Static Voltage Stability Analysis

Based on PSS/E

Xiaoyan Bian, Fangqi Yuan, and Yang Fu

Power and Automation Engineering Department, Shanghai University of Electrical

Power, 200090, Shanghai, China
{kuliz,yuanfangqi2}@163.com

Abstract. In this paper, the static voltage stability is studied by PSS/E.

Firstly, the author gives the mechanism of branch contingency rank-
ing,PV,QV curve in the analysis of voltage stability of PSS/E.PV curve
is to find the maximum transfer power limit,while comprehensive sensi-
tivity indicator is used to analyze static voltage stability in the method
of QV curve. Then,the author takes advantage of the above-mentioned
methods to analyze the static voltage stability of a standard test sys-
tem.In the process of analysis, simulation results are demonstrated and
analyzed.IEEE 30 Bus Test Case is analyzed and explained as an
example.

Keywords: Contingency Ranking, Transfer Power Limit, Voltage Sta-

bility, PV Curve, QV Curve.

1 Introduction

Voltage stability refers to the ability of a power system to maintain steady volt-
ages at all buses in the system after being subjected to a disturbance from a
given initial operating condition. In recent years, voltage instability or collapse
continue to emerge. Great importance has been attached to the study of voltage
stability problems. At the same time, the voltage stability studies, especially in
the field of static voltage stability, have make great progress in recent years. At
present, the method of the static voltage stability analyze includes sensitivity
analysis and the maximum power method, the maximum power method includ-
ing the PV curve method, QV curve and bifurcation analysis [1]. The objective
of a PV and QV curves is to determine the ability of a power system to main-
tain voltage stability at all the buses in the system under normal and abnormal
steady-state operating conditions. The PV and QV curves are obtained through
a series of ac power flow solutions. The PV curve is a representation of voltage
change as a result of increased power transfer between two systems, and the QV
curve is a representation of reactive power demand by a bus or buses as voltage
level changes [2].
However, the P-V curve has neglected the system load characteristic influence,
and its inflection point reflects the electric power network transmission power

K. Li et al. (Eds.): ICSEE 2013, CCIS 355, pp. 194–202, 2013.


c Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
 Static Voltage Stability Analysis Based on PSS/E 195

limit and the corresponding running voltage. While the voltage instability or
voltage collapse is a dynamic phenomenon under large or small disturbance,
easily influenced by load restore characteristic and generator system, the maxi-
mum power transfer point is not necessarily the voltage instability point[3].
The Siemens PTI Power System Simulator (PSS/E) is a package of programs
for studies of power system transmission network and generation performance in
both steady-state and dynamic conditions. Many scholars have researched and
explored the software application in depth [4,5] .

2 Model Description
A. Contingency Ranking
In large systems with many possible contingencies, especially single branch out-
ages, it is often useful to minimize the computational and subsequent analyses
by identifying the most severe contingencies prior to performing the contingency
analysis. The method of contingency ranking has been discussed and studied in
many references[6-8].This paper uses voltage depression criteria to rank branch
contingencies.
In the voltage ranker, the performance index is defined as:
L

PI = Xi Pi2 (1)
i=1
where:
Xi - is the reactance of branch i.
Pi - is the active power flow on branch i.
L - is the set of monitored branches contributing to P I.
P I gives an indication of reactive power losses under different system condi-
tions. As line loadings increase, their I 2 X losses also increase. This increase in
reactive demand generally results in a depression of system voltages.
B. PV Curve
PV curves are parametric study involving a series of ac power flows that moni-
tor the changes in one set of power flow variables with respect to another in a
systematic fashion. This approach is a powerful method for determining transfer
limits that account for voltage and reactive flow effects. As power transfer is
increased, voltage decreases at some buses on or near the transfer path. The
transfer capacity where voltage reaches the low voltage criterion is the low volt-
age transfer limit. Transfer capacity can continue to increase until the solution
identifies a condition of voltage collapse; this is the voltage collapse transfer
limit. It can be explained as Fig.1.
 
ZLD Es
PR = VR I cos φ = cos φ (2)
F ZLN
1 ZLD
VR = √ Es (3)
F ZLN
196 X. Bian, F. Yuan, and Y. Fu

Fig. 1. Two terminals simple network

where:
 2  
ZLD ZLD
F =1+ +2 cos(θ − φ) (4)
ZLN ZLN
From (2), the load power, PR , increases as ZLD is decreased gradually, hence the
power transmitted will increase. As the value of ZLD approaches ZLN the value
of PR starts to decrease gradually due to F . However, from (3), the receiving
voltage VR decreases gradually as ZLD decreases.
C. QV Curve
From (2) and (3), it can be seen that the power factor φ of the load has a
significant impact on the overall equations. This is to be expected because the
voltage drop in the line is a function of both active and reactive power transfer.
Hence, the QV curves may also be used to assess voltage stability of the system.
The bottom of the QV curves, in addition to identifying the stability limit,
defines the minimum reactive power requirement for the stable operation.
This paper takes account the sensitivity and the sensitivity change rate of
comprehensive sensitivity indicators Li .

Li = LMi /LM + ΔLMi /ΔLM (5)

Where:

LMi = dVi /dQi (6)

ΔLMi = LMi1 − LMi2 (7)

In the above equations,
LMi - the sensitivity of the voltage of node i on the load;
LMi1 - the sensitivity of the voltage of node i on the load at the first state;
LMi2 - the sensitivity of the voltage of node i on the load at the second state;
ΔLMi - the change rate of the sensitivity of node i;
LM -the average value of the sensitivity of each node;
ΔLM -the average value of the change rate of the sensitivity of each node.
 Static Voltage Stability Analysis Based on PSS/E 197

3 Example

The IEEE 30 Bus Test Case represents a portion of the American Electric Power
System (in the Midwestern US) in December, 1961. The test case has buses at
either 132 KV or 33 KV. This paper studies steady state voltage stability base
on IEEE 30 BUS Test Case. IEEE 30 Bus Test Case diagram is illustrated as
Fig.2.

Fig. 2. IEEE 30 Bus Test Case diagram

A. Contingency Ranking
The IEEE 30 Bus Test Case includes 5 generators and 35 non-transformer
branches. Among these lines, 13 branches are at 132 KV voltage level, and 22
branches are at 33 KV voltage level. Table 1 shows the result of five severe
contingency ranking.
In table 1, the severe branch contingencies mainly occur at high voltage level.
That is, the branch contingencies at high voltage level have a large impact on
system voltage stability.

B. Base Case
Fig.3 gives the PV curve and QV curve of bus 26 at base case. From Fig.3.a, it
can be seen that the bus voltage continues to decrease as the transmission power
increase. From Fig.3.b, an increase in Q is accompanied by an increase in V, the
operation on the right side of the QV curve is stable, whereas the operation on
the left side is unstable. Thus Fig.3 verifies the model mentioned in section 2.
Table 2 shows the former eight buses’ reactive power margin in order in IEEE
30 Bus Test Case. It shows that weak grid areas mainly occurs on the 33 KV
198 X. Bian, F. Yuan, and Y. Fu

Table 1. Branch Contingency Ranking in Order of Severity

order branch number PI value

1 Bus 1 to Bus 2 0.5756
2 Bus 2 to Bus 5 0.4604
3 Bus 1 to Bus 3 0.3922
4 Bus 3 to Bus 4 0.3807
5 Bus 6 to Bus 7 0.3721

(a) PV curve of bus 26 at base (b) QV curve of bus 26 at base

case case
Fig. 3. Base case

bus. Among them, bus 26,30,29 reactive power margin are small, which easily
leads to system voltage instability. Therefore, the strengthening of reactive power
compensation of these nodes is of great significance to system voltage stability.

Table 2. Reactive Power Margin in Order at Base Case

order node number reactive power margin (MVAR)

1 26 31.17
2 30 33.14
3 29 36.83
4 25 66.75
5 27 72.52
6 18 81.58

Table 3 shows the former eight buses’ voltage sensitivity LMi and the compre-
hensive sensitivity indicator Li in order. Compared to Table 2, we can see that
the voltage sensitivity has no necessary relationship with the reactive power mar-
gin, as they are two kinds of different evaluation indicators. In addition, from
the order of LMi and Li in Table 3, although some changes occurred in the node
sort, but the bus of large sensitivity still maintained at the previous position.
From the order of bus 14,26, it shows that the change rate of the sensitivity has
an significant impact on the voltage sensitivity.
 Static Voltage Stability Analysis Based on PSS/E 199

Table 3. The Sensitivity and Comprehensive Sensitivity of Former Eight Buses

order node number LMi order node number Li

1 10 2.075 1 12 4.4253
2 12 2.065 2 15 4.4125
3 29 2.061 3 20 4.3598
4 15 2.058 4 10 4.3560
5 20 2.056 5 29 4.2681
6 14 1.041 6 19 2.1591
7 26 1.036 7 21 2.1035
8 19 1.030 8 14 2.0159

C. N-1 Contingency Analysis

a. Branch Contingency
Fig.4 shows the transfer power limit at base case and the first five contingencies.
It can be seen, due to the change of network structure, the transfer power limit of
the system changes, and then the system load margin has been greatly reduced,
namely, the ability of the system with a large load diminishes greatly.

Fig. 4. PV curves at base case and former five contingencies

In Table 4, it can be seen that at the three kinds of contingencies, the order of
node has not changed, and the transfer reactive power limits have little change.
This is due to that the contingencies occur at the 132 KV voltage level. However,
the weak buses always appear on the 33 KV voltage level.
From Fig.5, it’s easily seen that the transfer reactive power limit of node 4
has a big change at base case and the first three contingencies, which is greatly
different from Table 4.
b. Generator Contingency
Fig.6 shows the PV curves of bus 4 at base and five single generator contingen-
cies. It can be seen that the single generator outage has a significant impact on
the transfer power limit.
200 X. Bian, F. Yuan, and Y. Fu

Table 4. The Bus Order of Reactive Power Margin of Former Three Contingencies

VLTAGE 1 VLTAGE 2 VLTAGE 3

reactive power reactive power reactive power
node node node
order margin order margin order margin
number number number
(MVAR) (MVAR) (MVAR)
1 26 30.64 1 26 30.78 1 26 30.55
2 30 32.68 2 30 32.76 2 30 32.53
3 29 36.24 3 29 36.35 3 29 36.04
4 25 62.62 4 25 64.04 4 25 62.91
5 27 67.4 5 27 69.34 5 27 68.14
6 19 73.99 6 19 78.04 6 18 74.96
7 23 74.20 7 18 78.10 7 19 74.98
8 18 74.23 8 23 78.52 8 23 75.24

Fig. 5. QV curves of bus 4

Fig. 6. PV curves of bus 4

 Static Voltage Stability Analysis Based on PSS/E 201

4 Conclusion

This paper studies the static voltage stability of IEEE 30 Bus Test Case, and
determines the voltage weak region of the test case. The following conclusions
can be drawn.
(1) Contingency ranking is very effective in the static voltage stability analysis
for a large power system.
(2) In a large power system, the weak grid area always occurs at the low
voltage level. In this paper, the weak area, buses 26,30,29, are at the low voltage
level.
(3) Branch contingency has a significant impact on the buses nearby, yet little
impact on the buses far away.
(4) Generator outage changes the transfer power limit in a certain extent,
further affects the voltage stability of the power system.
Besides, the strong function about the analysis of voltage stability of the PSS/E
software is reflected in the paper.

Acknowledgment. This work was financially supported by the Natural Science

Foundation (51007054), Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education
Commission (12ZZ172), National High Technology Research and Development
Program of China (2012AA051707).

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