2146 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, VOL. 15, NO.

2, JUNE 2005

Superconductor Synchronous Condenser for Reactive

Power Support in an Electric Grid
Swarn S. Kalsi, David Madura, and Mike Ingram

Abstract—High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) SuperVAR

dynamic synchronous condensers (DSC) developed by American
Superconductor have a small foot print, are readily transportable,
and are expected to be an economic option for providing peak and
dynamic reactive compensation to a power system. HTS DSC ma-
chines are also inherently stable to close in faults and can pro-
vide up to twice their nominal rating for about one minute (peak
rating) during depressed voltage events. Last, but not least, HTS
DSC machines use less than half of the energy of a conventional
synchronous condenser and about the same amount of energy as
a modern Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) device con-
sumes. It is expected to be highly reliable. The first HTS DSC ma-
chine is being operated at an arc furnace where it is being tested
for its ability to mitigate flicker and provide dynamic power factor
compensation. This location also exposes the machine to a large Fig. 1. V-curves for conventional and SuperVAR machines.
number of transients providing an excellent accelerated age test
of the device. This paper describes features and test results of the
HTS DSC. though other VAR devices are available to boost the voltage,
during a voltage collapse situation their output varies in propor-
Index Terms—Capacitor, D-VAR, FACTS (Flexible AC Trans-
mission System), reactive power, reactors (inductors), STATCOM
tion to V or —thus making them less effective just when their
(Static Shunt Compensator), SuperVAR, SVC (Static VAR Com- functionality is most needed to boost voltage. On the other hand,
pensator), VAR (Volt-Ampere-reactive). DSC output is independent of system voltage and its output can
be increased up to 4 times its continuous rating in a second by
changing the field excitation with a fast exciter.
I. INTRODUCTION
A HTS DSC machine is an electric power equipment, based

R EACTIVE power does not provide useful energy at the

load (useful energy is supplied by the in-phase compo-
nent); however it is a common component of AC power grids
on an HTS rotating machine, which enhances system utiliza-
tion through dynamic reactive power compensation by injecting
leading or lagging VARs as needed at critical locations in a grid.
and their loads, which are usually inductive but at times can be Its overload capabilities and rapid response times for injecting
capacitive too. Over a given AC line, as power demand increases VARs during transients in a grid also makes it an important com-
the need for reactive power increases more rapidly [1], [2]. In ponent of an overall system reliability and grid stability scheme.
the last decade over 90% of the regional blackouts have been
caused by a voltage collapse of the transmission system due to II. SUPERVAR DYNAMIC CONDENSER FEATURES
insufficient local sources of reactive power especially dynamic
While conventional dynamic synchronous condensers based
(fast acting) sources of reactive power supply like generators,
on copper field coils have been used in the power grid, their rela-
Static VAR Compensators (SVCs), and Flexible AC Transmis-
tively low efficiency has limited their potential applications, and
sion System (FACTS) devices [3]. Insufficient dynamic reactive
their lifetime has been limited by insulation degradation caused
compensation was a contributor to the spread and cascading of
by field current heating during cyclic operation [4]. As shown
the North American Blackout of August 14, 2003. Thus when
in Fig. 1, the field current of a conventional machine must be
the reactive power demands are not met by local sources (local
increased by 3X between no-load and full-load and this causes
capacitance or generators), the voltage on the transmission line
significant field winding heating leading to premature failure. A
drops and the line current increases to maintain constant power.
new design based on high temperature superconductor (HTS)
Larger current causes even larger voltage drop leading to ex-
wire in the rotor field winding requires only a small change in
cessive conductor heating and excessive sag of conductors. Al-
field current between no-load and full-load and it always op-
erates at a constant temperature. Because of the dramatically
Manuscript received October 5, 2004. This work was supported in part by the reduced losses from the superconductor wire, the HTS DSC is
Tennessee Valley Authority.
S. S. Kalsi and D. Madura are with American Superconductor Corporation, estimated to be 98.8% efficient, typically 1% more efficient than
Westborough, MA 01581 USA (e-mail: skalsi@amsuper.com; dmadura@am- copper-based units, and it maintains this efficiency down to par-
super.com). tial loads of 25%. Due to high AC loss in a potential HTS stator
M. Ingram is with Tennessee Valley Authority, Chattanooga, TN, USA
(e-mail: mringram@tva.gov). winding, they are made from conventional copper. Thus, its net
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TASC.2005.849481 impact on system losses and operating costs is very favorable.
1051-8223/$20.00 © 2005 IEEE
KALSI et al.: SUPERCONDUCTOR DSC FOR REACTIVE POWER SUPPORT IN AN ELECTRIC GRID 2147

Fig. 2. Field current and MVAR output of DSC during a system voltage
depression.

The new DSC is expected to be a very economic option for

providing peak and dynamic reactive compensation to a power
system. It has a small foot print and is readily transportable in a
trailerized format, making it easily placed in distribution substa- Fig. 3. +0= 8 MVAR SuperVAR machine with key characteristics
highlighted.
tions. It will be inherently stable to transient faults, and can pro-
vide up to twice its nominal rating for about one minute (peak
TABLE I
rating) during depressed voltage events. Because the large tem- DSC SPECIFICATIONS
perature excursions characteristic of copper-field windings are
eliminated, and because large VAR output is possible with very
small variations in excitation current, the DSC machine is ex-
pected to be highly reliable. Fig. 2 shows the VAR contribution
of this machine during a voltage depression situation. In this
situation, the machine was supplying 1 pu MVARs (before the
voltage depression) to the system. During a fault, the system
voltage was depressed to a value below 1 pu. The Automatic
Voltage Regulator (AVR) on the machine increased its field cur-
rent to increase the MVAR’s output to 3 pu. The machine can
keep operating at this level till it reaches its thermal limit of
120 sec (per IEEE C50.13 standard). Once the system voltage
is restored, the MVAR’s output returns to its pre-fault value.
To test these attractive features of the HTS DSC, a first unit
built by AMSC is being demonstrated in the TVA grid at the
Hoeganaes arc furnace near Gallatin, TN [5]. At the site, the Fig. 4. DSC support systems.
testing is intended to show not only that the SuperVAR machine
is a new, preferred option for handling arc furnace flicker, but
order, the HTS dynamic synchronous condenser will be the first
also that the device will handle thousands of transmission tran-
commercialized HTS application for the grid.
sients in less than a year. Fig. 3 shows the as-delivered picture
of the 8 MVAR SuperVAR machine (trailerized) with key
III. FACTORY TEST RESULTS
components highlighted. Machine specifications are provided in
Table I. The DSC machine was factory tested according to IEEE
Fig. 4 shows the DSC support system consisting of the fol- 115 standard (for testing rotating machines) at Ideal Electric in
lowing subsystems: Mansfield, Ohio. The following measurements were made:
• Efficiency and Losses—Measure the losses and calculate
• Rotor
the efficiency of the machine. Measured efficiency was
• Stator lubrication and cooling system
98.8%.
• Refrigeration
• Temperature Tests—determine the temperature rises of
• Exciter, control and communication system
the machine and prove stable operation at rated voltage
• Auxiliary power system
and rated current of the stator
• Startup motor and controller
• Temperature and Machine Output Tests—prove 8 MVAR
TVA has ordered 5 production units, contingent on the suc- operation and determine the full-load temperature rise of
cessful testing of the first prototype. With this first commercial the machine
2148 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, VOL. 15, NO. 2, JUNE 2005

Fig. 5. DSC heat run—temperature rise of various stator components. Fig. 7. Open-circuit and short-circuit measurements on the DSC.

TABLE II
OPEN-CIRCUIT AND SHORT-CIRCUIT MEASUREMENTS ON DSC

Fig. 6. Temperature of end region of stator—all temperatures are well below

the allowable limits.

• Reactance Tests—measure the negative sequence reac-

tance and zero-sequence reactance
Heat runs of the machine are shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The ma-
chine was operated at rated load till all temperatures were stabi-
lized. All measured temperature rises were less than the allowed
limit (105 at a 25 ambient). Fig. 6 shows the temperature
of stator end region. These temperatures were well within the
allowable limits. The DSC was synchronized with the grid and
was successfully operated for 3 hours.
Fig. 7 shows open-circuit and short-circuit test measure-
ments. The machine did not exhibit any saturation effect over
the operating range (1.3 pu voltage). Parameters measured from
these tests are summarized in Table II. These parameters can be
utilized for simulation of this machine with commercial codes
such as PSS/E, EMTP and PSCAD.
At present, the DSC machine is being commissioned at Hoe-
ganaes and is expected to be operating on the grid by the end of
September 2004.
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS
In order to assess usefulness of this HTS DSC machine, a
number of simulation runs were made for real grid applications.
The following cases describe problems and show how DSC ma-
chines solve them.
Fig. 8. A simulation of a utility system power quality problem corrected with
a DSC.
A. Power Quality Problem—Motor Starting
A utility system shown in Fig. 8 has a power quality problem
caused by motor starting. Whenever, a large motor starts, it
causes objectionable voltage drops. This problem can be reme-
died by installing an 8 MVAR SuperVAR DSC which increases
local MVAR capability to mitigate large motor starting voltage
sags and other transient voltage problems. The automatic re-
sponse of the DSC means that no programming or settings are
required to address dynamic problems. Fig. 9 shows bus voltage
with and without the DSC. This Fig. shows that all objection-
able voltage drops have been mitigated by an 8 MVAR DSC.
The lowest plot in the Fig. 9 also shows MVARS supplied by
the DSC during motor starting events.
KALSI et al.: SUPERCONDUCTOR DSC FOR REACTIVE POWER SUPPORT IN AN ELECTRIC GRID
Fig. 9. A simulation of power quality problem fixed by DSC—shows voltage
variation with and without DSC and MVARS contributed by DSC.
Fig. 10. Voltage collapse problem mitigation with 3 DSC units.
B. Steady-State Voltage Regulation
Another utility has a voltage regulation problem due to lack
of local dynamic reactive power support. The utility’s customers
were experiencing voltage variations of 15% during a day due
to daily load variations. This problem can be fixed by installing a
single 8 MVAR unit near the biggest load—this reduces voltage
variations to 5%. Additional DSC machines or even shunt ca-
pacitor banks controlled by the DSC can be installed at strategic
locations to solve this problem as the system and loads grow.
C. Generator RMR
In a typical Reliability Must Run (RMR) situation, a gener-
ator is required to run to provide VAR or voltage support even
though it is not economical to operate. Normally older genera-
tors are used for such applications but they have low efficiency
and high operating cost. Addition of one or more HTS DSC de-
vices could eliminate the need to run uneconomic generators.
The HTS DSC machine replaces both steady-state and dynamic
voltage support provided by RMR generators.
2149
D. Voltage Collapse Situation
A utility in the eastern portion of the US has a voltage
collapse problem that is limiting power transfer capability. This
problem can be corrected by installing a system consisting
of three 8 MVAR HTS DSC units and three shunt switched
capacitor banks (under the DSC control) at suitable locations.
Fig. 10 shows grid voltage with and without DSC installation.
Installation of HTS DSC units could solve this voltage collapse
problem.
In short, HTS DSCs have applications for a wide variety of
grid related problems such as power quality, steady state voltage
regulation, elimination of RMR generation and voltage collapse.
V. CONCLUSIONS
An HTS DSC machine (SuperVAR) has been built and
demonstrated in factory testing and has experienced limited
grid operation. This machine has very attractive attributes such
as;
• Superior steady-state and transient stability
— Full rating available, leading and lagging
— Overloads permissible up to stator thermal limits
— Favorable dynamic response
• Low operating and installation costs
— High efficiency, even under partial load
— Prepackaged unit
• No thermal cycling issues related to the field winding
The HTS DSC has the potential of solving a variety of utility
problems without the operational and performance limitations
of conventional machines. This machine will be able to provide
outstanding value to transmission system operators beginning
in 2005.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of
TVA, Ideal Electric, and AMSC teams to make this product a
success.
REFERENCES
[1] D. Bradshaw, “Super reactive power for the power system through Su-
perVAR high temperature superconductor dynamic synchronous con-
densers,” presented at the IEEE Power Engineering Society Meeting,
Denver, CO, Jun. 2004.
[2] S. S. Kalsi et al., “Superconducting dynamic synchronous condenser
for improved grid voltage support,” presented at the IEEE T&D Conf.,
Dallas, TX, Aug. 2003.
[3] U.S. Canadian Power System Outage Task Force, “Interim re-
port-Causes of the November 14 blackout in the United States and
Canada,”, Nov. 2003.
[4] S. S. Kalsi, K. Weeber, H. Takesue, C. Lewis, H.-W. Neumueller, and
R. D. Blaugher, “Development status of rotating machines employing
superconducting field windings,” Proc. IEEE, no. 10, pp. 1688–1704,
Oct. 2004.
[5] M. Ingram, “Customer side of the value of SuperVAR,” EPRI Power
Delivery Applications for Superconductivity Task Force, Aug. 10–11,
2004.