3930

IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems, Vol. PAS-100, No. 8 August 1981

IMPROVEMENT OF TRANSMISSION CAPACITY BY THYRISTOR CONTROLLED REACTIVE POWER

A

01wegard

K Wal ve

G Waglund

H Frank

S Torseng

Swedish State Power Board Sweden

A S E A AB Sweden

Abstract This paper shows that thyristor controlled reactive power can be used as an efficient tool to improve damping of large power systems. If thyristor switched capacitors are used there will also be positive contribution to transient stability. Examples of power systems where damping is the critical factor have been investigated. The use of supplementary control of generators and control of reactive power has been studied. Basic configurations of thyristor switched capacitors and thyristor controlled reactors are presented.
INTRODUCTION

when large system on a lines were parts of the

measures

are

taken. This was experienced in March 80 oscillations appeared in the Nordel power special occasion when some important trunk out of service and the transfers in some system were high.

tmthermal limit
transient stability limit
_r _

damping limit
m_

v_

s ! -i

Damping of power oscillations is a basic factor when determining the transfer capacity of a power Primarily, the system must have positive system. damping under normal operation. Furthermore, the damping must also be sufficient to bring the power system back to stable operation after network faults.
In many cases damping is not critical. Thermal limits or transient stability might be dimensioning. This paper, however, will concentrate on damping and how it can be improved. Examples of networks will be shown where damping is critical. The interconnected Nordel system consi'sts of the national systems of Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark with an installed capacity of 60,000 MVA. The common Nordel planning criteria demands that the network should withstand certain types of faults (single pole line faults, busbar faults, generator tripping etc.) without loss of stability or load shedding. That means that both damping and transient stability must be sufficient.

Fig. 1. Transfer capacity limit.

When damping is the critical factor the power transfer limit is determined as illustrated in Fig. 1. The question then arises:Which measures can be taken to improve the damping of the system? The concept of this paper is as follows:

In some stages of the expanding Nordel power system damping has been a critical factor. In the 60's the tie-lines were often comparatively weak and the damping was bad. Even a small disturbance could create undamped oscillations. Now the ties have become much stronger. Still damping appears to be critical in the near future as large units are installed in many regions without corresponding expansion of the network. After severe network faults the damping between distant regions of the system will be insufficient if no special

Damping can often be improved by control methods, without erecting new lines,
-

Such methods could be supplementary control signals in the excitation system of generators. Such technique is already used in the Nordel system,

The thyristor technique enables large capacitor banks and reactors to be controlled. They can be used as an efficient tool to improve damping of the power system. Even some positive contribution to transient stability can be achieved.
BASIC CONCEPTS OF THYRISTOR CONTROLLED REACTIVE POWER DEVICES

81 WM 092-6 A paper repommended and approved by the IEEE Power System Engineering Comittee of the IEEE Power Engineering Society for presentation at the IEEE PES Winter Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, February 1-6, 1981. Manuscript submitted September 2, 1980; made available for prihting November 14, 1980.

power
-

The basic concepts of thyristor controlled ractive devices are:

thyristor-switched shunt capacitors (TSC) thyristor controlled shunt reactors (TCR) thyristor-switched series capacitors

1981 IEEE

Thyristor-switched shunt capacitors

The basic idea of thyristor-switched shunt capacitors is to split up a capacitor bank into sufficiently small capacitor steps and switch these steps on and off individually, using anti-paral'lel-connected thyri stors as switching elements. Fig. 2 shows the basic scheme.
The TSC are characterized by:
-

3931

Stepwise control
Average one half-cycle (max one-cycle) delay for executing a conmand from the regulator; as seen for a single phase.

Practically no transients
No generation of harmonics

Fig. 3. Thyristor-controlled shunt reactor type.

The TCR are characterized by:

-

Continuous control
Maximum one half-cycle delay for executing a command from the regulator; as seen for a single phase.

Arrangements
For many applications, a thyristor controlled shunt reactive power device built up with a few large steps of thyristor-switched capacitors and one or two thyristor-controlled reactors seems attractive, Fig. 4. It combines favourable properties of the two thyristor schemes discussed above. It provides continuously variable reactive output from full lagging to full leading current. It has a high response and reduced harmonic

L4j

generation.

Fig. 2. Thyristor-switched shunt capacitor type.

Thyristor-controlled shunt reactors

The basic idea of thyristor-controlled shunt reactor is to control the fundmental-frequency current component through the reactor by delaying the closing of the thyristor switch with respect to the natural zero passages of the current. Fig. 3 shows the basic scheme. Harmonic currents are generated from the phaseangle controlled reactor. The magnitude of the harmonics generated can be reduced by two methods. In one method the reactor is split into small reactor steps while' only one reactor step is phase-angle controlled. The other reactor steps are either on or off. In this way the amplitude of every harmonic is reduced.
The other method is the so-called twelve-pulse arrangement where two identical connected thyristorcontrolled reactors are used, one operated from a wye connected secondary winding, the other from a delta connected winding of a step-up transformer.

i11

[AVR

Fig. 4. Combined TSC/TCR type.

3932

Thyristor-switched series capacitors

The basic idea of a thyristor-switched series capacitor is to switch on or off the capacitors by using anti-parallel connected thyristors as switching elements in parallel with the capacitors. Normally the series capacitors are split up into two or more steps for a shunt capacitor. Fig. 5 shows as is the case the basic scheme.

Step 3. The capacitor/reactor should be controlled in such a manner that it always introduces damping power on the oscillating machines. This requires an appropriate control signal from the oscillation that is to be damped out. In most cases, line power transfers or bus voltages may be used.

The switching on of a series capacitor is accomplished by suppression of the firing pulses to the antiparallell thyristors so that the thyristors will block as soon as the current becomes zero. In principle, the capacitor will now be charqed to the double peak voltage. The switching off instant of the capacitor is selected at the time when the capacitor voltage is zero.

Improvement of damping may be expressed by MW/Mvar which should be interpreted as the extra power transfer that could be accepted until the limit of damping is reached. Of course, the figures, MW/Mvar, may vary depending on whether a cornplete network or disturbed network with lines etc. out of service is considered.
Control method of TSC/TCR
How should the TSC/TCR be controlled to achieve the result as explained above? At first an appropriate control signal must be used that describes the behaviour of the system. The control method must be able to analyse the signal and order switchings at the right moments of oscillation. A method is described below.

The principal idea is illustrated by a few figures. Consider a very simple two machine network with interconnection, Fig. 6. A controllable capacitor bank, TSC, is installed at bus B. It is presumed to be controlled in 3 steps. Control signal is transfer power
Fig. 5. Thyristor-switched series capacitor type.

pL

GENA A

Gj

D GEN E
P pL

The thyristor controlled reactive power device has not ruled out the synchronous condenser, but it is already a severe competitor, in terms of benefits in cost, performance and reliability.
IF

ROTOR ANGLE

TA-VE

IMPROVEMENT OF DAMPING BY THYRISTOR CONTROLLED

CAPACITORS/REACTORS

Small damping power

In a large interconnected power system, e.g. 50,000 MVA installed, osci11ations after disturbances may be in the order 1,000 MW peak to peak. The damping power contributions from generator damper windings, governors and voltage control are much smaller. In total, sufficient damping power may be in the order of

50-100 MW peak to peak. Thus, compared with total capacity of the network only small amounts of damping power must be created.
How damping is achieved by TSC/TCR

Coupling of reactive elements will influence the voltage and thus the generators of the system. In principle damping contributions are achieved by TSC/TCR as follows.
Step 1. Switching of a capacitor/reactor will instantaneously affect the voltage of the system.
Step 2. The electrical outputs of the generators then immediately changed in two ways, either directly as the voltage of transfer network is changed (compare expression P = E E2 sin P/X in a two generator network), or seconaarily because the loads are affected by the voltage change. In the latter case the generator electrical output will be most affected for machines which are close to the varying loads.
are

Fig. 6. Principles of control method.

Mode 1. Normally, when only small oscillations only switched according to the voltage VB i.e. it serves as a slow reactive back-up.
occur the capacitor bank is

Mode 2. When a power swing starts i.e. the derivative dP/dt is positive and beyond a certain value D2 the capacitor is connec"ted by a step every 0.04 seconds.

3933

Mode 3. During the following oscillations one or several capacitor steps are disconnected after P maximum is reached and reconnected after P minimum. To make sure that the extreme value has been passed, a condition, IdP/dtl > D3 may be used. The number of steps that will be reconnected will depend on the magnitude of the oscillation i.e. the latest peak to peak value. By this coupling sequence damping is improved.
Mode 4. In order to avoid unjustified operation of the TSC at disturbances of the input signal, special filtering has to be made. For example, too large derivatives, IdP/dtl > D1, may be neglected. By the described method damping can be improved (mode 2 and 3). Transient stability will also be slightly improved if capacitors are used.

The control of a reactor, TCR, will be similar in so far as connection of a reactor is equivalent to disconnection of a capacitor.

Controlled series capacitors

The basic idea of the control method is in many ways the same as that of shunt capacitors. In order to increase the transient stability, the full bank should be connected during the first power swing of P. During the oscillations switchings should be made alter extreme values of the line power. That means, that the control method may be described as a continuous

Fig. 7. Simplified reactance diagram of the case 1 network (earlier stage of the Nordel network).

bangbang method.

NETWORK EXAMPLES
Two types of networks are presented where thyriscapacitors/reactors may be used to improve transmission capacity. The networks are chosen from the development of the Swedish and the Nordel network, although the studies have been rather conceptual and not limited by actual plans.
tor controlled
a.

c.

The case 1 network is a typical interconnected power system with weak ties compared with the power installed. The case 2 network is a meshed and a long distance transfer network. The calculations have been performed by a transient stability computer program. The control method which in practice is handled by a online mini computer has been represented by a certain subroutine in the program.
1. Interconnected power system with weak tie-lines

b.

The Nordel system in late 1960's had comparatively weak ties. The central Swedish system was on the other hand relatively well meshed. The qualities of the total system are illustrated by a simplified reactance diagram of the network, Fig. 7. In this system the transient stability and damping of the tie-lines in southern Norway-Sweden and Zealand-Sweden were limited. The tie-line to southern Norway is a 400 kV line. In the studied case the damping is very weak. Steady state limit of the undisturbed network is about 300400 MW. If a load of 140 MW is disconnected in Norway undamped oscillations start as shown in Fig. 8 at power transfers of about 300-400 MW. Oscillation frequency is about 0.35 Hz.

Fig. 8. Oscillations after 140 MW load tripping in Norway a) tieline power b) voltage at tieline end c) rotor angle of a generator in Norway relative to northern Sweden.

to severe transient faults is also improved, but to less extent or about 0.3 MW/Mvar.

If a 300 Mvar TSC in 10 steps is installed in Norway close to the tie-line, the damping can be improved considerably as shown in fig. 9. About 300 MW extra power can be transferred i.e. the improvement is about 1 MW/Mvar. Transient stability limit with respect

To illustrate the importance of finding the optimal location of the TSC sqme special calculations have been made on a simplified network. A capacitor step of 20 Mvar has been switched at various locations along the tie-line or in the meshed networks. The increase of the electrical output from the generator groups is shown in Fig. 10. If the inertia of the groups is considered, the relative acceleration of the Norwegian against the Swedish machine groups may be calculated as in Fig. 11. It shows, for example, that TSC/TCR installed at D are about 2-3 times as efficient as installed at F.

3934

Switching of a capacitor step will influence the generator outputs in mainly two ways as was told earlier, either directly by affecting the transfer power or indirectly by changing the loads. Calculations on the simplified network show that almost 50 % of the effect on the oscillating generators may be derived from the voltage dependence of loads.
0'

Relative acceleration Norway-Sweden High transfer Sweden to Norway

MW
600

/HIgh transfer
/
Norway

a.
400
kV
b.
5 10 15

S
0 0

*00
3060

S
*o

15

AB

GH

c.
20
..

Mor

Fig. 11
15
S

10

d..

300

Relative instantaneous acceleration of Norwegian generators versus Swedish, if a 20 Mvar capacitor is connected to bus A, B etc.

IJ-

1O

1S

Fig. 9. Oscillations after 140 MW load tripping in Norway with TSC (300 Mvar) in Norway close to tieline b) voltage at tieline end a) tieline power c) rotor angle of a generator in Norway relative to northern Sweden d) reactive power

2. Network with distant transfers

A future Swedish network was studied that is presumed to be disconnected from the rest of the neighbouring countries. As this is normally not the case, the assumption is somewhat academic. Furthermore, some extra power generation is presumed in the north that is not actually planned.

Norway
C

Tieline
D
E
400kV

Sweden G
F

275kV

In Fig. 12 a network scheme and a simplified reactance diagram are shown. The transfer capability from north (A) to the central part of the system (E+F) have been studied. In case of a network fault in the D region the main oscillations will take place between A and D+E. Studies show that in case of minor transient faults, such as single pole line faults, damping will be the critical factor if it is not improved by any means. Fig. 13 shows the behaviour of the network.

MW

A large amount of power system stabilizers (PSS) will be very useful to improve the damping. They should preferably be installed in A.
Total

Norway

/1
,+'

RJ#
Sweden
~~~~~0

the best. But if supplementary control of the voltage regulators is presumed as the basic mean to improve damping, the TSC is estimated to improve damping furthermore by some 1-2 MW/Mvar. The increase of transient stability is estimated to be about 0.20.4 MW/Mvar.
The location of the TSC should be made somewhere between A and D+E. Preferably, they should be located closer to A. In order to be beneficial to transient stability, location in a weak section of the network is recommended. Location at B or C would be advantageous.
In Fig. 14 calculations are shown in case 'a combination of TSC and TCR is used and located in region C. The bus voltage is used as a control signal because it shows the oscillation between the main parts of the system. The power PL of a single line contains,oscillations of local machines and is unsuitable.

responding to higher power transfers of 3-4 MW/Mvar at

With TSC damping will be improved considerably cor-

A AB

G' H

Fig. 10. Instantaneous change of generator output when a 20 Mvar capacitor is connected to bus A, B
etc.

3935

a.
<

1
U kV

6 7 3 4 s 2 t~~~~~~~~~~~~

b.

o-.
iMW ~~~~~~~~~P

C.~~~~~~~~~~~-

Fig. 12. Simplified reactance diagram of the case 2 network (future Sweden without ties).

0 Mvar

1N
a.
0

100

|D
A

d.

~~~~~~~~D
E

35 6 U 1S I ~~~~1

8S

/>t\2zs

\ 1/

Fig. 14. Oscillations after line fault in region D with TSC + TCR in region C (300 Mvar + 300 3 Mvar) 49 6 >S
a) rotor angle b) voltage in region A (dotted) and C c) line transfers d) reactive power

U kV

b.

Pd SMW

r\ '

C,A A-B

< ,~\ 1

c.
D--E
I

F+E have been assumed to have 1/3 of the banks controllable. The results show a considerable effect on damping. Still it has been difficult to find a good control method. If the capacitors are controlled by the local line power the various lines and capacitors will disturb each other. A common control signal would avoid that problem and the improvement of damping would be as good as that from shunt capacitors expressed in MW/Mvar. However, the transmission of such a control signal to the banks is an unrealistic solution. More practical would be to control a few major lines, 3 out of 7, which would have large controllable stand-by capacitors.

< / \ Controllable series capacitors have also been studied. The capacitors on all major lines from D to

\ / !'

toltagevarlatlon. Iv\

|Fittous power

caJculated from

1__-

The transient stability can be improved much more efficiently by series capacitors than by shunt ca\so / \ 0pacitors provided they are in stand-by operation. The switchable series capacitors need only to be dimensioned for full load during periods of a few minutes.

10 -S

Choice of location, capacity and control of TSC/TCR

Fig. 13. Oscillations after line fault in region D without PSS or TSC/TCR b) voltage in region C a) rotor angles
c) line transfers.
determined by dynamic stability calculations, but some general conclusions can be made from the studies refer-

The

location

of TSC/TCR in a network is normally

red to in this paper.

3936

In networks with weak tie-lines the optimal location is close to the tie-line preferably within the smallest of the two interconnected systems.

In a meshed network with a group of poorly damped machines connected to long transmission lines the best location of TSC/TCR is in the transmission section but close to the group of oscillating machines. It is advisable to divide the TSC/TCR-units into two groups connected to separate busbars. If there is a load area close to the location of TSC/TCR the control will be even more efficient. system where the busvoltage di sturbances.

Power system stabilizer (PSS) produces a supplementary signal to the voltage regulators, and damping power is created in the generator output. This device is comparatively cheap and should be used as a basic method to improve damping of oscillations between machines or groups of machines. Oscillation frequencies may be from 1 Hz to 0.2 Hz although the lowest frequencies are more difficult to control by PSS.

(not TCR) is installed in a part of the transmission

The best effect on transient stability is when TSC

is sensitive to network

Typical capacity of TSC/TCR is 100-400 Mvar. When TSC is used it should be divided into 3-5 steps.
Control signals
The control signal to TSC/TCR should be derived from the main grid. In case of tie-line problems the active power transfer of the tie-line is often suitable. In a meshed system it is more complicated. The bus voltage will follow the main oscillation of the system. The sum of the active power on some trunk lines may also be used. In case the voltage is used extra care must be taken to avoid feed back from the capacitor switching or reactor control. Other factors In general subsynchronous resonance, SSR, between large turbine-generators and the network may occur under some special conditions. Our opinion is that the control method of TSC and TCR will not cause any risk of SSR. There is only some risk when thyristor switched series-capacitors are used. Switching of those will change resonance frequencies of the power system which might cause resonance with turbine-generators.

Synchronous compensators are mainly used to control the vo tage level both at normal operation of the network and at disturbances. However, special control of such compensator by PSS has been studied. In this case PSS was controlled by a tie-line power. Because of the large internal time constants the rapid response of the compensator is limited. Such special control of a synchronous compensator could be advisable if the compensator is considered economical from other reasons. If its primary use is to improve damping, static compensators should be considered. Thyri stor controlled capaci tors/reactors (TSC/TCR) have been discussed very much above. They should be considered if damping is the major problem. Capacitors will also improve transient stability to some extent.
Thyristor controlled series capacitors should be considered if both damping and transient stability are to be improved. Furthermore, their use is most natural if static banks of series capacitors are already installed or planned.

CONCLUSIONS

This paper has treated power systems, where damping is the critical factor for transfer capacity. Examples have been taken from the Nordel and the Swedish power systems.

COMPARISON BETWEEN DIFFERENT MEANS TO IMPROVE STABILITY

Applications of controlled reactive power in large power system to improve damping and transient stability have been studied. Comparison with other methods has been discussed.
The conclusions could be made as follows: If expansion of a network by new lines is excluded the only measures to improve damping seem to be supplementary control of generators combined with thyristor control of reactive power.
-

Extension of network by erecting new lines is often the natural way to increase the transfer capacity. But economics and environmental considerations make it very important to find other means. In case stability, expecially damping, is the limiting factor some methods can be found as shown in table 1.

Method

Improvement of Transient Damping

stability

Power system stabilizer, 0 or (-)+++ PSS

The basic means to improve damping of a power system is the use of supplemantary signals to the generator voltage control, also called power system stabilizers, PSS. But its contribution is limited with respect to frequency range.
Thyristor controlled capacitors and reactors, TSC/TCR, can be a very good method to improve damping both in power systems with weak tie-lines and in long distance transfer networks. Studies indicate an improvement of 1-2 MW/Mvar, interpreted as extra MW transfer that could be permitted due to damping per installed Mvar of TSC/TCR.

Synchr. comp (normal

control)

0 or +
++ ++++ +++
+

Synchr. comp (special control

TSC
TCR

+
+

0
++
++

Series capacitor (static)

Series capacitor

Thyristor switched capacitors, TSC, will also give positive contribution to transient stability. Improvement could be 0.2-0.3 MW/Mvar at severe transient faul ts.
-

(thyr. switched)

+++

Table 1

Thyristor switched series capacitors can improve both damping and transient stability. However, special attention has to be paid to the control strategy to make sure that the control due to damping will be efficient.
-

3937

REFERENCES

1 2

A. Olwegard, L. Ahlgren, H. Frank, "Thyristorcontrolled shunt capacitors for improving system stability", CIGRE Paper No. 32-20, 1976.
H. Frank, T. Pettersson, "Thyristor-switched shunt capacitors and their modeling for transmission applications", Paper A 78 105-9, presented at IEEE Winter Power Meeting, 1977-.
K. Engberg, H. Frank, S. Torseng, "Reactors and capacitors controlled by thyristors for optimum power system control", presented at EPRI Seminar on Transmission Static Var Systems, Oct. 24-25,

1978.

operating margin, thereby, allowing higher loading levels on the stability-constrained transmission lines. Clearly, the application of such devices on the power system is not in any way a substitution for the carefully planned network expansion; instead, it should be viewed as a useful tool capable of providing greater flexibilities in planning and timing new transmission facility additions.

stabilize, or the opposite effect of an aggravated disturbance will result. Such a device must also be highly reliable, as the reduced margin of stability permitted by its proper operation will most likely be inadequate should a system disturbance occur at the time of a sudden and unanticipated outage of the device. These considerations require not only a "fail safe" operation of the device but, in bulk transmission system applications, also necessitate the establishment of a rapidly-actuated special operating procedure to restore an acceptable margin of stability. It is important to keep in mind that the proposed device does not add any new transfer capacity to the existing power system, but rather, through special control means, makes it possible to reduce the stability

4
5

K. Walve, "Reactive power and voltage regulation in the Swedish high voltage system", CIGRE Paper No. 31-08, 1980. L. Gyugyi, R.A. Otto, T.H. Putman, "Principles and applications of static thyristor-controlled shunt compensators", Paper F 78 096-0, presented at IEEE Winter Power MetiT977
L. Gyugyi, E.R. Taylor, Jr, "Characteristics of static thyristor-controlled shunt compensators for power transmission system applications", Paper F 80 206-0, presented at the IEEE PES Winter Meeting, 1980.

REFERENCE

[1] R. D. Dunlop, R. Gutman, and P. P. Marchenko, "Analytical Development of Loadability Characteristics for EHV and UHV Transmission Lines." IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems, Vol. PAS-98, No. 2, pp. 606-617, March/April 1979.
Manuscript received February 25, 1981.

Discussion R. Gutman and B. M. Pasternack, (American Electric Power Service Corporation, Columbus, OH): The authors have described an interesting and timely application of thyristor-controlled reactive power devices for the improvement of transmission system capability. The premise on which this application is founded is the well known relationship between transmission system transfer capability and planning criteria, particularly the margin of stability, selected for a given power system. This key relationship is presented in Figure 1 of the paper, but it is left vaguely defined in terms of the following three factors: 1) thermal limit, 2) transient stability limit, and 3) damping limit. It would be helpful if the authors expanded on their notion of damping and transient stability limits and the difference between the two limits from the viewpoint of transmission capability. Perhaps, the authors could also comment on the differences between their enumerated criteria and the criteria set forth earlier by R. D. Dunlop, R. Gutman, and P. P. MarchenkoI'I R. D. Dunlop, et al, has shown analytically that the load-carrying ability of an EHV transmission line, or "loadability," is limited by one of two basic performance criteria -- line voltage drop or stability margin -- depending on line length. For moderate-length lines of up to 200 miles, see Figure A, the voltage drop limitation is normally the controlling factor on line loadability, while longer lines are stability-limited. The cross-over point can vary up or down relative to the level of acceptable voltabe drop and/or stability margin, both of which reflect the individual judgment of a given system planning organization with regard to planning criteria and desired level of operating realibility. The thermal limitation is significant (from the loadability viewpoint) only for very short lines strung with non-bundled phase conductors, typically operating at below EHV levels. Since the method of improving transmission loadability by means of increased damping is based on the assumption that such damping might not be adequate to restore stable system operation following a disturbance, the application of this method will inherently be aimed at only those lines whose loadability is limited by the stability constraint.' This requirement narrows down the application of the described method to areas characterized by long lines with no intermediate switching stations -- a condition not often encountered in a well interconnected system serving many distrubuted load centers. To insure that the improvement in transmission loadability does not come at the expense of increased risk of system instability, this type of device must operate in perfect harmony with the system it is designed to

C. W. Taylor (Bonneville Power Administration, Portland, OR): The authors have presented interesting concepts for stability enhancement by controlled reactive power. Several mechanisms by which shunt compensation switching can improve stability are described. Another mechanism is by reduction of effective transfer reactance [1]. This method is most beneficial at electrical centers and can improve both synchronizing and damping torques. Have the authors considered this mechanism? Could the authors indicate the electrical center locations for the networks of Figures 10 and 12? The authors propose control based on the derivative of tie line power. A tie line current rather than tie line power signal would be less sensitive to changes in predisturbance tie line power level or operating point [2,

The networks shown in Figures 7 and 10 are of interest to us because the oscillation frequency (about 1/3 Hz) is nearly the same as the Pacific AC Intertie [3]. Have spontaneous oscillations without large initiating disturbances occurred? At the oral paper presentation, two very interesting real system recordings of tie line power following loss of generation incidents were shown. One was stable but with large, lightly damped oscillations. The other was unstable after several undamped (but not negatively damped) oscillations. Could the authors include these recordings in their closure? For the unstable case, were not synchronizing as well as damping forces insufficient? Several questions come to mind regarding switching of rather large blocks of shunt compensation for transient stability enhancement or damping of large swings? First, could the author discuss the economics of thyristor switching versus use of high speed switchgear? Second, very little reserve shunt compensation capacity in the "boost" direction would typically be available during heavy intertie loading conditions when stability levels are lowest. Shunt capacitors would be on the reactors off. Do the authors consider installation of "reserve" shunt compensation (with short time overload capability) to be cost effective in some instances? If SSR is not a problem, are fixed series capacitors a more economic means to improve instability for both large and small

31.

disturbances? Finally, could the authors describe existing or planned applications of static var compensation on the Nordel system? Are the applications for small disturbance or large disturbance stability improvement? For large disturbance control, are synchronizing or damping torque improvement or primary interest?
REFERENCES

[11 E. W. Kimbark, "Improvement of System Stability by Switched

3938

Series Capacitors" IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems, Vol. PAS-85, pp. 180-188, February 1966. [2] C. Concordia, "Performance of Interconnected Systems Following Disturbances", IEEE Spectrum, pp. 68-80, June 1965. [3] R. L. Cresap, D. N. Scott, W. A. Mittelstadt, and C. W. Taylor, "Damping of Pacific AC Intertie Oscillations via Modification of the Parallel Pacific HVDC Intertie", CIGRE 14-05, 1978.
Manuscript received March 2, 1981.

A. Olwegard and K. Waive: We are grateful to the discussors Messrs. Gutman, Pasternack and Taylor for their interest and comments on this paper which provide an opportunity to expand on some significant points. The main objective of this paper is to show that in large interconnected networks some means may be needed particularly to improve system damping in order to increase the maximum power transfers on trunk line sections and system interties. Figure 1 is only used as an indication of that fact with reference to the thermal limit of the transmission section. Messrs. Gutman and Pasternack are referring to the two basic performance criteria - line voltage drop and steady-state stability margin. These criteria are derived from a simplified two-machine model and they can be this assumption be used as a preliminary estimate of a transmissions project. In large interconnected system they must be used by caution regarding the loadability of both trunk lines and tie-lines. System stability should in such cases be based on a multi-machine study. The Nordel system is one example of that. In 1963 the steadystate stability limit of the 100 km, 400 kV tie-line between Norway and Sweden was about 900 MW. In 1968 though increased short circuit power at both ends of this limit had decreased to about 300 MW. In 1971/72 the steady-state stability limit varied during the year from 300 MW at summer light load to 0 MW at winter peak load (at times it was then disconnected). At an early stage of development the loadability of the trunk lines from north to central Sweden (line lengths between 450 and 650 km) was limited by stability to about 0,7 SIL. Some of the trunk lines are now limited to about 2,0 SIL despite much harder stability criteria while some of the lines are thermally limited with respect to loss of a parallel circuit. In future stages the loadability of the trunk lines will depend on generation expansion and on the development of unidirectional power transfers on other transmission sections in the Nordic system. Regarding the thermal limit it is worth noticing that in networks where series capacitors and HV sea cables are used the thermal loadability of such network sections tends more to be a planning and operating problem with respect to circuit configuration and system dimensioning criteria rather than design criteria for a single line. Regarding the line-voltage drop criterion the method applied in our system is to optimize various reactive power resources in order to achieve a suitable voltage profile and transfer capability. In systems with stability constraints the proposed device is useful in three respects. Firstly it will be used to increase the damping limit up to the transient stability limit, secondly to improve transient stability and thirdly for improved voltage control particularly in postfault cases. In combination with other means to improve stability such as series capacitors and supplementary excitation control devices the use of TSC/TCR can economically contribute to an increased transfer capability and then reducing the number of EHV lines. We agree with Mr. Taylor that the reduction of the transfer reactance is most beneficial at electrical centres. This method has been used to a large extent in the Swedish trunk line system. All long 400 kV lines form north to central Sweden are series-compensated from 40% to 60%o (in locations from C to E and F in figure 12). Another promising method that has been studied is to use extra thyristor switched series capacitors on some of the long lines already equipped with fixed series capacitors. By forcing the series compensation between a lower and upper limit the transient, oscillatory and steady state stability modes could be controlled. The electrical centre for the network in figure 10 is located close to point D. see also figure 7 which shows the equivalent reactances and machine ratings of the simplified network. By series compensation of the tie-line E-F in figure 10 preferably the synchronizing torque would be improved corresponding to an increased transient stability limit by about 150 MW. If instead a thyristorswitched shunt-capacitor of about the same size is used the transient stability limit would be improved by about 100 MW but the oscillatory

stability limit by about 300 MW. The latter is to be preferred in this case. For the Swedish network in figure 12 the electrical centre is between C-D andE-F. Spontaneous oscillations without large disturbances appeared in the late 60's when the interconnected system in Norway and Sweden was under development and new generation areas were connected to the system. The oscillation frequency was then about 0,5 Hz (1). In 1980 large oscillations occurred in the interconnected Nordic system. A couple of important transmission lines were then out of service, but no large disturbance initiated the oscillations. Frequency of oscillation was about 1/3 Hz. The control method to improve system damping requires several switchings within a short period of time. Thus conventional switch-gear would be unsuitable. We do not consider shunt compensation with short time overload capability. In case lines or units are tripped the device may be used as alternative to spinning reserve i.e. it will be used continuously for some time to restore the voltage. The real system recordings referred to by Mr. Taylor are reproducing 400 kV voltage and tie-line power oscillations in Borgvik which is the substation on the Swedish side of the tie-line between West Sweden and South Norway. In the first recording, see figure 1, the prefault loading of the tie-line was 60 MW. At this disturbance a network fault resulted in loss of 1200 MW generation in north Sweden. The stability of the tie-line between Sweden and Norway was however maintained. Thanks to that system frequency only dropped to 49.6 Hz and normal operation could be easily restored.
PMW
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UKV VOLTAGE
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FKue 1. Recording of voltage and tie- power in Borgik attrsplng of 1200MW generation in north Sweden

In the second example, see figure 2, the prefault tie-line loading was 430 MW. In this case the loss of 1500 MW generation in north Sweden lead to increasing rotor angle swings between the groups of machines in Norway and Sweden. After three swings, just before the tie-line tripped out the Norwegian system was close to loss of synchronism with the Swedish system. The consequence of the tie-line tripping was that the frequency swiftly dropped in the Swedish system. The consequence of the tie-line tripping was that the frequency swiftly dropped in the Swedish system causing some further 500 MW thermal generation to trip and about 2000 MW of load to be shed. Due to insufficient damping and synchronizing forces in the tie-line this case thus developed to a serious disturbance. Our paper shows means to improve the tie-line stability.
P MW 1000

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Fgure 2. Recording of voltage and tie-ine power in Borgvlk at tripping of 1500MW generation in north Sweden

3939

In figure 3 an example of a recording on the same tie-line shows how spontaneous oscillations are growing due to negative damping even at a low tie-line power level. This particular case was stabilized after about 2 minutes by reducing the generation in the Norwegian system by about 400 MW.
Ukv
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of voltage and tie-kn power in Borgvk at negativety damped spontaneous oscilations

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Series compensation must be regarded as a basic mean to improve transient stability and damping. If the latter is the critical limitation TSC/TCR may however be the most economical method. Of course, supplementary signals to the generators should be the first method to be considered to improve damping. One application of static var compensation is decided. A 4 x 50 Mvar capacitor bank will be used in the Stockholm load area and it will be connected to 220 kV in a 400/220 kV transformer station. The main purpose is to use it at disturbances to improve voltage and to improve damping of some large nuclear units close to the area. Further installations are discussed to be made in northern Sweden for large disturbance control and where damping torque improvement are of greatest interest. Thyristor controlled reactors that are installed in the Oslo area for local reasons are planned to be also controlled according to the method descirbed in the paper.
REFERENCE

-400-

-600-

Fgue 3. Recordng

[1]

A. Olwegard, "Improvement of System Stability in Interconnected Power Systems". CIGRE 32-17, 1970
Manuscript received May 4, 1981.