“TRAINING ON ELECTRICAL POWER

SYSTEM STUDIES USING PSS/E”

REVIEW OF TYPES OF SYSTEM STABILITY

BASIC COURSE (WEEK 2 DAY 3-A)

USAID’s SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FOR

PAKISTAN (SEP) PROJECT
 Power System Stability
• Definition
➢ The property of a power system which enables it to
remain in a state of operating equilibrium under
normal operating conditions and to regain an
acceptable state of equilibrium following a
disturbance
• Traditionally the stability problem involves maintaining
synchronous operation where:
 Power System Stability
➢ Power systems rely on synchronous machines for
generation of power
➢ A necessary condition is that all synchronous
machines remain in synchronism and “in-step”
• We should always keep in mind the overall stability of
the system:
➢ Solutions to problems of one category should not
be at the expense of another.
Power System Stability Classes
Power System Stability – Voltage Stability
• Ability of a power system to maintain acceptable voltages at all
busses on the system under normal operating conditions and
following disturbances
• Voltage stability is characterized by a progressive and
uncontrollable rise or fall in voltage.
• Can be caused by the following:
➢ Increase in load
➢ Decrease in load
➢ Change in system conditions
Power System Stability – Voltage Stability
• Main factor causing voltage instability is the inability
of the power system to maintain the required balance
of reactive power and provide adequate voltage
support throughout the system
• Caused by large network disturbances (faults,
switching, etc.)
• In industrial systems, motor starts result in a drop in
feeding voltage, which may not be sustainable, leading
to high reactive power demand
Power System Stability – Voltage Stability
• Small disturbance voltage instability
➢ Caused by small network disturbances
➢ Increasing loads, leading to tap changer operation
to increase local voltage
➢ This draws increasing reactive power and in turn
lowers sending voltage
➢ Voltage collapse may result on heavily loaded
networks
Power System Stability – Frequency Stability
• Ability to maintain a steady frequency within a
nominal band following a disturbance resulting in a
significant imbalance between generation and load
• Larger systems have greater system inertia. The larger
the inertia of the system, the smaller the change in
frequency for the same change in generation/demand
Power System Stability – Frequency Stability
• Depends on the ability to restore balance between
generation and load with the minimum loss of load.
• Generally frequency stability problems are associated
with inadequacies in equipment responses, and poor
coordination of control (governors) and protection
schemes (e.g load shedding schemes).
Frequency Stability – Why is it Important?
• Low frequency reduces the speed of AC motors –
these are designed to operate at 60 HZ, and may
overheat if run below this level for a sustained period.
• Induced voltages are proportional to frequency, the
output voltage of transformers is reduced with lower
frequency.
• Generator turbines will not be operating at their
design speed.
Frequency Stability – Why is it Important?
• If the steam enters the turbine blades at the incorrect
speed and angle, vibration and resonance may occur
causing blade fatigue and life time reduction.
• Fatigue and ageing is cumulative, all damage done
adds up!
 Generator Turbine Governors
• Variations in the load on a power system produce
frequency variations.
• These frequency changes are sometimes too rapid to
be controlled by manual variations of generators
alone, so the governor of each turbo alternator is
given a “droop” characteristic which automatically
varies generated power as the frequency changes.
• A 4% droop setting is typical, which implies that a 4%
change in frequency will open the governor from the
no-load to the full-load position
 Frequency Stability – How?
• Operator control for steady state generation dispatch
• Automatic generation control systems (AGC) – static
regulation of generation output, following small
changes in system loading
• Generator governor droop characteristics
• Load curtailment – large loads are disconnected when
a generation shortage is foreseen.
 Frequency Stability – How?
• Automatic load shedding (to prevent the frequency
dropping to a stage where under frequency protection of
the generators would come into operation (typically 47.5
Hz):
➢ Time delayed frequency level triggered
o Demand is sectioned into predetermined stages to
be shed at different frequency levels. This method
attempts to minimize the load shed, while
discriminating between critical and non critical
loads
 Frequency Stability – How?
➢ Df/dt triggered
o Rate of change of frequency relays detect the
rate of frequency fall, and trips load
accordingly. This method is used on smaller
power systems where quick response is
required to arrest a rapid frequency decline
 Inherent System Stabilizer
• Fortunately, a characteristic of all power systems is
that the customer load reduces as frequency falls.
• The lower system voltages lead to motor protection
disconnecting load because of the higher current
drawn
 Angle Stability – Small Signal Stability
• Ability of power system to maintain stability during
and following small disturbances
• Small disturbances may set up a low frequency
oscillation between generators on the network, and it
is possible for this oscillation to be sustained or
magnified due to the network configuration
 Angle Stability – Small Signal Stability
• Instability that may result can be of two forms:
• Aperiodic increase in rotor angle due to lack of
sufficient synchronizing torque
• Periodic rotor oscillations of increasing amplitude due
to lack of sufficient damping torque
• Generally occurs when two large areas or networks
have “weak”/high impedance interconnections
 Sub Synchronous Resonance
• A resonance condition may occur on a generator shaft
between the electrical system and the mechanical
system
• The electrical system causes a natural vibration of the
shaft, interacting with the turbine/boiler system
 Sub Synchronous Resonance
• Altering the network impedance could lead to sub
synchronous resonance. Network impedance may be
changed by:
➢ Network disturbances
➢ Network reinforcement – series capacitors alter the
series reactance of a network
➢ Static VAR compensators and their controllers
➢ HVDC convertor stations
 Sub Synchronous Resonance - Mitigation
• The system impedance needs to change
• Build more transmission circuits to “strengthen” the
transmission system
• Protection to remove generator, or to bypass series
compensation
• Install damping controllers
➢ Thyristor controlled series compensation
➢ HVDC
 Angle Stability – Transient Stability
• A term used to denote large disturbance angle
stability
• Ability of a power system to maintain synchronism
when subjected to a severe transient disturbance (e.g.
three phase fault followed by the trip of a generator)
 Angle Stability – Transient Stability
• The resulting system response involves large
excursions of generator rotor angles and is influenced
by the non-linear power-angle relationship
• The power system should be designed and operated
so as to be stable for a selected set of severe
contingencies
• Time window up to 5 seconds
 Angle Stability – Transient Stability
• Transient stability is also called rotor stability or
dynamic stability
• Electromechanical phenomenon
• All synchronous machines must remain in synchronism
with each other
• Motion of the generator is influenced by two forces
➢ Mechanical torque form prime mover (turbine) -
Tm
 Angle Stability – Transient Stability
➢ Electrical torque developed by the output of the
machine - Te
• Accelerating torque is Ta = Tm – Te
➢ If Tm > Te, rotor accelerated to store the excess
kinetic energy
➢ If Tm < Te, rotor will slow down as it draws the
difference from stored kinetic energy
• Post-disturbance operating point is usually different to
pre-disturbance
 Causes of Transient Instability
➢ Short circuits
➢ Loss of generation
➢ Loss of load
➢ Starting of a large motor
➢ Switching operations (lines and shunt
compensation)
➢ Sudden large change in load and generation
 Causes of Transient Instability
• Short circuits
• Loss of generation
• Loss of load
• Starting of a large motor
• Switching operations (lines and shunt compensation)
• Sudden large change in load and generation
 Consequences of Transient Instability
• Pole slipping of synchronous generators – generator
tripping
• Power swings
• Mal-operation of protection devices – distance
protection
• Interruption of critical loads
• Low voltage conditions – motor contactor drop-offs
• Damage to equipment
• Blackouts and brownouts
 Why Do We Study Transient Stability?
• In order to prevent system instability, the system must
be designed to reduce the likelihood of instability
• System protection must be set up to protect the
system from undesirable operating conditions which
may lead to instability
• Critical fault clearing time
• Fast load transferring
• Load shedding
Power Transfer Equation
 Normal Operating Angle
• As a general rule in transmission systems, the
maximum angle between major voltage control points
(essentially power stations) should not exceed 30
degrees!
• This means that an acceptable margin exists between
the operating power level and Pmax.
 Normal Operating Angle
• This margin is adequate to allow the system to accept
system faults, which prevent transfer of power
between locations, by ensuring that “post fault”
power transfers can be high enough to restore a stable
operating condition.
 Equal Area Criteria for Transient Stability
• The equal area criteria states that the amount of
energy required to slow the rotor to synchronous
speed must be able to match the amount of energy
added to accelerate it from synchronous speed. If this
is not possible, instability will occur!
• Area A1 – accelerating period (energy being absorbed
by rotor)
 Equal Area Criteria for Transient Stability
• Area A2 – decelerating period
• Operating point rises above C until Area A2 = Area A1
• If Area2  Area1 by the time the curve reaches point F,
the power system will be unstable
 Equal Area Criteria - Instability
• This slide shows a three-phase fault at generator HV
bus
• Area A2 << Area A1, generator pulls out of step from
system
• Past point G – generator is operating as a motor,
accelerating
 Equal Area Criteria - Instability
• Area A3 >>> Area A4, out of step continues, protection
will remove generator!
 Power System Stability – Conclusions
• All types of system stability should be considered
when planning a power system
• Care must be taken to ensure that the “cure” for one
type of stability does not result in another type of
instability (e.g. SVC installed for voltage stability
leading to sub synchronous resonance of a generator
on the system)