristics of the system are
normal loading condition. (a) Faulted Tie-line active power. (b) Angular
separation between G1 and G3. (c) VSC-HVDC link active power. (d) Control improved and the proposed approach gives a very good
effort. damping profile. This improvement is in line with the
(a) 50
(b)110 eigenvalue movements in Table III. As it can be observed,
100 with the optimum gain, the damping ratios of the critical
0
modes increased or are constant generally and specifically for
Tie-line active power (MW)

90
Angular separation (deg)

Zero loading
the targeted mode, mode 2, the improvement of the damping
-50 Zero loading
Reverse loading 80
Reverse loading

-100 70
ratio is substantial. This positive movement led to better
-150
60
simulation results for the optimum gain in Fig. 11.
50
-200
TABLE III
40
EIGENVALUES OF THE NORDIC32 TEST SYSTEM; FENNO-SKAN LINK
-250
0 5 10 15 20 25
30
0 5 10 15 20 25 Mode Electro-mechanical modes Damping ratio(%)
Time (s) Time (s)

Fig.10. Dynamic response of the Four-Machine Two-Area test system under K=0 K=4.96 K=0 K=4.96
zero and reverse loading conditions. (a) Faulted Tie-line active power. (b) 1 -0.12  j4.96 -0.20  j4.86 2.47 4.12
Angular separation between G1 and G3.
2 -0.15  j3.77 -0.69  j4.13 4.13 16.45
It is clear that with the proposed impedance matching based 3 -0.28  j6.18 -0.36  j6.21 4.59 5.87
gain selection for the damping controller, the system is stable 4 -0.34  j5.70 -0.34  j5.70 5.99 5.99
and the damping of the inter-area mode, the dominant mode, is 5 6.94 6.95
-0.42  j6.13 -0.42  j6.13
quite satisfactory with the fixed gain for different loading
conditions. (a) (b)2200
0
Optimum
B. NORDIC32 Test System -5 2000 Zero
Tie-line active power (MW)

The second test system used to conduct the non-linear 1800

Magnitude (dB)

simulations is the NORDIC32 test system. The impact of the -15 1600

impedance matching based gain selection for the damping 1400

controller on non-targeted modes is well studied using this test

-25 1200
system. The position of the considered VSC-HVDC link
represents the Fenno-Skan link, between buses 4072-4044, see 2 4 6 8 10
1000
0 5 10 15 20 25

(c)-20
Frequency (rad/s) Time (s)

Fig. 7. The five least damped modes of the NORDIC32 test (d)60
Optimum
system once the DC link is in operation are shown in Table III. -25 Zero
40

As it can be seen, without the supplementary control, K=0, the -30

Angular separation (deg)

Control effort (MW)

-35
damping ratios for the critical modes are relatively low. Mode -40
20

1 corresponds to generators in Central and South parts of the -45

0

NORDIC32 test system swinging against each other. With -50

-20
Fenno-Skan link siting, it is not possible to improve its -55

damping ratio significantly because of low mode -60

0 5 10 15 20 25
-40
0 5 10 15 20 25

observability. The two areas swinging against each other in

Time (s) Time (s)

Fig.11. (a) Gain plot of Bode-diagram of NORDIC32 test system with VSC-
mode 2 are the External area in NORDIC32 test system (buses HVDC active power as input and difference in frequency at the converters as
4071, 4072 corresponding to Finland), and the South area output. (b) Total active power of the five interconnecting transmission lines
between northern and central parts. (c) Angular separation between generators
(buses 4061, 4062, 4063 representing southern Sweden). Since at buses 4072 and 4063. (d) Control effort.

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Transactions on Power Systems

V. CONCLUSION Then the response of v to excitation by current source i is:

v(s)=(RHVDC-1+Z1-1+Z2-1)-1i(s) (19)
This paper shows that the impedance matching concept can be
used as criterion to select the gain of the supplementary VSC- The task is choosing RHVDC to maximize the damping ratio of
HVDC damping controller that gives maximum damping the inter-area mode. This is equivalent to the feedback
ratio. The damping control of the DC link controls active problem, design RHVDC to maximize the damping ratio of:
power in proportion to the difference in local frequency at G(s)=RHVDC /(1+ RHVDC (Z1-1+Z2-1)) (20)
converter stations. The optimum gain can be obtained from an It can be shown that:
equivalent circuit model, from a linearized power system ŝ
1  ( 2 )2
model, from time simulations and possibly from probing -1 -1 a
RHVDC(Z1 +Z2 )= k (21)
signal tests. The required analytical derivation to apply the ŝ(1  ŝ 2 )
impedance matching concept has been conducted on the
Where:
linearized model of a generic two-area power system. The
optimum gain selection and the use of a Bode diagram to find Lt
k=RHVDC L t C t /L3 , ŝ= L t C t s , a= 4 (22)
it is supported by an analytical proof. The performance of the L t  L3
proposed method has been evaluated on two non-linear multi- We will continue the optimal damping problem in terms of k,
mode test systems for different loading conditions. The results
ŝ and a since it is simpler.
show that the impedance matching based gain selection
The damping ratio of a specified pole is defined in (17). The
increases the targeted mode damping ratio dramatically and
poles are the values of ŝ that solve the equation:
also the non-targeted modes are not negatively impacted. This
led to well-damped system response in non-linear time domain ŝ
1  ( 2 )2
simulations with optimum gain for the damping controller. -1= k a (23)
ŝ(1  ŝ 2 )
APPENDIX A To solve (23), it is necessary that:
Z=Z0=RHVDC0=1/K0  ŝ 2 
While Z   1  ( a 2 ) 
Im 2 
0 (24)
  mode frequency for the current value of Z  ŝ(1  ŝ ) 
Z  Z  Z()
 
Letting
Z  Z  Z
ŝ  n (cos   j sin ) (25)
end.
Where Z0, RHVDC0 and K0 are the initial values for Z and doing some algebra leads to solving the following
(impedance), RHVDC (VSC-HVDC damping controller equation:
sin (a 4  4n  2n )  a 42n sin 3
equivalent resistor) and K (gain),   0.1 and   104 are 0 (26)
arbitrary values [16]. a 4n (4n  22n cos 2  1)
For  shows that:
APPENDIX B   (2  1)(a 4  2 ) 

  0,   arccos n n 
(27)
In the equivalent circuit model shown in Fig. 1, the  2 a 2
 
inductances L1, L2 and capacitances C1 and C2 are in series   n

connection. That model can be rearranged as shown in Fig. 12 It is therefore not possible to achieve a larger damping ratio
while an ideal current source is connected in parallel to RHVDC. than:
  (2  1)(a 4  2 )  
 n 
opt  sup  cos   arccos n

Lt  n    2a 2n  
i v RHVDC L3    (28)
Ct
(2n  1)(a 4  2n )
sup
Fig. 12. Rearranged model of the equivalent circuit with an ideal current  n  2a 2n
source that represents a perturbation to the power flow along the RHVDC, DC
link.
The above minimization can be solved by differentiating and
setting the derivative to zero. This shows that:
The current source represents a perturbation to the power opt  (1  a 2 ) / 2a 2 (29)
flow along the RHVDC, DC link, that can be used to excite the which is achieved by n  a . Provided there exists a k  0
system and the voltage v corresponds to the frequency
that achieves this damping ratio, the proof is complete. Try
deviation across the DC link. Lt is the total inductance of L1
k=a3.
and L2, Ct is the total inductance of C1 and C2.
For this value of k, the poles of G(s) are given by the solution
The circuit in Fig. 12 consists of three parallel impedances:
of ŝ3+(1/a) ŝ2+ ŝ+a3=0 which are:
Z1=(1+LtCts2)/Cts , Z2=L3s , Z3= RHVDC (18)
where s is the Laplace operator variable.

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
1  a 2  (1  a 2 )(1  3a 2 ) 
 a ,   (30) This work was supported by the Elektra program of
 2a  Energiforsk and the Swedish Energy Agency, which is
Then it is verified that the damping ratio of these poles is gratefully acknowledged.
equal to  opt as above. Then, we have solved the optimal
damping problem while the optimum RHVDC is given by: REFERENCES
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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TPWRS.2018.2815153, IEEE
Transactions on Power Systems

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VI. BIOGRAPHIES

M. Reza Safari Tirtashi was born in Behshahr,

Iran in 1986. He received his B.S. in Electrical
Engineering from Mazandaran University, Iran, in
2008, and his M.S. in Electrical Engineering from
Zanjan University, Iran, in 2011. He is currently a
PhD student at the division of Industrial Electrical
Engineering and Automation, Lund University. His
research interests include power system stability and
dynamics, power system restoration and VSC-HVDC
transmission systems.

Olof Samuelsson is Professor of Electric Power

Systems at the division of Industrial Electrical
Engineering and Automation, Lund University,
where he also received his M.Sc. in 1989 and Ph.D.
in 1997. His research covers transmission issues such
as dynamics (damping, inertia), stability and large
disturbances (including geomagnetically induced
currents), as well as distribution issues such as
microgrids, integration of distributed generation and
resilience to large disturbances.

Jörgen Svensson is an associate professor at the

division of Industrial Electrical Engineering and
Automation, Lund University, where he also
received his M.Sc. in 1992 and Ph.D. in 2006. His
research covers electric power system issues such as
microgrids, wind power and HVDC grids. He has
also an industrial background from constructing
offshore wind power plants.

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