IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 20, NO.
2, APRIL 2005
Improving of Transient Stability of
Power Systems Using UPFC
Eskandar Gholipour and Shahrokh Saadate
Index Terms—Alternative Transient Program-Electromagnetic
Transient Program (ATP-EMTP), flexible ac transmission sys-
tems (FACTS), local measurement, transient stability, unified
power-flow controller (UPFC).
I. INTRODUCTION
T HE power-transfer capability of long transmission lines is
usually limited by large signal stability. Economic factors,
such as the high cost of long lines and revenue from the delivery
of additional power, give strong incentives to explore all eco-
nomically and technically feasible means of raising the stability
limit. On the other hand, the development of effective ways to
use transmission systems at their maximum thermal capability
has caught much research attention in recent years. Fast pro-
gression in the field of power electronics has already started to
influence the power industry. This is one direct outcome of the
concept of flexible ac transmission systems (FACTS) aspects,
which has become feasible due to the improvement realized
in power-electronic devices. In principle, the FACTS devices
could provide fast control of active and reactive power through
a transmission line. The unified power-flow controller (UPFC)
is a member of the FACTS family with very attractive features.
This device can independently control many parameters, so it
is the combination of the properties of a STATic synchronous
compensator (STATCOM) and static synchronous series com-
pensator (SSSC) [1].
These devices offer an alternative mean to mitigate power
system oscillations. Thus, an important question is the selection
of the input signals and the adopted control strategy for these
devices in order to damp power oscillations in an effective and
robust manner. Much research in this domain has been realized
[2]–[4]. This research shows that UPFC is an effective device
for this aim.
The objective of this paper is to answer to the following ques-
tion: How the UPFC parameters should be controlled in order
to achieve the maximal desired effect in solving first swing sta-
bility problem. This problem appears for bulky power systems
with long transmission lines.
Various methods of reference identification of the series part,
in order to improve the transient stability of the system based
Manuscript received September 25, 2003; revised February 17, 2004. Paper
no. TPWRD-00490-2003.
The authors are with the Groupe de Recherche en Electrotech-
nique et Electronique de Nancy, Nancy 54506, France (e-mail:
Eskandar.Gholipour@green.uhp-nancy.fr).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRD.2005.846354
0885-8977/$20.00 © 2005 IEEE
1677
Fig. 1. UPFC installed in a transmission line.
on: “optimal parameters” [2], “state variables” [3], and also “in-
jection model” [4] were studied. Finally, a new identification
method based on “state variables” and using the local measure-
ment was proposed.
This paper is organized as follows. After this introduction,
the principal operation and also the mathematical equations of
a UPFC connected to a network are presented. Section IV de-
scribes UPFC control and modeling. In Section V, the proposed
control strategy for UPFC series part is introduced. Simulation
results and conclusion are presented in Sections VI and VII,
respectively.
II. UPFC PRINCIPAL OPERATION
A simplified scheme of a UPFC connected to an infinite bus
via a transmission line is shown in Fig. 1.
UPFC consists of a parallel and series branches, each one
containing a transformer, power-electric converter with turn-off
capable semiconductor devices and dc circuit. Inverter 2 is con-
nected in series with the transmission line by series transformer.
The real and reactive power flows in the transmission line can
be quickly regulated by changing the magnitude and phase
angle of the injected voltage produced by inverter 2.
The basic function of inverter 1 is to supply the real power
demanded by inverter 2 through the common dc link. Inverter 1
can also generate or absorb controllable reactive power [5], [6].
III. MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF UPFC
The mathematical UPFC model was derived with the aim of
being able to study the relations between the electrical trans-
mission system and UPFC in steady-state conditions. The basic
scheme of this model is shown in Fig. 2. This figure represents
a single-line diagram of a simple transmission line with a resis-
tance , an inductive reactance , a UPFC, a sending-end voltage
source , and a receiving-end voltage source , respectively.
1678 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 20, NO. 2, APRIL 2005

Fig. 2. Mathematical model of a UPFC installed in a transmission line.

According to Fig. 2, the currents and are calculated

by the following expressions:
Fig. 3. Reactive power versus active power.

(1)

where

Fig. 4. Series-injected voltage effect on P and Q .

The UPFC is installed at the end of transmission line, and with

the Appendix values for transmission lines and the transformers,
the active and reactive power equations are as follows:

(2)

Considering the variation limits of and according to the fol- Fig. 5. Generator-infinite bus system with the UPFC.
lowing relation (3), and drawing versus , there will be the
different possibilities of and , which are shown in Fig. 3
IV. UPFC CONTROL AND MODELING
Fig. 5 shows the single-line diagram of a UPFC connected at
(3) the end of the transmission line.
The vector diagram of an UPFC connected to a network
The maximum limit of is chosen according to the transient
(Fig. 5) is presented in Fig. 6.
stability margin.
Considering the values that are indicated in Appendix A (and According to Fig. 6, and are the components of the
an arbitrary value for equal to 0.524 rad, corresponds to 30 ), series voltage of UPFC. They are proportional to the voltage at
one can write the equations of receiving active power and the point of connection of UPFC and can be written as
reactive power for the studied system as follows:
and (5)

where and are the control variables. Neglecting net-

(4) work losses, the electrical power can be expressed as
Fig. 4 shows the influence of on the receiving active and
reactive power. (6)
GHOLIPOUR AND SAADATE: IMPROVING OF TRANSIENT STABILITY OF POWER SYSTEMS USING UPFC 1679

Fig. 6. Vector diagram of a UPFC connected to a network.

where is the equivalent transient reactance which includes

the transient reactance of generator, the reactance of the trans-
Fig. 7. Control block diagram of a STATCOM.
former, and the transmission line.
The generator swing equation is
The partial derivative of is also calculated as (14)
(7)

where
(14)
and
(8) To achieve the damping effects during the transient regime, the
control strategy of injected series voltage is given in the next
where introduces additional damping to the system if it section based on the above discussion.
is positive and proportional to the speed deviation . This
can be achieved through the following control strategy:
V. CONTROL STRATEGY
and (9) For each part of the UPFC, we have its proper control strategy
below.
By replacing (9) in (8), the damping factor is repre-
sented as below
A. Shunt Part
(10) The shunt converter has two duties:
• Control the voltage magnitude at the sending-end bus by
The state variables defined by (9) can be approximately exe- locally generating (or absorbing) reactive power.
cuted by using time derivatives of the receiving active and reac- • Supply or absorb real power at the dc terminals as de-
tive powers ( and ). manded by the series converter [6].
According to Fig. 6, there are the following equations: In this paper, the voltage magnitude control is not considered,
because the UPFC is located at the infinite bus. The general
block diagram of the shunt part control is given in Fig. 7.
(11)
B. Series Part
Multiplying (11) by , (12) will be obtained
The SSSC can be operated in many different modes, such as
voltage injection, phase-angle shifter emulation, line impedance
emulation, automatic power-flow control, etc. In each mode of
(12) operation, the final outcome is such that the SSSC injects a
voltage in series with the transmission line [9]. One can design
The partial derivative of is calculated as (13) the modulation controller for series-injected voltage by using
(13) and (14). Fig. 8 shows the proposed block diagram of a
modulation controller capable of producing a real differentiating
element with a small time constant . The value of is chosen
so that the injected series voltage remains at its nominal value.
(13) The values of and are chosen as 1 p.u.
1680 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 20, NO. 2, APRIL 2005

Fig. 11. Generator active power (system not stable).

Fig. 8. Modulation controller for V p and V q.

Fig. 12. Variation of active power in sending (P ) and receiving end (P )

of the system.

Fig. 9. Block diagram of inverter control.

Fig. 13. References of series voltage components.

Fig. 10. Block diagram of inverter control.

The injected series voltage is calculated as (15)

(15)

This voltage, which is applied to the control system, is presented

in Fig. 9.
The reference of series injected voltage and shunt injected
current are calculated and applied to the control system as de-
scribed in Fig. 4.

VI. SIMULATION RESULTS

To test the validity of the control algorithm of the UPFC de-
scribed above, a single generator infinite bus power system has
been simulated.
Fig. 10 shows the power system considered.
The generator is a 1000-MVA, equivalent of four generators Fig. 14. (a) Injected series voltage. (b) Zoomed.
in parallel, each of a 250-MVA capacity. Each generator is di-
rectly connected to a transformer of 250 MVA. The transmission The considered contingency is a three-phase fault at the
system comprises 400-kV double lines 500 km long divided into sending end of one transmission line while the generator
two sections, 200 km and 300 km long. The parameters of gen- is operating at 70% of its rated capacity. The three-phase
erator, transformers, and lines are given in the Appendix. short-circuit duration time in all simulations is considered
GHOLIPOUR AND SAADATE: IMPROVING OF TRANSIENT STABILITY OF POWER SYSTEMS USING UPFC 1681

TABLE II
GENERATOR CHARACTERISTIC

Fig. 15. Variation of the dc link voltage.

TABLE I
COMPARISON BETWEEN THE MAXIMUM PERMITTED LOAD OF
DIFFERENT METHODS

Transmission line:
between and s. The fault is cleared in 0.4 s with • resistance km;
operation of transmission-line reclosure. This fault period in- • inductance km;
volves the maximum time of reaction of the protection system. • capacitance km.
Fig. 11 shows the response when the UPFC is not employed. Shunt transformer :
This curve indicates that the system is unstable, with both the • voltage ratio kV;
electrical power lines and voltage being sent into undamped os- • rated power 160 MVA;
cillation. Additional control is necessary to stabilize the tran- • resistance p.u.;
sients after the fault is cleared. • inductance p.u.
In Figs. 12–15, the simulation results are shown for the same Series transformer
fault duration, but the system is equipped by a UPFC. It is clear • voltage ratio kV;
that the series compensation effectively damps the power-flow • rated power 160 MVA;
oscillation on the transmission line. • resistance p.u.;
• inductance p.u.
VII. CONCLUSION The base of voltage and power for per-unit calculation is
The paper has presented an approach to solve first-swing sta- • base kV (at the generator output bus);
bility problem using UPFC, along with a comprehensive anal- • base MVA.
ysis. The advantages of this control strategy are firstly, using the
local variable of system and secondly, offer better stability per-
formances in comparison with the other existing methods. REFERENCES
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 20, NO. 2, APRIL 2005
Eskandar Gholipour received the B.Sc. degree from Isfahan University of
Technology, Isfahan, Iran, in 1988, the M.Sc. degree from University of Tech-
nology of Tehran, Iran, in 1992, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering
from GREEN Laboratory, Nancy, France, in 2003.
Currently, he is Professor in the Isfahan High Education and Research Insti-
tute (affiliated with the Ministry of Energy), Isfahan, Iran. His research interests
include power systems modelling, simulation, stability and application of flex-
ible ac transmission (FACTS) devices.
Shahrokh Saadate was born in Tehran, Iran, on May 5, 1958. He received the
dipltme d’ingenieur degree in 1982, the DEA degree in 1982, the de doctorat
in 1986, and Habilitation ‘ diriger les recherches from ENSEM, INPL, GREEN
laboratory Nancy, France, in 1982, 1986, and 1995, respectively.
Currently, he is a Professor in Ginie Electrique, Universiti Henri poicari,
Nancy, France. His research interests are power systems, power quality, and
power electronics.