1
Application of Unified Power Flow Controller
(UPFC) in Jiangsu Power System
Hui Cai1, Lin Yang2, Haiqian Wang1, Pengcheng Song3, Zheng Xu3
1. State Grid Jiangsu Economic Research Institute, Nanjing, P.R. China
2. State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power Company, Nanjing, P.R. China
3. Department of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Abstract-- This paper presents applications of one operating
220 kV and the other constructing 500kV Unified Power Flow
Controller (UPFC) projects in Jiangsu power system. The
operating UPFC project in Nanjing Western Power Grid (NWPG)
will be firstly introduced. Necessity and feasibility to utilise UPFC
will be discussed. Capacity requirement and topology
optimization of UPFC will be analyzed. Detailed parameters of
the UPFC project will also be presented. After the description of
real worked UPFC project, necessity and feasibility of the
constructing 500kV UPFC project in Suzhou Southern Power
Grid (SSPG) will be briefly talked. Huge economic and social
benefits are obtained with the applications of UPFC.
Index Terms--Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC), Jiangsu
Power System, necessity and feasibility, project overview.
I. INTRODUCTION
Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) is commonly
seemed to be the latest generation of Flexible Alternating
Current Transmission System (FACTS), synthesized
controlling the voltage, and transferred active and reactive
power in the connected line [1-2]. Compared with the previous
generation of FACTS, such as static var compensator (SVC),
static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) etc, UPFC has
the more flexible control ability. Because of the neck-bottle in
technology and cost for power electronics, till now only 3 sets
have been put into service [3-5]. One is in Inez district, USA,
with the capacity of 320MVA in 138kV voltage level; another
is in Marcy, USA, with 200MVA in 345kV; the last is in
Kangjin, South Korea, with 80MVA in 154kV.
UPFC is helpful to balance the system power flow, improve
the grid transient margin, raise the heat stability limit and
supply dynamic reactive power etc. For large-scale, UHV-AC
and DC mixed Jiangsu grid, the system operation is complex
and exotic power establishes a strong presence in the
electricity structure. While it is huge-investment and difficult-
construction for the new transmission channels, the utilization
of UPFC as the supplement for the conventional system
control methods is very necessary and urgent [6-7].
Nanjing West Power Grid (NWPG) UPFC demonstration
project was put into operation at the end of 2015. The project
is not only first domestic UPFC project, but also the world's
first Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) technology
project. The design and construction of the project combine
the urban and power grid planning of Nanjing and pay
attention to scientific and practical convergence. The project
plays a significant demonstration effect of technological and
socio-economic benefits after putting into operation [8-11].
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After implementation on 220kV UPFC, preliminary
research on 500kV UPFC was conducted. After thoroughly
combing the requirements and effects of sites after UPFC
installing, such as pivot points (UHV-AC/DC station),
important sections (river-crossing channels) and important
load centers, 500kV UPFC was finally recommended to be
installed in Suzhou Southern Power Grid (SSPG).
Construction of 500kV UPFC in SSPG was approved by State
Grid in March 2016, and is planned to be put into operation at
the end of 2017. 500kV UPFC project in SSPG will be with
the highest voltage level and maximum capacity all over the
world. After putting into operation, the project can play an
important role in flow control, transmission ability
improvement, dynamic reactive power compensation and
safety enhancement of the UHV-AC and DC mixed system and
so on. The project will act as the key role to promote the
landing of Global Energy Internet in Jiangsu province and
improve the ability of one provincial power grid to support the
future system mixed with UHV-AC and DC [12-15].
In this paper the operating UPFC project in NWPG is firstly
presented in the following. Its necessity and feasibility are
detailed described in Section II. Capacity requirement and
topology optimization for this project are analyzed in Section
III. Also the necessity and feasibility of 500kV UPFC project
are talked in the next section. Finally the conclusions can be
obtained that, with the applications of two UPFC projects in
Jiangsu Power System, huge economic and social benefits are
gained, and ability to support future system mixed with UHV-
AC and DC is strengthened.
II. 220KV UPFC PROJECT OF NANJING WESTERN POWER GRID
A. Overview of Nanjing Western Power Grid (NWPG)
NWPG is mainly composed by the region southwestward
from 220kV Jingang Substation to Dashengguan Substation.
The region also includes Huarun and Huaneng Power Plants,
which total capacity is 1300MW.
While existing power plants are concentrated near 500 kV
Longwangshan Substation, transmission flows in NWPG is
unbalanced, Power flow in direction of 500kV Longwangshan
Substation is heavier, and power flow in direction of 500kV
Dongshanqiao Substation is lighter, shown in Figure 1. Due to
the power flow unbalance of NWPG, power flow through
220kV Xiaozhuang-Zhongyang / Xiaozhuang-Xiaguan (XZ-
XX) Interface is too heavier to satisfy N-1 verification,which
affects the reliability.
 2

Xidu
220 kV Bus

500 kV Bus Longwangshan

Jinggang Dongyang

Xiaozhuang

Xiaguan
800 MW
Matou
Zhongyang

Mochou

Binnan
Shuangzha

Qinhuai 680 MW
Dasheng

Dongshanqiao
Figure 1 Flow distribution of NWPG in 2015
B. Necessity and feasibility of UPFC in NWPG
1. Necessity of UPFC in NWPG
With the accomplished construction of 500kV Qinhuai
Substation in 2016, south-transmitting power flow from XZ-
XX Interface is significantly reduced approximately from
800MW to 600 MW, which cannot exceed N-1 verification. At
the end of 13th Five-Year Plan, Huaneng Power Plant will be
closed and one transformer in 500kV Qiuteng Substation will
be extended for power river-across transmitting. Power flow
from XZ-XX Interface will be continuously reduced, shown in
Figure 2. At this point, the main problem of NWPG will be
changed to that, power flow in 220kV double-circuit lines
from Lvboyuan to Matou is about 710MW which is too heavy
to satisfy N-1 verification. Meanwhile XZ-XX sectional south-
transmitting power is less than 200MW, even smaller than half
of its designed transmission capacity.
In a word, main problems of NWPG in short and long terms
are different. In short term before Huaneng Power Plant
closed, XZ-XX sectional south-transimitting power is too
heavy to satisfy N-1 verification. In long term when Huaneng
Power Plant out of operation, XZ-XX sectional south-
transimitting power is not able to make full use of designed
transmission capacity, which will lead to a heavy power flow
in Lvboyuan to Matou Channel and cannot satisfy N-1
verification.
Using the conventional planning schemes cannot solve
previously mentioned problems. Building new transmission
channels or expanding transfer abilities of old lines is not
practical in short term. In long term, it would be possible but
has defects of high cost and difficulty for implementations.
Adjusting the partitioned structure has security problems both
in short- and long-term.
Figure 2 Flow distribution of NWPG in 2020
Compared with other FACTS devices, UPFC can perfectly
solve the problem of NWPG in short and long terms:
In short term, UPFC can control XZ-XX sectional south-
transimitting power to meet N-1 verification and improve the
stability of the network. With UPFC power supply ability of
NWPG can be raised from 2500MW to 3500MW, with an
increase about 1000MW to meet the requirement of load
development.
In long term, UPFC can improve XZ-XX sectional south-
transimitting power from 200MW to 450MW which will
further optimize the power flow distribution from Qinhuai,
Qiuteng Substations. Consequently, with UPFC power supply
ability of NWPG can be increased from 3100MW to 3600MW
which will meet the requirement of future load development.
2. Feasibility of UPFC in NWPG
It is found that Tiebei 220kV Switch Station has enough
space to install the UPFC device after site investigation.
NWPG UPFC project is decided to adopt the following
scheme to realize the target for its power flow control, as
shown in Figure 3. In order to avoid affecting the control
effect of UPFC, original 220kV Xiaozhuang-Tiebei double
lines are disconnected when operating.
Figure 3 NWPG UPFC project access scheme

Under the recommended system scheme, 220kV Xiaozhuang

Substation only connects two incoming lines from Huaneng
Power Plant and Tiebei Switch Station. UPFC project can

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adjust the power flow in the connecting Xiaozhuang-Tiebei TABLE II

PARAMETERS OF THE MMCS
double lines according to the target of power flow in XZ-XX
sectional south-transmitting power, while output in Huaneng
Parameters of MMCi (i=1,2,3) Value
Power Plant and load of the Xiaozhuang Substation neither
Rated capacity 60 MVA
have great mutation frequently, nor alter sensitively
corresponding to power flow regulation by UPFC. Nominal dc voltage ±20 kV
Consequently, UPFC can rapidly regulate power flow of XZ- Nominal convert-side ac voltage 20.8 kV
XX sectional south-transmitting power to the target value by Rated ac current 1665 A
converting to control power flow in Xiaozhuang-Tiebei double Rated dc current 1000 A
lines.
TABLE III
RATINGS OF THE IGBTS
III. CAPACITY REQUIREMENT AND TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION

A. Capacity requirement of UPFC Ratings of IGBT Value

In order to ensure the adaptability of the UPFC project,
capacity of UPFC in series and shunt converters should be
determined according to the requirements to meet the targets
for power flow control in different scenes in short and long
terms. Capacity of UPFC in series converter is determined
according to the maximum voltage which UPFC needs to
output and largest current flowing through in all operation
modes. As for its capacity in shunt converter, it is determined
by the required maximum exchange active power during power
flow controlling through series converter and reactive power
compensation needed by the system.
When determining the capacity of UPFC in series converter,
all possible types of operation modes during Year 2015~2025
are considered. After calculation and analysis, it is found that
when UPFC operates under normal operation, the maximum
current flowed through the primary side of series converter is
no more than 1.3kA. Maximum required capability of UPFC
series converter under all possible operation modes are shown
in the Table I.
As seen in the Table I, to meet the power flow control
requirements in different operation modes during Year 2016-
2025, the capability of UPFC series converter should be set to
approximately 60MVA with the largest output voltage 26.5kV
ˈ and the related convert capability is about 70MVA. Detailed
parameters of the MMCs and the chosen IGBTs are shown in
Table II and III.
Collector-emitter voltage 3300 V
DC collector current 1500 A
Gate-emitter voltage f20 V
Peak forward current 3000 A
Isolation voltage 6000 V
B. Topology optimization of UPFC
After analysis, in both short and long terms, NWPG has a
pent-up demand on reactive power compensation. Main
function of UPFC parallel side is to compensate active power
exchanged through series side and connected line. While
controlling active power flow is the key requirement in
NWPG, interchange active power between series-side
converter and connected circuit is relatively small which is less
than 40MW during power-flow control period. Therefore,
when optimizing UPFC topology, it is considered that two
series-side converters could share a parallel-side converter, in
order to reduce the cost and volume. Meanwhile, considering
small demand for reactive power compensation in NWPG,
parallel-side converter transformer will access to the adjacent
35kV Bus of Yanziji 220kV Substation, to save the
investment. Optimized topology of UPFC is shown in Figure
4.
To meet the demand for series-side power interchange,
capacity for parallel-side converter takes about 40MVA.
However, in order to improve the reliability of UPFC, same
capacities of parallel-side converter and series-side converter

TABLE I
CAPABILITY OF UPFC SERIES CONVERTER IN DIFFERENT OPERATION MODES

Rated Capacity
Required by Series
Years Operation Mode Critical Factors of UPFC Capacity Selection
Converter
˄ MVA ˅
End of 2015
ˈ
Qinhuai outage Huaneng
After XZ-XX sectional south-transmitting lines
operating in N-1 mode, to control another line 59
power plant is in service
without overload
ˈ
Qinhuai is running Huaneng Ascending power flow normally and making
power plant is outage, 220kV Lveboyan-Matou double lines to meet
During
Qiuteng southern transformer N-1 verification; After 220kV Tiebei- 58
2021-2025
and related outgoing project Xiaozhuang double lines operating in N-1
is running mode, to control another line without overload
Note: Qinhuai in table refers to the 500kV Qinhai Substation, Qiuteng refers to the 500kV Qiuteng Substation

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are set, which are all 60MVA. When one series-side converter
breaks down, the parallel side converter could be changed into
the series side, UPFC can run with double-circuit lines in
SSSC mode, still having the closely power control ability
compared with under normal mode.
Figure 4 Optimized topology of UPFC in NWPG
After the analysis, in the specified operation mode, there
exists some problems in SSPG, such as reduced power
receiving capability, inadequate dynamic reactive power
supporting ability, high risk of HVDC commutation failure,
more power lost after DC System under two poles locking.
In order to solve these problems, conventional planning
methods and UPFC installing are proposed. Results of
technical and economic comparisons are shown in Table IV.
From Table IV, UPFC implementation in Mudu Substation is
the best solution in both technical and economic aspects.
Structure of constructing 500kV UPFC contains two series
side converters and a parallel side converter. Series side
converters are connected in series with Meili-Mudu double-
circuit lines while the parallel side converter connected to Bus
Mudu, as shown in Figure 6.
According to requirements for power control in short- and
long-terms, capacities of two series side and one parallel side
converters are all 250MVA to improve the reliability of UPFC.
TABLE IV
TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC COMPARISON TABLE

IV. 500KV UPFC PROJECT IN SUZHOU SOUTHERN POWER

Scheme of adding Scheme of
GRID (SSPG)
Objective new transmission UPFC application
Suzhou Southern Power Grid (SSPG) includes Suzhou lines in Mudu
urban area and the Wujiang area. In 2015, the biggest load in Promoting
Increasing 3 million Increasing 1.2
this region was 10.27 million kW. It is expected that load in transmission
kW million kW
this region will grow steadily during the 13th Five-year plan. capacity
The largest load will respectively achieve 13 million kW by Preventing short- Short-circuit current
No increment in
2018 and 15 million kW in the future. Electrical supply in circuit current which rises 1.1 kA
Short-circuit
SSPG mainly comes from Jinsu DC transmission system. Also exceeding in Shipai exceeds
current
it is powered by three 500 kV transmission channels which are specified limits specified limits
Meili-Mudu, HuanengSuzhou-Shipai-Chefang, and Shipai- Reducing nearly
Yushan-Chefang lines, as shown in Figure 5. Reducing the risk No reducing the risk 50% possibility of
of HVDC of HVDC HVDC
commutation commutation failure commutation
failure in Jinsu DC system failure in Jinsu DC
system
Tremendous
Spare spce in
Feasibility of difficulties in
Mudu Substation
project construction through
suitable for the site
implementation developed
of UPFC installing
economical areas
About 1500 million About 940 million
Investment
yuan yuan

Figure 5 Geographical diagram of SSPG

After deducting the network losses, output power from

Jinsu converter stations is about 6.7 million kW. Sending end
of Jinsu DC transmission system is mainly powered by hydro.
While hydropower is a strong seasonal energy, Jinsu DC
transmission system supplies sufficient power in summer, but
its power supply falls to only 10-20% of its rated transmission
capacity during dry season in winter. This makes the scale of
received power and distribution of power flow altering greatly
and seasonally.
Figure 6 Topology diagram of 500kV UPFC

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V. CONCLUSIONS
Applications of UPFC in Jiangsu Province have changed
power flow from natural distribution into flexible and
adjustable. Capacity, safety and adaptability of power grid are
significantly improved. It has significant safety, economic and
social benefits.
(a) Security Benefits: Since UPFC in NWPG was put into
operation, power supply ability of NWPG has increased by
500-1000MW at different stages from Year 2016-2025. It
solved the problems that critical lines cannot meet N-1
verification, leading to huge load loss in the central city of
Nanjing after serious accidents. With UPFC each transmission
channel of NWPG will be controlled in the equilibrium state,
and the safety margin of the grid will be enhanced.
500kV UPFC project in SSPG will improve the security and
stability of the grid to accept more electricity from ultra-high
voltage DC and AC system. After DC bipolar block occurred,
UPFC can reduce about 1.2 million kW load loss. With the
support from dynamic reactive power from UPFC, post-fault
recovery voltage in the grid increase 3kV, and reduce the risk
of commutation failures in Jinsu DC system induced by AC
system disturbances.
(b) Economic and Social Benefits: The investment of UPFC
in NWPG is about 210 million yuan. Compared with the
conventional projects, UPFC project can save investment
about 1630 million yuan. With this project, it not only avoids
two huge investments in the construction of long cable
transmission channels, but also avoids the disturbances to
urban traffic and inhabitants' routine life during the
construction of the cable channels.
The investment of UPFC in SSPG is about 940 million yuan.
Compared with the conventional projects, it is not only save a
investment bout 560 million yuan, but also save valuable
social resources and channel resources.
Applications of UPFC in Jiangsu power system play an
exemplary role to solve the problems in power grids not by
expansion constructions, but by using intelligent power
transmission technology. It will effectively promote the
construction and development of strong and smart
transmission system in China.
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