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My Thesis Final
My Thesis Final
Anand Prakasha
TU Delft
8/21/2017
Master of Science
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Master of Science
ANAND PRAKASHA
Master of Science in
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
After my initial years of Master’s study, I approached Prof. Dr. Jose Rueda Torres for a
thesis topic due to his profound knowledge in power systems stability. This led to my decision
to study the “stability of power systems” for my thesis. He not only offered me his supervision,
but also allowed me complete freedom to dive into the topic and narrow down to the most
interesting research questions in this field.
I appreciate his co-operation and the effort spent on reading my progress reports and
providing valuable feedback. He maintained professionalism, equality and allowed me to
express my ideas freely, sometimes even on social media for a quick small query. I want to
thank him for granting an opportunity to assist him in the Power system dynamics course,
where I developed skills to assist other students. Thank you again for providing such a
pleasant informal working environment.
I also want to thank Prof. Dr. Peter Palensky for accepting the role of core responsible
professor for my thesis work. In spite of his busy schedules and meetings, he spent enough
time in monitoring my work and providing valuable advice on various applications in the field.
Additionally, I was very lucky to meet Arcadio Perilla as my Ph.D. supervisor during my
thesis. The in-depth discussions about the purpose and research goals helped me to speed up
my work and clear up my doubts.
Being the last international students of our batch, only Vijay Purshothaman and I know
how it feels to be in a foreign country for years without taking a vacation to visit our home
countries. I want to thank Vijay for his time and the funny discussions that we had for a long
time. I also thank my parents and relatives for their support, patience and motivation
throughout. My special thanks to my education counselor John Stals for his financial and
optimistic support. My gratitude to all the numerous colleagues whose names cannot be
mentioned here for their support throughout my studies at TU Delft.
Anand Prakasha
TU Delft, 2017
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Abstract
In the modern world, the load demands on the electrical grids are increasing at a very high
rate. Due to increasing power demands and deregulation of the electrical power, the power
systems are operated to their maximum capacities.
Many renewable sources are integrated to the conventional grids to meet the increasing
load demands. The HVDC technology has provided an efficient way to integrate different
renewable sources successfully to fulfil the electrical power requirements. The integration
involves incorporating different types of machines with different mechanisms and technologies.
At peak load operating conditions, the electro–mechanical modes of oscillations exist between
different parts of the system, which possess serious threat to the operations leading to
widespread blackouts. These modes depend on various factors like, loading conditions, weak
tie–lines, type of faults, topology of the system and generators. Among these, one of the key
factors that affect the system stability is the machine inertias. The stability of the system is a
key issue to be addressed when different sources are incorporated into a huge system.
In this thesis work, the effect of incorporating different inertia machines on the small signal
stability of the system is addressed. Two study cases are studied to examine the effect of
machine inertia on the system stability, case–1 is a HVAC system and case–2 is a HVAC–DC
system. Two methods are used to access the stability of the system, by linearized models and
by signal record based approach. The results from the linearized models are compared with the
result obtained from the information extracted from the measured signals.
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Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ 4
Abstract ............................................................................................................................. 6
1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 16
5 Results...................................................................................................................... 54
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5.7.4 Line outage event (Area–1 and Area–2) in HVAC system .................................. 84
5.7.6 Comparison between Prony analysis and DIgSILENT power factory ................... 92
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LIST OF SYMBOLS
The used variables, symbols, and abbreviations in this thesis are defined here:
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LIST OF FIGURES
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Figure 5:41–Frequency and Phase response of signal G3 inter–area mode HVAC system ......... 87
Figure 5:42–Frequency and phase response of signal G4 inter–area mode HVAC system ......... 87
Figure 5:43–Line outage of line-C at 5 seconds HVAC–DC system ......................................... 88
Figure 5:44–Frequency and Phase response of signal G1 inter–area mode HVAC–DC system ... 89
Figure 5:45–Frequency and Phase response of signal G2 inter–area mode HVAC–DC system ... 90
Figure 5:46–Frequency and Phase response of signal G3 inter–area mode HVAC–DC system ... 90
Figure 5:47–Frequency and Phase response of signal G4 inter–area mode HVAC–DC system ... 91
Figure 5:48–Comparison between linear model and Prony's method ...................................... 94
LIST OF TABLES
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1 Introduction
Power systems have developed from their simple direct current systems to highly complex
systems to transfer the energy from the sources to users. They generally comprise of
components like high voltage cables, transmission lines, power electronics devices, Flexible
Alternating Current Transmission System (FACTS) devices, generation systems and
transformers etc. The modern systems are highly interconnected over country borders and
even continents and operated throughout the year without any breaks. Power system is the
primary means to transmit the energy generated from various sources (thermal, wind, hydro
etc.) to industrial, commercial and residential users. The various sources used for generating
electricity, have different control mechanism and can be an AC or a DC source.
The electrical power system is mainly divided into generation, transmission and distribution
systems. These systems are predominantly operated at a constant frequency and voltage
levels. The standard frequencies and voltage levels differ from place to place like for example,
in US the standard frequency is 60 Hz and in Europe and Asian countries it is 50 Hz. The
primary use of transformers is to step–up and step–down between different transmission and
sub–transmission level voltages. The introduction of the High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC)
technologies has made it possible to have an interconnection between different standards in
fundamental frequencies.
The main purpose of introducing HVDC is to control the transmitted electrical power and
to enable bulk transmission of electrical power. Different technologies are used in the
converter station to convert from AC to DC and vise– versa. One of the technologies used is
the Line Commutated Converter (LCC) technology. LCCs are reasonable, easy to build and can
handle a large amount of power, which makes it more reliable. But, there are few
disadvantages, like when the direction of the power flow changes, the polarity has to be
changed and this creates problems. The other disadvantage is that these LCCs are difficult to
operate in a meshed grid.
Due to the limitations in the LCCs, the Voltage Source Converters (VSCs) are well suited
for modern transmission network applications. The VSCs incorporate power electronic switches
like IGBTs and GTOs that are self–commutating and change the polarity by changing the
direction of the current flow. The VSCs have black start capabilities that do not require AC filters
and a higher power quality in the AC system. This technology has led to the successful
interconnection of off–shore windfarms to the rest of the grid. As a consequence, there is a high
penetration of renewable sources of energy into the electrical generation sector.
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A real time power system has both AC and DC transmission systems. These systems are
known as hybrid power systems. The operation, planning and dynamic studies of hybrid
systems require in–depth analysis involving the development of detailed models of the power
networks and simulating the dynamic phenomenon like short–circuits studies, dynamic
responses of the generators and their control mechanisms in the network. The purpose is to
achieve a high degree of reliability, safety and permissible operating points from the stability
point of view.
Since the power systems are highly inter–connected with HVAC and HVDC transmission
lines and different type of sources along with their control mechanisms, the stability of the
system is a primary concern. The three major types of stability studies are rotor angle stability,
voltage stability, frequency stability. These stability studies are carried out for a small time
ranging from few milliseconds to long term (months and years). Power system stability studies
are required to achieve a high degree of reliability, stable operating points and protects the
system from faults at peak load conditions.
To obtain more accurate models and have in–depth studies, various sophisticated software
packages, such as Matlab, PSCAD, RSCAD, EMTP and DIgSILENT Power factory have been
introduced to electrical power engineers in recent times. Power Factory in particular is an
object-oriented software package used for modeling and simulation of the electrical power
network systems. This software package is highly structured and supports both graphical and
scripting interfaces with PYTHON etc. This software package can be used for RMS/RMT
simulations, load flow calculations, sensitivity analysis and modal analysis.
This thesis work mainly focuses on the small–signal stability analysis of hybrid grids. In this
thesis work, the effect of introducing a new renewable source to the existing grid is studied, with
attention to different machine inertias from a stability point of view. The in–depth analysis of
effect of machine inertia in a HVAC dominant and a hybrid grid situation is addressed.
1.1 Literature
A reliable service of electricity, demands a power system that withstands disturbances of
various types and magnitudes. Further, the system is designed and operated such that the
probable contingencies are sustained with no loss in the loads and the most adverse possible
contingencies do not result in widespread power interruptions. Research has been done in
power system stability since the 1920s. Kundur and .co in [2] [3]studied the different modes of
oscillations that exits in a weakly interconnected power system which was the root cause to
many blackouts in the recent times (North India, July–2012, Bangladesh November–2014,
South Brazil 1999, United States and Canada 1965).
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Small Signal Stability (SSS) being a critical issue in meshed power systems more of
research has gone into this aspect [4]. In the modern times, due to the introduction of the
renewable energy sources like wind, solar, hydro and nuclear power, the SSS is one of the most
critical issues that needs to be addressed in grid planning and development studies. The
authors in [5] studied the different topologies of windfarms and there interconnection with
HVDC technology. Especially with the high penetration of the renewable sources there are
number of challenges to be dealt in power grids. First the generators introduce an uncertainty
into the scheduled power dispatch, which results in the generated power.
The introduction of HVDC technology has led to different directions like modelling VSC
converters, different control strategies to control the power transmission [6] [7]. A more
general approach to control the active power is given by the authors in [8]. Thus, investigating
the SSS with respect to system integration point of view in an important topic to be addressed.
Different modes of oscillations arise in huge and complex power systems and they are
classified based on the frequency ranges and the type of oscillations generated. In the
publications [9] [10] [11] the effect the dominant modes of oscillations are identified in
standard IEEE/CIGRE grid models. These power system oscillations can be stimulated due to a
disturbance in the power system operating condition or the steady state boundaries of the
various components in the system are crossed. The oscillations can be troublesome to the
power system if they are not damped. For this purpose, various controls like power system
stabilizers, speed governors are used by the authors in [13] The modern hybrid (HVAC-HVDC)
power systems have VSC based converter terminals as the dynamic devices whose interaction,
modeling and control strategies is the hot topic in the recent years [1] [14].
Most of the studies on system planning and integration of High Voltage Direct Current
(HVDC) transmission systems focusing on the fulfillment of explicit technical requirements [11]
These limits include static (e.g. thermal) and dynamic (e.g. voltage and frequency) constraints.
From the literature studies it is inferred that various studies have been done on AC dominated
systems. The stability issues have been addressed with different control strategies. There has
been research done on different technologies like LCC and VSC. But, in the modern power
sector, due to environment concerns, there is an increasing demand towards incorporating low
inertia machines (Wind turbines, small hydro turbines). The inertia being an inherent property of
the synchronous machines the frequency levels and the dynamics immediately after small
disturbances is governed by the inertial properties of the machines. This is important in weakly
meshed grids, where low inertia machines are a predominant source. In the near foreseen
future, there shall be more HVAC grids incorporated with more and more HVDC links in the
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electrical power sector. It is of high importance to address the SSS issues of a hybrid network
from the system integration point of view and the effect of incorporating low inertia machines
into the existing system. This leads us to the research questions that are addressed in this
thesis work.
1. How does the usage of different inertia machines affect the system stability?
2. How does incorporating HVDC links into an existing weak HVAC grid affect the system
stability?
STEP: 1 A reference system is first developed from literature. This is a fundamental two–area
system which is weakly meshed.
STEP: 2 A new area is incorporated to the developed reference system. Two cases are defined
at this stage. In the first case, the third area is connected with an HVAC tie line. In the second
case the third area is connected with an HVDC link.
STEP: 3 The small signal stability analysis is performed by subjecting the system to small
disturbances, thereby defining different study cases through relevant time domain simulations in
DIgSILENT power factory.
STEP: 4 The SSS results obtained by power factory are validated by signal record based method
(Prony analysis).
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The basic components of the HVDC transmission system consists of the AC side
transformers and the reactors, the VSC converters and the DC side capacitors to rectify the
voltage from AC to DC on the rectifier side and the same components on the inverter side of the
HVDC–VSC station. The two stage VSC-converter configuration is shown in Figure 2.3 below.
This consists of three legs, one for each phase and has two IGBTs (Insulated Gate
Bipolar Transistors)/GTOs (Gate turn–off thyristors) in each leg to facilitate the conversion of
AC to DC. This is a 12–pulse converter built by two 6–pulse bridges. A synchronous machine
is connected to the VSC station, through the transformers. Ia, Ib, Ic are the AC currents and
Idc is the DC current.
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Switches are represented by S1, S2 S3, S4, S5 and S6. The size of the capacitor depends
on the transmission voltage levels. The purpose of the capacitor is to provide a low inductive
reactance path for the turn off current and control the active power flow in the line. The
ripple in the voltage is reduced by the capacitor.
On the AC side of the system, the VSC behaves as a constant current source and the on
the DC side it behaves as a constant voltage source. As a result, on the AC side there are AC
reactors to eliminate the harmonics coming from the AC side of the system and for energy
storage, similarly on the DC side, the capacitor is used as the energy storage device.
P
U U
r s
sin
(2.1)
X
Q
U U U
r s r
cos
(2.2)
X
In the equations 2.1 and 2.2, 𝒫 and 𝒬 are the active and the reactive power
respectively. 𝑈𝑆 and 𝑈𝑅 are the sending and the receiving end voltages respectively. 𝑋is the total
reactance of the transmission line and 𝛿 is the total phase angle of the receiving and sending
end voltages. From the above equations, it is clear that the active power is sensitive to the
phase angle and the reactive power is sensitive to the voltage magnitudes.
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Before diving into the VSC control strategy in a d-q frame, it is very important to
understand the basic terminologies and the definitions from space vector theory. A single VSC-
converter station leg is shown in Figure 2.4. Generally, the power systems are analyzed by
symmetrical components. These transformations decouple the symmetric systems. But the
space vector theory gives a more general way of analyses of the power systems especially in the
case of VSC technology. The spatial vector transformation is given by the following equations:
2 j 2 j 4
vt v a t v b t e 3 v c t e 3
3 (2.3)
2 j 4 j 2
it i a t i b t e 3 i c t e 3
3
In the above equation 2.3, → and → are the space vectors of voltages and currents of
𝑉(𝑡) 𝐼(𝑡)
the three-phase symmetrical system respectively. It has to be noted here that the space vectors
of the currents and the voltages are rotating in both space and time simultaneously [8]. The
voltages v , v and
a b v c
the currents i , i and i are sinusoidal in nature which is defined by
a b c
equation 2.4.
v t V sin t
a i t I sint
a
2 4
v t V sin t 3 i t I sin t 3
b b
(2.4)
4 2
v t V sin t
c
3 i t I sin t
c
3
Now the space vector of the instantaneous apparent power is given by equation 2.5:
Substituting the equation 2.3 and 2.4 in 2.5, we obtain the instantaneous apparent power as in
equation 2.6:
The apparent power obtained in the above equation 2.6, is also rotating in space and
time simultaneously. It is clear that the expression for the apparent power s t consists of the
active and the reactive power component. The active and the reactive powers are controlled
independently by the VSC in a d-q frame.
The conversion of a three–phase sinusoidal system to a d-q frame is done by the Park’s
transformation matrix which includes an intermediate 𝛼-β-0 transformation and the phase–
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rotation matrix transformation which results in a d–q–0 frame of control. This is depicted in
equation 2.7 below:
v
V d a
V q P v b (2.7)
V 0 vc
Where [𝑃 (θ) ] is the Park's transformation matrix which includes Clarke's transformation
and the rotation of the phasor along the axis. The Clark’s and the rotation matrix are given by
the equation 2.8 below:
1 1 2 2
1 cos cos cos
2 2 3 3
P 2 0 3 3 2 2 (2.8)
sin sin sin
3 2 2 3 3
1 1 1 1 1 1
2 2 2 2 2 2
Using the above transformation in equation 2.8, the three phase sinusoidal quantities
can be reproduced in terms of dq0 terms. The VSC control strategy is always implemented in
dq0 frame due to numerous advantages as illustrated below. A phasor is nothing but a complex
number rotating with a certain speed in the complex plane as shown in Figure-2.5 below.
After the transformation in the dq0 frame, considering the space vectors of the voltage
and the current in the complex plain, we have the following equation for the apparent power in
the dq0 frame given by equations 2.9 and 2.10.
s
3
2
V d
jV q I d
jIq (2.9)
s
3
2
V d I V I
d q q
j V q I d V d I q (2.10)
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In the above equations 2.9 and 2.10 for the apparent power in the dq0 frame, it is
observed that the terms are no more time variant, i.e. they are DC terms, which is the most
important advantage of the Park’s transformation. The consequence of this transformation can
be realized by eliminating the term 𝑉𝑞 in equations 2.9 and 2.10. This is the done because, in
the transformation process, the voltage phasor is considered to be rotating at the same speed
as that of the d–axis. In other words, the space vector of the voltage is aligned with the d-axis
which eliminates its projection on the imaginary axis or the q-axis in the complex plane. Hence
eliminating 𝑉𝑞 in the equation of apparent power 2.10 we obtain the equation 2.11:
3
s jV I q
2 V d I d d
P
3 (2.11)
2V d I d
3
Q jV I q
2 d
In the above equation 2.11 as result of Park’s transformation, we can observe that the
real and the reactive powers are decoupled. The active power is a function of current I d
and the
of the active and reactive power is achieved and the quantities are DC constants which are then
fed to the VSCs in the grid. In the above equations, it should be clear that the zero sequence
component or the homo-polar component is considered to be 0.
d I abc
E abc
L V abc Rabc (2.12)
dt
After the Park’s transformation we obtain the quantities in the dq0 frame. This is depicted by
the equation 2.13.
E d I
d d
0 1 0
I d
a R 0 I 0
d
V
L 1 0 0
d
E L dt I
q q I q
0 R I
b
0 q
V q
(2.13)
E
0
I
0
0 0 0
I 0
0 0 R I
c 0 V
0
From the above equation we obtain the decoupled equations in dq0 frame as follows:
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L
d I ω*L*
E d
dt
d
I V
q d
R* I d
(2.14)
L
d q I ω*L*
E q
dt I V
d q
R* I q
In the equivalent circuits of VSC, Ed, Eq are the grid voltages in dq0 frame and to
decouple the active and reactive power, Eq is neglected so that in the rotating frame, the
projection on the q-axis is omitted. The DC sources L i and
d
L i q are current dependent voltages
VSC, through dq0 transformation, the quantities are converted to DC values in a complex plane.
This is the advantage of dq0 transformations and the consequence of decoupling the quantities.
During the transformation from abc quantity to the dq0 quantities, we assume that the phasors
are rotating at a constant speed and there is no difference between the angles of the sending
and the receiving end voltages to facilitate the power flow in the HVDC line. In reality, due to
the operation constraints, there will be a difference between the angles of the sending and the
receiving end voltages. To avoid this difference the Phase-Loop Lock (PLL) is used at the VSC
station. The PLL uses a synchronization algorithm which detects the phase angle of grid voltage
in order to synchronize the power delivered on the line. The purpose of this method is to
synchronize the inverter output current with that of the grid side voltage E d , in order to maintain
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a unity power factor . The inputs of the PLL model are the three phase voltages V measured
abc
on the grid side and the output is the tracked phase angle . The PLL model is implemented
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In the above figure, the P and the VDC control modes supply the d–axis reference current
to the inner current controller and the Q and VAC control modes supply the q–axis reference
currents to the inner current controller. The control structure of the inner and the outer control
loops employ a PI controller. Figure–2.8 shows the control structure of the inner current
controller of the VSC. The inputs to the controller are basically the dq0–axis reference currents
and the measured dq0–axis feedback from the output of the VSC. The error is fed into the PI
controller which controls the pulse modulation index of the VSC which controls the voltages.
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In Figure–2.9 below shows the P control structure. The inputs to this control system
are the reference active power and the measured active power on the HVDC line. The reference
active power values are preset as per requirements and the measured active power value is
obtained by the feedback loop. The PI controller employed to feed in the reference d–axis
current.
The Figure–2.10 below shows the VDC control structure. The inputs to this control
system are the reference DC voltage and the measured DC voltage. The reference DC voltage is
essentially maintained at 1 p.u. The PI controller feeds in the d–axis reference current to the
inner current controller.
The control structure of reactive power control Q is shown in Figure–2.11 below. The Q
control structure has two inputs namely, the measured reactive power from the AC side and the
reference reactive power. The difference is fed into the classical PI controller which controls the
q–axis currents that is fed into the inner current controller.
The VAC control system is shown in the Figure–2.12. This control scheme is employed
to control the AC voltage at the AC bus terminals of the VSC. The control system is similar to
that of the other control systems defined; the inputs are the reference AC voltage and the
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measured AC voltage at the terminal. The error is fed into the PI controller and the q–axis
current is fed into the inner current controller. The VSC converter data can be found in the
Table–A8 and Table–A9 in the Appendix.
The detailed working principle of the VSC point–to–point HVDC link is explained with the
help of the Figure–2.13. In the figure, the DC equivalent circuit of the point–to–point HVDC
link is shown. In this figure 𝑉1and 𝑉2 are the voltages at the VSC stations VSC–1 and VSC–2
respectively, and 𝑉𝑎 and 𝑉𝑏 are the terminal voltages of the DC buses on both sides of the HVDC
line. 𝐼𝐷𝐶 is the DC current through the line and 𝑃𝐷𝐶 is the power flow on the HVDC transmission
line. 𝑅𝐷𝐶 is the line resistance. 𝑅𝑖𝑛 is the internal resistance of the HVDC stations.
When the active power on the line 𝑃𝐷𝐶 is zero, the voltages across the line are the same.
There is no current flowing in the line. When the reference active power is set to a particular
value, the voltage 𝑉𝑎 reduces and the voltage 𝑉𝑏 increases. This increases the current in the
indicated direction in the figure, as result, the active power flows in the DC line. The voltage 𝑉1
increases, the voltage 𝑉2 decreases automatically to keep the voltages 𝑉𝑎 and 𝑉𝑏 constant. In the
figure the DC voltage at station VSC–2 is reduced when the active power is changed at station
VSC–1. In this case, the internal resistance is taken to be negligible hence, 𝑉1 = 𝑉𝑎 and𝑉2 = 𝑉𝑏 .
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various subsystems in the excitation system block. The most important ones are described
below:
1. Exciter: This provides the required DC excitation to the rotor field windings of
the synchronous machine.
2. Regulator: This block basically controls all the signals from the speed governing
systems w.r.t. the pre–determined references and amplifies them to the required levels
and feed them into the exciter block.
3. Power System Stabilizer (PSS): This is auxiliary equipment which damps out
the oscillations in the power systems. The inputs to this block are the speed deviation
from the rotors or the power and the frequency deviation.
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power factory library. The output of the exciter is the field voltage ‘ve’ which is fed to the field
winding of the synchronous machine. The AVR data is given in Table–A2 in the Appendix.
The initial conditions for the exciter model are defined as follows. Considering the steady
state conditions for the control system, the initial condition of the state is declared to be zero
initially. Secondly, the steady state value of the ‘ut’ is equal to the ‘u_in’. The initial value of
input signal ‘b’ is equal to the field voltage ‘ve’. The parameters are defined by specific names as
shown in the figure below. The block definition initialization is scripted as shown in the Figure–
3.4:
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turbine output power is fed into the synchronous machine. The other characteristics of this
governor are that this governor operation results in both frequency stability and the rotor angle
stability. From the speed inputs, the frequency of the system is maintained within the limits and
the active power inputs results in rotor angle stability. The governor has two loops, the loop
with the speed inputs is the primary control loop and the secondary control loop is the active
power inputs. The speed governor data is given in Table–A3 and Table–A4 in the Appendix.
In this control system, there are two states, one state from the PI controller modelled as
𝐾𝑖 1
𝐾𝑔 + and the second state from the ‘t_filter’ block modelled as . The ‘MVA base’ block is
𝑠 1+𝑠𝑇
the machine MVA base value. The reference power is converted to per unit value and compared
with the measured value, which is fed into it filter block which has certain delay. ‘pt’ is the
mechanical power output, ‘xspeed’ is the measured speed and ‘speedref’ is the reference speed
The initial conditions are scripted as in Figure–3.6:
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Generators G1 G2 G3 G4
MVA rating 905 900 905 910
Voltage (kV) 20 20 20 20
Active Power (MW) 700 705 719 700
Inertia (H)(s) 6 4 10 7
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The concern here is to analyze the modal behavior of the system when a new area is
interconnected to the existing system. For this purpose, a new area is introduced to the
reference system. This area is interconnected to the reference system through an HVAC tie line.
Figure–3.8 shows the three area system obtained by introducing the third area to the
reference system. As per objectives of this work, the generators are modeled with different
inertias. The dynamic values of the generators can be found in the Appendix in the Table– A1.
The load demand of the two case studies is tabulated in the Table–3.4.
To obtain a system, with integrated HVDC link, which is the second study case, the HVAC
tie is replaced by an HVDC tie line. A point–to–point HVDC link is implemented with VSC
converters. The HVDC link is modeled as a cable. The Figure–3.9 shows the integrated HVAC–
DC three area system where the third area is connected by an HVDC link.
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The Table–3.3 shows the generator details of the three area systems developed. The
HVDC link is implemented between two VSC stations where VSC–1 station is maintained at P–Q
control mode and the station VSC–2 is maintained at Vac–Vdc control mode. The transformers T7
and T8 are the VSC station transformers. The transformer details are given in Table–A7 in the
Appendix. The load demand of the three–area systems developed is tabulated in Table–3.4.
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Generators G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6
MVA rating 1000 900 1100 1010 890 850
Voltage (kV) 20 20 20 20 20 20
Active Power (MW) 700 700 719 500 1000 250
Element of the
Type of disturbance Type of Mode excited Type of system
system
Three–phase fault Three–area HVAC
Line–B Local mode area–2
event system
Step change in Three–area HVAC
G1 and G2 Local mode area–1
generator torques system
Three–area HVAC
Step change in torque G5 Local mode area–3
system
Inter–area mode Three–area HVAC
Line outage event Line–C
area–1 and area–2 system
Inter–area mode Three–area HVAC–
Line outage event Line–C
area–1 and area–2 DC system
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The behavior of a power system is described as a set of ordinary nonlinear differential equations
given by the equation 4.1:
f isys x , x u :t
d xisys (4.1)
1 x :u ,u
2, ....... n 1 2, ....... r
dt
Where, i 1,2,3.......n and n is the order of the system with r inputs to the system with respect
to time t .
Let 𝑥0𝑠𝑦𝑠 and 𝑢𝑜𝑠𝑦𝑠 be the initial state vector and the input vector of the system. These
vectors correspond to an equilibrium point around which the system is linearized. The state
vector, input vector and the output vector of the system is 𝑥𝑠𝑦𝑠 ,𝑢𝑠𝑦𝑠 and 𝑦𝑠𝑦𝑠 respectively and are
given by the equation 4.2:
x1 u1
x 2 u 2
x sys x3 And
u sys u 3
(4.2)
x 4 u 4
xn u n
x1 u1
x2 u 2
y sys x3 And u sys u 3 (4.3)
x4 u 4
xn u n
x
.
.
f ,u 0 sys 0 (4.4)
x 0 sys
0 sys
1
This section is based on Chapter 12 from Power system stability and Control by Kundur [12]
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y 0 sys
g x 0 sys
, u 0 sys 0 (4.5)
The functions f and g are the functions of the initial input state vector and the initial output
When the system is perturbed, the equations 4.4 and 4.5 can be written as equation 4.6.
x x , u
.
.
x sys
x 0 sys
x sys
f 0 sys
sys 0 sys
u sys
(4.6)
The nonlinear functions are expressed in terms of Taylor’s series expansion. Neglecting the
higher order terms we get the equation 4.7:
f f f f
x isys x1sys x 2 sys x 3sys .......
isys isys isys isys
x x x x nsys x nsys
1sys 2 sys 3 sys (4.7)
f f f f
u u u 3sys ......
isys isys isys isys
u 1sys
u
1sys
2 sys
u 2 sys
3 sys1
u nsys u nsys
g g g g
x1sys x 2 sys x 3sys .......
isys isys isys isys
y x1sys x 2 sys x 3sys x nsys x nsys
isys
(4.8)
g g g g
u1sys u 2 sys u 3sys ......
isys isys isys isys
From the above equations, the fundamental equations of the state space representation of any
power system are given by:
Where;
sys is
ΔΧ defined as the state vector of size n 1
B sys is the input matrix which is the function of input variable 𝑢𝑠𝑦𝑠 of size n r
C sys is the output matrix which is the function of state variables 𝑦𝑠𝑦𝑠 of size m n
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D sys Is the feedforward matrix which is a function of input variables 𝑢𝑠𝑦𝑠 of the size
m r which is generally 0.
In Figure 4.1 above the overall block diagram of the power network in state–space
form is shown. The Laplace transformation of the state ∆𝑥 and the output ∆𝑦 has two
components, one depends on the initial conditions and the other on the inputs. The roots of the
characteristic equation are the poles of ∆𝑥(𝑠)𝑎𝑛𝑑 ∆𝑦(𝑠) given by the equation 4.10:
det 0 (4.10)
In the above equation, I is the identity matrix. The determinant of the above equation
defines the characteristic polynomial of the system.
Those roots of that satisfy the characteristic polynomial are the Eigenvalues of state
matrix A. The stability of the power system can be assessed examining the obtained
Eigenvalues. This is known as first method of Lyapunov’s stability assessment. In this method,
if:–all the obtained Eigenvalues of the plant matrix A has negative real parts, the system is
asymptotically stable, and otherwise the system is unstable.
equation 4.11:
f (4.11)
2
(4.12)
2 2
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equation 4.13.
A i λi i
(4.13)
ψi A λ i ψi
The right Eigenvector is a row vector and the left Eigenvector is a column vector. These vectors
are of the form:
1i
2i
and ψ ι ψι1 ψι2 ψι3 ψ ιn (4.14)
i 3i
ni
For n Eigenvalues there are n left and the right Eigenvectors. The Eigenvectors form the left
and the right Eigen matrices respectively.
φ 1 2 3 n (4.15)
TT
ψ ψ T ψ T ψ T ψn
1 2 3
Using the characteristic polynomial obtained in the equation 4.10 and the equation 4.13, the
diagonal matrix is rewritten as in equation 4.16:
A Λ
ψ Ι (4.16)
1
Λ A
From the state matrix, it is observed that, each state variable is a linear combination of
all the other state variables. A mode is a cross coupling of different state variables, hence a new
state vector is defined to remove the cross coupling of state variables as given in equation
4.17:
Δx z (4.17)
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Pre–multiplying by the right Eigen matrix φ to the above equation and rewriting in terms of 𝒵
we get
z Az
(4.18)
z z i
i i
z z (4.19)
Δ x ΑΔx (4.20)
In the above equation 4.19, it is very clear that the equations are decoupled unlike in the
equation 4.13. The difference is that the matrix A is not a diagonal matrix in equation 4.20
whereas the matrix Λ is a diagonal matrix with Eigenvalues on its diagonal.
The equation 4.18 can be visualized as a first order differential equation and its solution in time
t can be defined by equation 4.21:
z t z 0e (4.21)
t
i
i i
Where the term z 0 is the initial condition of the differential equation. Thus the equation 4.16
i
n
xt i z i 0e i
t
i 1
From the equation 4.22, we can conclude that a state variable is expressed as a linear
combination of n dynamic modes. A mode can be defined as a function of the right and the left
Eigen matrix and the corresponding Eigenvalue with respect to time. From the above equation,
it is observed that the right and the left Eigen matrix are effectively complex numbers which can
be visualized as the magnitude of the mode corresponding to the Eigenvalue. Thus, for a given
mode, the product of the left and the right Eigenvectors gives an identity matrix indicating that
they are orthogonal to each other whereas, for a different mode, their product is zero.
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A λ
i i i
(4.23)
Consider an element from the state matrix A as P kj . This is an element of the k th row and the
jth column of the state matrix A. To determine the sensitivity of the Eigenvalue, the equation
4.13 is differentiated with respect to the element P kj , this results in the equation 4.13:
A φ φ φ
A i
i i (4.24)
P kj i
P kj
P kj
i i
P kj
equation 4.25:
ψi
A
φ i (4.25)
P kj i P kj
p1i φ1i ψ i1
p 2i φ 2i ψ i2
pk p 3i φ 3i ψ i3 (4.27)
p 4i φ 4i ψ i4
p φ ψ
ni ni in
The equation 4.25 gives a link between a state variable and the Eigenvalue. For
example, if an Eigenvalue corresponds to a local mode of an area, then the rotor speeds of the
generators in that area will have a high value and the other areas will be insignificant.
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The stochastic nature of power system changes all the time due to changes in the values
of the voltages, currents and load flows between different areas. Large power systems will have
dominant electromechanical modes of oscillations under stressed conditions. These modes of
electro–mechanical oscillations can be broadly classified as in [12] [17]:
linear equations and finding the roots of higher order polynomials by estimating the 𝜆’s of the
2
This section is based on the description given in DSI toolbox, user manual from PNNL laboratory. The
toolbox is available for download at https://github.com/ftuffner/DSIToolbox or
https://www.naspi.org/node/490
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Η s Α
1
s Αm 1 s Αm 2 s ............Α1 s Α0
m m 1 m 2
m (4.28)
Βn s Βn 1 s Βn 2 s ............Β1 s Β0
n n 1 n 2 1
In the above equation 4.28, the polynomial in the numerator represent the zeros and the
polynomial in the denominator represent the poles of the transfer function. Factorizing the
above transfer function given by equation 4.28, the factorized polynomial is given by:
Where, Κ
Am
Bn
z1 , z 2 , z 3 ,......z m are the zeros and p1 , p 2 , p3 ,......p n are the poles of the transfer function. The poles of
the transfer functions gives the Eigenvalues of the transfer function.. The system stability is
determined by the transfer function of the system. For a system to be stable, all the poles must
decay to zero with time.
Consider system with K output signals with K=1 to k as depicted in the Figure–4.2.
(4.30)
n
y t A eσ cos ω t φ
t
i
k, i i
k k, i
i 1
Where, Ak, i and k ,i are the amplitudes and phase of the frequency i . The damping is given by
y t B eλ
t
n
(4.31)
*
B*k, i λi
t
k
i 1
k, i
i
e
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Where B k ,i and B*k ,i are the complex conjugate of each other and are the poles
i
or Eigenvalues
of the system. From the equation 4.30, B k ,i are the output residues of the system and is
expressed as
= i i
j i
(4.33)
Where i
is the real part and i
is the frequency of the Eigenvalue.
If the system outputs are samples over a uniform time period for a total of Ν k
samples where k 1,2,3....Nk 1 then by Prony analysis the amplitudes, phase angles, frequencies
and the damping coefficients of the signal is determined. A signal consists of few dominant
modes along with the noise.
Prony analysis uses the Linear Prediction Method (LPM), where the future values of a
discretized signal is estimated as a linear function of the previous signals. In the second step,
the coefficients of the characteristic equation is estimated using the Least Square Estimation
method. Once the coefficients are estimated, the roots of the characteristic equation is
calculated. In this step, the noises are reduced by taking a very high modal order.
First a suitable window is opened to perform Prony. Here, it is assumed that there is
maximum energy in the modes within the Prony window. This will reorder the modes according
to their energy content in the selected window according to the error criterion which reduces
the error as the modal response is closer to the actual data.
For low frequency modes like inter–area modes, removal of the load or a tie–line is a good
choice. In response to this type of disturbance, the system will move to a new post–fault
equilibrium point. In response to the disturbances, various power equipment’s like circuit
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breakers, governors or capacitor banks are switched immediately after the disturbance, these
actions are considered as additional forcing functions with respect to power system oscillations.
These switching actions alter the modal characteristics, hence the Prony analysis must be
applied to that portion of the signal where no switching action occurs or after the switching has
taken place. The dominant mode should be observable in the chosen signals for the Prony
analysis. This is done by physical inspection of the signals.
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In the above figure, the initial and the end time are the Prony window timings, which is
entered by the user. From the outputs option at the top, the number of signals used for the
analysis is chosen and that can be added on to the screen. Then the option Prony Analysis on
the right side of the figure is clicked to perform the analysis and view the results. a. On this
screen, there are options to further process the signals like;
1. Detrending–This option can be used to remove the unnecessary trends in the obtained
signal before applying Prony analysis.
2. Removing the initial or final value– This can be used to remove the initial and the
final values of the signals. This will help in removing the noises from the initial and the
final part of the time domain signal.
3. Removing the mean value- This option can be used to remove the mean value of the
signal, which may be useful in signal processing.
4. Fourier spectrum plots– This options is used to view the DFT of each time response
signal.
5. Smoothing filter– This option can be used to set the cut–off frequency.
6. Decimate options: This option is very useful, to change the sampling frequency. In
power factory the signals are sampled at 100 Hz (0.01s step–size) hence the decimating
factor is set to 1. Changing the decimating value will change the number of points per
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signal. The tool does not perform the Prony analysis if the data points of each signal is
more than 1024 points.
7. Normalizing the signals– This is used to normalize all the signals so that, the
maximum value is set to 1.
In the advanced options, button, there are options for setting the upper and the lower
cut–off frequency and the type of method to be applied to the signals to obtain the
coefficients. There are three options, namely QR method of factorization, total least square
method and singular value decomposition method. In this work, the method of total least
squares is chosen for all the signals.
In the Figure–4.4 above, the output screen after the Prony analysis is performed is
shown. On the left side, the dominant modes are shown, with their damped frequencies,
damping ratios, amplitudes and the phase angles. Following the classification of the modes in
section 4.3, the modes are classified into Local modes as(LocOsc), inter–area modes as (IntOsc)
and the fast noise as (FstOsc) by the Prony tool. Clicking on the relevant modes as highlighted
in the figure(Mode–3), the bode plots depicting the frequency and phase response of the
selected mode are obtained as shown in the right side corner.
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5 Results
5.1 Tuning of AVR control system
The AVR is used to maintain the terminal voltage of the generators, within the specified
limits under varying load conditions. The AVR gain is adjusted to a stable value by plotting a
root loci for different values of gains 𝐾𝑒 of the PI controller of the AVR (refer Figure–3.3)
manually. In the Figure–5.1 below, the root–loci of the system is plotted to different values of
the AVR gain. The root–loci is plotted for the developed three–area HVAC system (refer
Figure–3.8) with initial value of machine inertias given in Table–5.2/ Table–5.5.
From the above, root–loci plot, it is observed that for low values of the gain ‘Ke’ the
Eigenvalues have a positive real part. As the gain is increased, the Eigenvalues are moving
towards the left half of the complex plot. The minimum value of gain for which all the
Eigenvalues are on the left half of the plain is found to be at Ke=5. As the PSS are not
connected to the AVR, the Eigenvalues are not sensitive as a result, a value of Ke=10, is
maintained in all the study cases.
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From the plot, it is observed that, the minimum value to obtain a stable Eigen value is
found to be Kg=4. For lower values, the system has unstable Eigenvalues, this is mainly due to
insufficient damping torque component, which results in growing oscillations. For higher values
of Kg, the damping ratio is increasing drastically, due to the effect of the active power loop in
the speed governor. From, the plot the minimum and the maximum governor gain is set to 4
and 8.
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Now the characteristics of the modes are determined. First the sensitivity of the Eigenvalues to a
state variable in each mode is determined. In the Figure–5.3, the participation factors of the
generator rotor speeds is shown for local mode in area–1. In the figure, it is observed that in
this mode, the rotor speeds of G1 and G2 have the higher participation among the four
generators.
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This implicates that, the Eigenvalue is more sensitive to the speeds of the generators G1
and G2 in this mode. This mode is excited, in response to a disturbance in area–1. The shape of
this mode is depicted by the compass plot in the Figure–5.4 below. In the compass plot, the
speed vectors of G1 and G2 are plotted as they have the maximum sensitivity which is
confirmed from Figure–5.3. Examining the mode shape, it is clearly seen that in this mode the
generators G1 and G2 are out of phase to each other i.e. the angular difference between the
two speed vectors is 180 degrees. One can also observe that, among the two generators G1 and
G2, the Eigenvalue is more sensitive to G2; hence the generator G2 is more observable
compared to that of G1. This implies that, the generator G2 will be vulnerable to disturbances
compared to G1. This is because, from the system schematic (refer Figure–3.7), the generator
is of low–inertia compared to that of G3 (refer Table–3.1).
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In the Figure–5.5, the participation factors of the generator rotor speeds corresponding
to the Eigenvalue of local mode area–2 is depicted. From the bar plot, it is clearly observed that
in this mode the participation of the generators G3 and G4 are maximum among the four
generators. Since, the generators G3 and G4 belong to area–2 (refer Figure–3.7) this mode
corresponds to the local area mode of area–2.
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The shape of the mode is depicted by the compass plot in Figure–5.6. The speed
vectors of the generators G3 and G4 are plotted as they are more sensitive compared to G1 and
G2. Examining, the angular separation of the two speed vectors, it is observed that the
generators G3 and G4 are anti–phase to each other. It is also observed that the generator G4 is
more sensitive and hence more observable. Thus, for any disturbance in the area–2 of the
system, the generator G4 will be more sensitive compared to G3. This is because the generator
G4 is of low inertia compared to G3 (refer Table–3.1)
The bar plot in Figure–5.7 shows the participation factors of the generator rotor speeds
to the Eigenvalue corresponding to the inter–area mode. In this mode, it is seen that all the
generators participate significantly. This means, the Eigenvalue is sensitive to all the generators.
This gives an indication about the existence of an inter–area mode between the two areas.
Among the four generators, G1 and G3 are more sensitive compared to G2 and G4 this is
because they are further away from G1 and G3 in the respective areas (refer Figure–3.1).
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The mode shape is depicted by the right eigenvectors by the compass plot in Figure–
5.8. From the compass plot, it is clearly seen that the generators G1 and G2 of area–1 are in
phase with each other (angle is 0) and the generators G3 and G4 are in phase with each other
(angle is 0), but the vectors G1 and G2 together are anti–phase with the vectors G3 and G4.
This means, in this mode the generators G1 and G2 of area–1 are anti–phase to generators G3
and G4 of area–2.
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Area-1 3600
G2 4 3.8 3.6 3.2 3
rpm
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In the above plot, the Eigenvalues have formed three distinct groups, that is depicted as
three local modes belonging to area–1, area–2 and area–3 respectively and two inter–area
modes, one between area–1 and area–2 and the second one is between area–1 and area–3. As
the machine inertias reduce, the damped frequencies of the modes slightly increase. On the
other hand, the damping ratios of the electromechanical modes are decreasing with decrease
the inertia of the machines. This is mainly because, the stored kinetic energy of the machines is
reduces with the reduction of inertia. As a result, the machines will oscillate for a longer time
compared to the higher inertia machines. This results in more oscillations and less damping. In
the Table–5.3 below, the numerical values of the frequencies and damping ratios of the local
modes (in blue) and the inter–area modes (in red) are tabulated .
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In Figure–5.11, the mode shape is shown in a compass plot. The speed vectors of the
generators G1 and G2 are plotted as they are more sensitive compared to all the other
generators in the system. From the compass plot, we can observe that the speed vectors G1
and G2 are anti–phase to each other and the generator G2 is more observable compared to that
of G1. This is because of the same reason that the generator G2 is of low inertia hence more
vulnerable to disturbances. Since both the generators belong to area–1 and the frequency of
oscillation is more than 1 Hz (refer–Table–5.3), we can conclude that, this mode corresponds
to a local mode of area–1.
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In the Figure–5.12 below, the bar plot of the participation factors of the modes 23 and
24 is shown. Examining the frequencies from the Table–5.3, it corresponds to the local area
mode. The participation factors of the generators depicts that the generators G3 and G4 have
the maximum participation. It is observed that the generators G5 and G6 are also sensitive, but
they are not significant. In this mode, the generator G4 has a higher sensitivity compared to
that of the generator G3 since, G3 is further away from G4 and the generator G4 has a lower
inertia compared to G4.
The compass plot in Figure–5.13, depicts the mode shape. In the compass plot, it is
observed that the speed vectors of the generators G3 and G4 are anti–phase to each other.
Hence this mode corresponds to a local area mode belonging to area–2. Since, generator G4 is
more sensitive compared to G3, it is also more observable as depicted by the compass plot.
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The bar plot in Figure–5.14, depicts the sensitivity of the Eigenvalue of modes 13 and
14. From the bar plot it is clear that the generators G5 and G6 have the maximum participation
in this mode. This gives an indication that this mode is a local area mode belonging to area–3
since the generators G5 and G6 belong to area–3 (refer Figure–3.8). The generator G6 has the
higher sensitivity compared to that of G5 as the inertia of G6 is smaller than G5.
The mode shape is depicted by the compass plot shown in the Figure–5.15. It is
observed that the speed vectors G5 and G6 are anti–phase to each other in this mode. Since the
generator G6 has a higher participation factor, it is more observable as well.
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In the bar plot shown in Figure–5.16, the participation of the generators in mode 27
and 28 is shown. From the plot, it is observed that, all the generators have significant
participation in this mode. Among all the generators, G5 and G6 are found to be highest
followed by the generators G1 and G2. This is a response of a typical inter–area mode. By
analyzing the magnitude the participation factor magnitudes in Table–5.4, it is clearly seen that
the generators G1 and G2 have the higher participation compared to G3 and G4 in this mode.
Hence, this gives an indication that this inter–area mode is between area–1 and area–3.
Figure 5:16– Participation factors inter-area mode area-1 and area-3 HVAC–DC system
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Figure 5:17–Mode shape inter–area mode area–1 and area–3 HVAC–DC system
In the Figure–5.18 below, the participation factors of the generators in mode 25 and
26 is depicted. From the bar plot, it is observed that, in these modes the participation of the
generators G1, G2, G3 and G4 are very high compared to generators G5 and G6. This gives an
indication that, this mode is an inter–area mode between area–1 and area–2.
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Figure 5:18–Participation factors inter–area mode area–1 and area–2 HVAC–DC system
The shape of the mode 25 is shown below by the compass plot in Figure–5.19, where
the generators of area–1 (G1 and G2) are rotating anti–phase to generators (G3 and G4). By
examining the participation factors and right Eigenvectors, we can conclude that the generators
of lower inertia has an higher observability and higher sensitivity compared to that of high
inertia machines, this is because, the mechanical time constants of high inertia machines are
longer compared to low inertia machines, as a result if there are faults between two areas, the
lower inertia machines oscillate for longer time compared to the high inertia machines. In other
words, the heavier machines are more stable.
Figure 5:19–Mode shape inter–area mode area–1 and area–2 HVAC–DC system
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Table 5-5: Three–area HVAC–DC system operating conditions with respect to inertias
Area-1 3600
rpm G2 4 3.8 3.6 3.2 3
The modal behavior of the system is accessed to evaluating the effect of the inertias of
the machines on the Eigen values of the electro–mechanical modes. In the Figure–5.20, the
Eigenvalue plot for different values of machine inertias is shown. From the plot, it is observed
that there is an increase in the modal frequencies and decrease in the damping ratios when the
machine inertias are decreased, similar to the HVAC system. Apart from the electromechanical
modes, the states of the PLLs are also excited but they have a significantly higher damping
ratios compared to that of the electromechanical modes in the system. The reason behind the
excitation of the electro–mechanical modes are due to the frequency error that occurs during
the transmission of the active power on the AC side to the active power on the DC link. During
this transition, the PLL states are excited along with the electro–mechanical states but they are
quickly damped. Another, important observation is there were two inter–area modes in the
HVAC system first one, between area–1 and area–2 and the second one, between area–1 and
area–3 (refer Table–5.3), whereas in the HVDC system there is only one inter–area mode.
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The second inter–area mode does not exist because, the point–to–point HVDC link
decouples the system completely, and as a result there will be no inter–area mode between
systems which are interconnected by only HVDC links.
The modal frequencies and their damping ratios of the electro–mechanical modes in the
HVAC–DC system are tabulated in the Table–5.6 below. The modes labelled in blue are more
than 1 Hz and falls into the category of local modes and the modes in red are less than 1 Hz and
the modes in red are inter–area modes.
Table 5-6: HVAC–DC system electro–mechanical modes with respect to machine inertias
Operating
points Modes 16 and 17 24 and 25 14 and 15 26 and 27
Local mode Local mode Local mode Inter-area–1
Mode type
area-1 area-2 area-3 and area–2
Frequency (Hz) 1.521 1.056 1.873 0.598
100% inertia
Damping ratio (%) 8.283 6.528 11.348 6.713
Frequency (Hz) 1.539 1.094 1.889 0.624
95% inertia
Damping ratio (%) 7.921 6.557 10.902 6.002
Frequency (Hz) 1.536 1.097 1.869 0.629
90% inertia
Damping ratio (%) 6.982 5.785 9.805 4.349
Frequency (Hz) 1.619 1.157 1.969 0.664
80% inertia
Damping ratio (%) 6.981 5.802 9.692 4.326
Frequency (Hz) 1.660 1.189 2.017 0.682
75% inertia
Damping ratio (%) 6.826 5.688 9.453 4.052
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The shape of the mode is depicted by the right eigenvectors in the compass plot in
Figure–5.22. From the mode shape, it is observed that, the speed vectors of the generators
G1 and G2 are anti–phase to each other and the generator G2 is more observable compared to
generator G1 for the same reason that the G2 has a lower inertia compared to G1.
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In the Figure–5.23 below, the participation factors of the generators in the modes 21
and 22 is depicted. From the bar plot, it is clear that the generators G3 and G4 have the
maximum participation in this mode. Thus, this mode is a local mode corresponding to area–2
as the generators G3 and G4 belong to area–2.
In the compass plot in Figure–5.24, the right Eigenvectors of the mode are plotted.
From the figure it is clearly observed that the generators G3 and G4 are anti–phase to each and
the generator G4 is more observable compared to generator G3 as G4 is of lower inertia than
G3.
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The bar plot in Figure–5.25 depicts the participation of the generators in the mode 14
and 15. From the plot it is observed that in this mode the generators G5 and G6 have the
maximum participation. As the generators G5 and G6 belong to area–3 of the system (refer
Figure–3.9), it should be a local mode of area–3. As expected, the generator G6 is more
sensitive compared to that of G5.
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By examining the compass plot in Figure–5.26, the mode shape clearly depicts that the
generators G5 and G6 are anti–phase to each other. The generator G6 is more observable
compared to G5 as G6 has lower inertia than G5.
In the Figure–5.27 below, the bar plot depicts the generators participating in the mode
26 and 27. From the bar plot, we can observe that the generators G1, G2, G3 and G4 have a
higher participation compared to generators G5 and G6. Since, generators G1 and G2 belong to
area–1 and generators G3 and G4 belong to area–2; this mode is an inter–area mode between
area–1 and area–2.
Figure 5:27–Participation factors inter–area mode area–1 and area–2 HVAC–DC system
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This is further confirmed by the mode shape given by the right eigenvectors shown in
the compass plot in Figure–5.28. In the compass plot, generators G1 and G2 are in phase with
each other and generators G3 and G4 are in phase with each other. But, the generators G1 and
G2 are anti–phase with generators G3 and G4.
Figure 5:28–Mode shape inter–area mode area–1 and area–2 HVAC–DC system
In case of the inter–area modes, there were two inter–area modes in the HVAC system
and one inter–area mode in the HVAC–DC system there is only on inter–area mode. In both the
systems, the low frequency inter–area mode between area–1 and area–2 is the common one.
Looking at the values of the frequencies and damping ratios, it is observed that the inter–area
mode between area–1 and area–2 are better damped in case of HVAC system due to the
combined effect of six speed governing system from the six generators, where as in case of
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HVDC/DC system, there are only four generator controllers influencing the mode. It is observed
that the inter–area frequency is higher in case of HVAC–DC system because of the higher power
transfer on the HVDC link. The active power on the HVDC link is set to 800 MW which is more
than the active power on the HVAC line (655.4 MW); this increases the inter–area frequency
between the area–1 and area–2.
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To obtain the modal characteristics of the local mode, the rotor speeds are subjected to
Prony analysis. The speed signals of the generators G1 and G2 are exported from power factory
and processed to obtain uniform sampling rate and imported to the Prony toolbox. The modal
characteristics of the local mode in area–2 are tabulated in Table–5.9. The Prony analysis is
applied to the window between 7 seconds to 15 seconds, after the step in the torque is applied
at 5 seconds. The sampling frequency is 100 Hz (time step– 0.01s). The simulation was run for
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150 seconds resulting in 15000 data points which is fitted to a damping sinusoidal signal. From
the frequency response, we can observe that in the selected window, the most dominant
frequency corresponds to 1.571 Hz which is in the range of local modes. From the phase
response, we can observe that there is a phase difference of almost 200 degrees at the same
frequency in the signals G1 and G2. This suggests that, the two generators are oscillating
against each other at 1.571 Hz.
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The Table–5.10 shows the results of the spectral analysis of the two signals. The
chosen window is between 8 to 15 seconds. This is just after the transient has occurred and
there are still oscillations in the signals.
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From the, frequency response of the signals from G3 and G4, we can observe that the
most dominant frequency within the chosen window is found to be 1.109 Hz and examining the
phase response of the two signals, the difference in the phase shift is about 150 degrees, which
implies that the generators G3 and G4 are anti–phase to each other in this mode.
To obtain the modal characteristics of the local mode area–3, the speed signals of the
generators G5 and G6 are exported to Prony toolbox from power factory. The signals are pre–
processed to remove the unequal sampling rates before applying Prony analysis. The
characteristics of the mode are tabulated in Table–5.11 below. The frequency and the phase
response of the local area mode are shown in the Figure–5.36 and Figure–5.37.
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Phase
Frequency Damping ratio Amplitude
Generators angle
(Hz) (%) (p.u.)
(degrees)
G5 1.763 5.389 0.01032 -204.087
G6 1.763 5.389 0.02182 -358.234
Prony window time (s) 5.5 to 8
Figure 5:36–Frequency and Phase response of signal G5 local mode area–3 HVAC system
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11
Figure 5:37–Frequency and Phase response of signal G6 local mode area–3 HVAC system
From the frequency spectrum, it is observed that both the signals have a dominant
frequency of 1.667 Hz with the same damping ratio, and there is a phase shift at the same
frequency in the signals. The difference in the phase shift is 154 degrees which means, the
generators G5 and G6 are anti–phase to each other. From the amplitudes, we can observe that,
the generator G6 has higher amplitude compared to G5 due to lower inertia.
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Table 5-12: Modal characteristics of inter–area mode area–1 and area–2 HVAC system
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Figure 5:39–Frequency and Phase response of signal G1 inter–area mode HVAC system
Figure 5:40–Frequency and Phase response of signal G2 inter–area mode HVAC system
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Figure 5:41–Frequency and Phase response of signal G3 inter–area mode HVAC system
Figure 5:42–Frequency and phase response of signal G4 inter–area mode HVAC system
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The modal characteristics of the inter–area mode are tabulated in the Table–5.13. The
window chosen for the Prony analysis is between 7–12 seconds. In the table, we can observe
that the amplitudes of the generators G1 and G2 are much higher compared to generators G3
and G4 as generators of area–1 are of lower inertias compared to generators G3 and G4.
Table 5-13: Modal characteristics of inter–area mode area–1 and area–2 HVAC–DC system
Phase
Frequency Damping ratio Amplitude
Generators angle
(Hz) (%) (p.u.)
(degrees)
G1 0.526 7.644 4.717𝑒 −3 -130.822
G2 0.526 7.644 4.003𝑒 −3 -130.418
G3 0.526 7.644 1.499𝑒 −3 -319.804
G4 0.526 7.644 0.471𝑒 −3 -330.256
Prony window time (s) 7–12
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The frequency and the phase responses of all the signals are shown in the Figure–5.44,
Figure–5.45, Figure–5.46 and Figure–5.47 within the chosen Prony window.
Figure 5:44–Frequency and Phase response of signal G1 inter–area mode HVAC–DC system
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Figure 5:45–Frequency and Phase response of signal G2 inter–area mode HVAC–DC system
Figure 5:46–Frequency and Phase response of signal G3 inter–area mode HVAC–DC system
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Figure 5:47–Frequency and Phase response of signal G4 inter–area mode HVAC–DC system
From the frequency plots of all the signals, it is concluded that the dominant mode in the
chosen window is at 0.526 Hz. From the phase response plots of the signals G1 and G2, it is
observed that the phase angles between the generators G1 and G2 are very close to each other;
as a result, the difference between them is very small. This indicates that the generators G1 and
G2 are in close synchronism. Similar observation can be made from the phase responses of the
signals from G3 and G4, where the difference in the phase angles is 11 degrees, which indicates
the coherency of the two generators. But the difference between the two groups of generators
G1, G2 and G3, G4 is more than 180 degrees; this implies that the generators in two areas
area–1 and area–2 are oscillating against each other, which is a typical characteristic of the
inter–area mode.
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Table 5-14: Comparison between linear model and Prony analysis without controllers
Local mode
1.338 5.566 1.324 5.544
area–1
Local mode
0.949 4.812 1.112 5.79
area–2
Local mode
1.719 8.419 1.629 8.621
area–3
Inter–area mode
(HVAC system) 0.473 2.373 0.349 3.286
(area–1 –area–2)
Inter–area mode
(HVAC–DC
0.541 2.478 0.459 2.931
system)
(area–1– area–2)
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In Table–5.15 below, the comparison is made between the modal characteristics with
the exciter and speed governor implemented to all the generators.
Table 5-15: Comparison between linear model and Prony analysis with controllers
Local mode
1.538 8.383 1.571 9.100
area–1
Local mode
1.093 6.724 1.109 8.646
area–2
Local mode
1.995 11.806 1.763 5.389
area–3
Inter–area mode
(HVAC system) 0.537 7.044 0.451 9.752
(area–1–area–2)
Inter–area mode
(HVAC–DC
0.598 6.713 0.526 7.644
system)
(area–1–area–2)
It can be observed that the values of frequencies and damping ratios of the
electromechanical modes determined by linearized models in DIgSILENT power factory closely
matches with the signal record based approach when the controllers are not implemented. This
is mainly, because of the way the control system is implemented in the system. In the control
system definition (refer Figure–3.3 and Figure–3.5), there is an outer loop which decouples
the PI controller. As a result, during the linearization process, the effect of the controllers is not
effective. But when the signals are analyzed by Prony’s method, the effect of the controllers is
clearly evident resulting in higher values of damping ratios.
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When the controllers are removed, the inherent oscillations are analyzed by Prony’s
method as result; the frequencies and the damping ratios determined closely match with each
other. The overview of the two approaches is presented in the Figure–5.48.
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Different operating points were considered with respect to inertias of the synchronous
machines for a peak loaded condition to examine the sensitivity of the Eigenvalues towards
inertias. The Eigenvalue sensitivity towards the inertias of the machines was analyzed for both
the test cases developed.
Through the time–domain simulations, the modal information was extracted through
Prony analysis to validate and compare the results obtained. The Prony’s method is used in this
work is open source tool that is made available by PNNL laboratories. Hence, the modal
analysis module in DIgSILENT is validated with an independent Prony analysis tool. The error in
the determined values is because, in the Prony’s approach, a discretized time domain signal is
fitted to a curve with damped sinusoidal terms and this curve fitting is never a perfect match.
The other reason is due to manually determining the Prony window for extracting the
information about the dominant modes this would result is errors.
6.1 Conclusions
From this thesis work, the following conclusions are derived. The stability of the system is very
critical issue especially when the system is highly stressed. In such a stressed system,
monitoring the electromechanical modes is very important.
The damping of the modes depends on the dynamic elements of the system like the
speed governors and the exciters. The frequencies of the modes depend on the topology
of the network, operating conditions, loading conditions.
In both HVAC and HVAC–DC system, there are three local area modes belonging to each
area respectively. In these modes, the generators within an area swing against each
other. The low inertia machine is more sensitive hence swings with greater amplitude.
There are two inter–area modes exists when a third area is introduced with an HVAC tie–
line. One inter–area mode is between area–1 and area–2 and the other inter–area mode
is between area–1 and area-3.
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In HVAC–DC system there is only one inter–area mode between area–1 and area–2 and
the second inter–area mode does not exist. This is because of the asynchronous nature
of the HVDC link.
In both the test cases, the damping of local modes is higher than that of the inter–area
modes.
Prony analysis can be very useful to determine the modal characteristics of power
systems, where the computation of the complete state matrix (A matrix) is unnecessary.
By Prony analysis an estimation of the dominant modes in the system through the
measured signals can be obtained, which is a less cumbersome process compared to
state–space modelling which involves solving complex differential equations.
6.2 Reflections
From the analysis, it is observed that, for analyzing small systems, linearized models are
very useful. The computation does not take much time due to less number of states.
For larger systems, with many states, developing the linearized models will be
cumbersome process, and during those situations the real time data from the system can be
utilized to study the system stability.
From the analysis, it can be concluded that, employing low inertia machines with an HVDC
link would be a safer option. This will make them less vulnerable to faults on the AC side of the
grid.
If the number of HVDC links is increased in a large grid, the local modes will be more
dominant ones, and it is easier to monitor them with local control mechanisms.
As the aim of the electrical power sector is to increase the penetration of the renewable
energy sources into the existing grids, the generators can be modeled as specific renewable
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sources like wind turbines or hydro-power plants and the analysis for low inertia machines is to
be analyzed in detail.
A real power system is highly non–linear in nature and for the analysis purposes, it is linearized.
But, linearizing a huge system would be a difficult task, so for large systems, using advanced
technics like GMC’s (Geometric Measure of Controllability) or use of aggregated models would
give more reliable results.
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Works Cited
[1] M. A. R.L. Sellick, "Comparison of HVDC Light (VSC) and HVDC Classic (LCC), Site
aspects for a MW,400kV HVDC transmission Scheme," in IET ACDC conference,
Brimingham, 2012.
[2] G. M.Klein, "A Fundamental study of inter-area oscillations in power systems," IEEE,
vol. 6, pp. 914-921, 1991.
[6] V. Mitra.P, "Dynamic Performance study of a HVDC grid using Real-Time Digital
Simulator," in RT and HIL Simulation Applications for Approaching Complexity in
Future Power and Energy Systems, Aachen, 2012.
[7] M. R. J. K. a. M. L.Shen, "The Effect of VSC HVDC Control and Operating Condition
on Dynamic Behaviour of Integrated AC/DC System," IEEE transactions on POwer
Delivery, 2015.
[9] A. S. J. M. F. O. Zadeb M.K, "Small-Signal stability study of the CIGRE grid test
system with analysis of Participation factors and Parameter sensitivity of oscillatoy
modes," in 18th power systems computations conference , Wroclaw, 2014.
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[12] Kundur.P, Power System Stability Dynamics and Control, New York: McGraw-Hill,
1994.
[14] C. R. X. Ruihua.S, "VSCs based HVDC and its control strategy," in IEEE PES
Transmission and Distribution Conference and Exhibition, 2005.
[16] D. G. Germany, "User manual DIgSILENT Power factory version," [Online]. Available:
http://www.digsilent.de/.
[20] J. R. Torres, Power System Dynamics Lecture Slides, TU Delft EEMCS faculty, Delft,
2017.
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[25] W. M. Preece.R, "The Probabilistic collocation method for power system damping and
voltage collapse studies in the presence of uncertainties," IEEE transactions Power
Systems, Vols. 28-3, pp. 2253-2262, 2013.
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Appendix
Generators and controllers dynamic data
The generator dynamic data is tabulated in the Table–A1. All the generators have the same
dynamic data.
AVR No. 1 2 3 4 5 6
Generator G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6
Gain Ke (HVAC) 10 10 10 10 10 10
Gain Ke (HVAC–DC) 10 10 10 10 10 10
Integrator Ki 10 10 10 10 10 10
In the Table–A3 and Table–A4, the specifications of the speed governor model are given. The
value of droop (KDROOP) is set to zero for a reference machine.
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Governor No. 1 2 3 4 5 6
Generator G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6
MVA rating 1000 900 1100 1010 890 850
Integrator Ki
7 7 7 7 7 7
(HVAC)
Filter time T(s) 0.0001 0.0001 0.0001 0.0001 0.0001 0.0001
KDROOP -0.05 -0.05 0 -0.05 -0.05 -0.05
All the Governor Gain (KGOV) in a study case is set to the values tabulated in Table–A4.
Length Parallel
From Bus To bus R (p.u) X (p.u) B (p.u)
(Km) circuits
1 11 0 0.15 0 T1 1
2 12 0 0.15 0 T2 1
3 13 0 0.15 0 T3 1
4 14 0 0.15 0 T4 1
5 10 0 0.15 0 T5 1
6 15 0 0.15 0 T6 1
11 12 0.005 0.05 0.021875 25 2
13 14 0.005 0.05 0.021875 25 2
15 10 0.005 0.05 0.021875 25 2
12 7 0.003 0.03 0.005833 10 3
14 8 0.003 0.03 0.005833 10 3
7 9 0.011 0.11 0.1925 110 2 lines
8 9 0.011 0.11 0.1925 110 2 lines
10 9 0.011 0.11 0.1925 200 1
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The different values of the transmission lines are calculated by the basic power system
analysis concepts of per–unit systems. The detail calculations are shown below from equations
A.1 to A.8. All the values are first converted to per–units on a common base of 100 MVA and
230 kV. The total values of transmission lines are given in Table–A6. The values are converted
to actual values which are used in power factory.
2 2
Z
V
base
LL 230 529 (A.1)
MVA base
100
Z actual
, then (A.2)
Z pu
Z base
R actual
R pu * Z base 0.005 * 529 2.645 (A.3)
X actual
X pu
* Z base 26.45 (A.4)
B actual
B pu * Z base 11.571875S (A.5)
Then the values of Resistance, Reactance and the Susceptance per kilometer are given by:
R actual
2.645
0.1058 (A.6)
R km
km
D km
25
X actual
26.45
1.058 (A.7)
X km
km
D km
25
B 0.4629 S (A.8)
11.571875
B S actual
km
km
D km
25
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Transformer data
The transformer data is specified in the Table–A7 below:
A 7–Transformer data
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Excitation flux(𝜓𝑒 )
d–axis flux linkages(𝜓𝑑 )
q–axis flux linkages (𝜓𝑞 )
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9 -31,002 0 0 1
10 -28,9708 0 0 1
11 -29,4368 0 0 1
12 -29,264 0 0 1
13 -1,49234 12,53442 1,994914 0,118224
14 -1,49234 -12,5344 1,994914 0,118224
15 -0,81316 9,662775 1,537878 0,083858
16 -0,81316 -9,66278 1,537878 0,083858
17 -14,7522 0 0 1
18 -14,7172 0 0 1
19 -14,0144 0 0 1
20 -12,225 0 0 1
21 -11,8959 0 0 1
22 -11,102 0 0 1
23 -0,46446 6,870253 1,093435 0,067451
24 -0,46446 -6,87025 1,093435 0,067451
25 -0,28802 5,571011 0,886654 0,05163
26 -0,28802 -5,57101 0,886654 0,05163
27 -0,2381 3,371781 0,536636 0,070441
28 -0,2381 -3,37178 0,536636 0,070441
29 -1,7919 0 0 1
30 -1,78156 0 0 1
31 -1,58839 0 0 1
32 -1,45531 0 0 1
33 -1,37643 0 0 1
34 -1,08238 0 0 1
35 -0,34418 0,521812 0,083049 0,550598
36 -0,34418 -0,52181 0,083049 0,550598
37 -0,44857 0 0 1
38 -0,10046 0,443366 0,070564 0,220979
39 -0,10046 -0,44337 0,070564 0,220979
40 -0,09693 0,399452 0,063575 0,235804
41 -0,09693 -0,39945 0,063575 0,235804
42 -0,08497 0,379601 0,060415 0,21843
43 -0,08497 -0,3796 0,060415 0,21843
44 -0,07454 0,252223 0,040142 0,283404
45 -0,07454 -0,25222 0,040142 0,283404
46 -0,05737 0,252153 0,040131 0,221838
47 -0,05737 -0,25215 0,040131 0,221838
48 -0,05529 0,242903 0,038659 0,221931
49 -0,05529 -0,2429 0,038659 0,221931
50 -0,05644 0 0 1
51 -0,20967 0 0 1
52 -0,19948 0 0 1
53 -0,18741 0 0 1
54 -10000 0 0 1
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13 -28,4691 0 0 1
14 -14,5904 0 0 1
15 -14,8524 0 0 1
16 -1,34433 11,76939 1,873157 0,113484
17 -1,34433 -11,7694 1,873157 0,113484
18 -0,79448 9,558297 1,52125 0,082834
19 -0,79448 -9,5583 1,52125 0,082834
20 -13,8029 0 0 1
21 -12,2374 0 0 1
22 -11,973 0 0 1
23 -10,869 0 0 1
24 -0,43422 6,637919 1,056458 0,065276
25 -0,43422 -6,63792 1,056458 0,065276
26 -0,2529 3,758531 0,598189 0,067134
27 -0,2529 -3,75853 0,598189 0,067134
28 -4,96509 2,266806 0,360773 0,909679
29 -4,96509 -2,26681 0,360773 0,909679
30 -3,34845 0 0 1
31 -3,33371 0 0 1
32 -2,49801 0 0 1
33 -0,64071 1,506346 0,239742 0,391404
34 -0,64071 -1,50635 0,239742 0,391404
35 -1,82913 0 0 1
36 -1,79747 0 0 1
37 -1,6104 0 0 1
38 -1,47148 0 0 1
39 -1,38864 0 0 1
40 -0,26501 0,56138 0,089346 0,426898
41 -0,26501 -0,56138 0,089346 0,426898
42 -1,15941 0 0 1
43 -0,08906 0,419486 0,066763 0,207669
44 -0,08906 -0,41949 0,066763 0,207669
45 -0,60069 0 0 1
46 -0,07453 0,369051 0,058736 0,197946
47 -0,07453 -0,36905 0,058736 0,197946
48 -0,08919 0,367788 0,058535 0,235685
49 -0,08919 -0,36779 0,058535 0,235685
50 -0,06869 0 0 1
51 -0,05072 0,244402 0,038898 0,203181
52 -0,05072 -0,2444 0,038898 0,203181
53 -0,04769 0,231063 0,036775 0,202145
54 -0,04769 -0,23106 0,036775 0,202145
55 -0,19945 0 0 1
56 -0,2099 0 0 1
57 -0,06028 0,238305 0,037927 0,245226
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MATLAB codes
Interpolation of the time–domain signal
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