Comparison Matlab PST, PSAT and DigSilent for Power Flow Studies

on Parallel HVAC-HVDC Transmission lines

A V Ubisse, K A Folly, K. Awodele, L Azimoh, D T Oyedokun, S P Sheetekela

University of Cape Town, Department of Electrical Engineering, Cape Town.

Abstract. This paper presents the comparative results of load flow studies on HVAC and hybrid HVAC-HVDC
transmission lines. Three different software packages are used to conduct this investigation, namely DigSilent,
Matlab PST and Matlab PSAT. A two-area four-machine system model is used to validate the results obtained
from the three software packages.

Key Words: Power transmission, PSAT, PST, DigSilent, HVAC-HVDC transmission.

1. INTRODUCTION
With the increase in power demand, HVDC has
become a preferred alternative for the conventional
AC transmission system to transmit bulk power over
long distances. This is due to its economical and
technical advantages in long distance power transfer.
HVDC links offer suitable solutions for
interconnecting HVAC systems with different
frequencies and it can deliver more power over Figure 1: HVAC transmission equivalent model
longer distances with fewer losses. HVDC systems From figure 1, the following equations are deduced:
also offer high controllability on the power
transmitted.
Since HVDC is a relatively new technology when ZY (1)
VS 1 VR ZI R
compared to HVAC for power transmission, not all 2
existing software packages can model this type of
system accurately and reliably. For this reason only 1 2 1 (2)
a limited number of packages that allow HVDC IS Y Y Z VR 1 YZ I R
4 2
modeling are used in this research. where,
Two scenarios are investigated. The first one is an VS- sending -end voltage
HVAC system and the second is a combination of VR - receiving-end voltage
the HVAC in parallel with the HVDC system (i.e, IS - sending end current
hybrid (HVAC-HVDC). IR - receiving end current
To validate the results obtained by the software Z - equivalent impedance
packages, the HVAC load flow results are compared Y - equivalent admittance
to the results given in reference [1]. The results for
the Hybrid network are compared between the For the above circuit, the transfer matrix for the
software packages. ABCD parameters becomes
The paper is organized as follows: Section 2 gives a 1
brief introduction of the transmission models; A B
1 YZ Z (3)
2
section 3 describes the software packages used to C D 1 2 1
conduct the simulations. Section 4 discusses the Y Y Z 1 YZ
4 2
different case studies and their respective results and therefore,
section 5 gives a conclusion to the paper.
VS A B VR
(4)
2. BASIC PRINCIPLES OF TRANSMISSION IS C D IR
LINES
The different scenarios of power transmission 2.2 HVDC system
systems are discussed below. The power transfer on a DC system is a function of
the voltage magnitude between the sending and
2.1 HVAC system receiving end. On a DC system, power flows from
Conventionally, electric power is transferred from high to low voltage magnitudes.
generating stations to the consumer ends through Fig. 2 shows a monopolar HVDC configuration with
HVAC transmission lines. Fig.1 depicts the HVAC a rectifier station and its transformers, the
transmission system, in its equivalent π circuit with transmission line and an inverter station and its
lumped parameters, used for the study. transformers. The transformers at the rectifier
station connect to area 1 side and the transformers
on the inverter station are connected to the area 2
side. The DC transmission line is modeled as a π
equivalent circuit.
 gives a choice of built-in configurations that are
already modeled.

3.2 Matlab PST

Power System Toolbox (PST) is Matlab run
software that was developed by Joe Chow. It allows
users to model components and perform AC-DC
system analysis within Matlab. It consists of Matlab
m-files, data files and power system application
Figure 2: HVDC monopolar configuration files. It provides dynamic models of machines and
controls for performing damping controller designs,
The voltages at the converter stations are given by
transient and small-signal stability simulations [5].
[1]:
3 2 (5) 3.3 Matlab PSAT
VDC ( R ) VS cos
PSAT is a Matlab toolbox for static and dynamic
3 2 analysis and control of electric power systems. It
VDC ( I ) VR cos (6)
was developed by Federico Milano and is an open
where source software.
VDC(R)- rectifier DC voltage PSAT includes power flow, continuation power
VDC(I) - inverter DC voltage flow, optimal power flow, small-signal stability
α - rectifier firing or delay angle, analysis and time domain simulation tools. It uses
β - inverter advance angle Newton Raphson algorithm to perform power flow
The firing angle is normally α < 18º [2]. analysis. All operations can be assessed by means of
graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and a Simulink-
The current flowing through the DC link is given as based library provides a user friendly tool for
[1]: network design [6].
VDC ( R ) VDC ( I ) (7)
Id 4. CASE STUDIES
Rcr RL Rci Two case studies are investigated in this paper. The
where first is an HVAC consisting of a two-area system
Id - HVDC current with four machines and two AC lines that transmit
Rcr - rectifier resistance power from area one to area two. The results
RL - line resistance obtained from the different software packages are
Rci - inverter resistance tabled with the results in reference [1] for
comparison. The second is a parallel operation of an
The power output at the rectifier is hence given by: HVAC and an HVDC line. On the second case, one
PDC ( R ) VDC ( R ) I d
(8) of the AC lines is changed by an HVDC line. Figure
3 depicts the simple two area system used in
The reactive power consumed by the converter scenario 1.
stations is between 50% and 60% [1, 3] of the
converted power, and is given by 4.1 HVAC system (scenario 1)
QDC ( R ) PDC ( R ) tan (9) This system is taken from [1].
where is the power factor angle

3. SOFTWARE PACKAGES
The software packages used are briefly described
below:

3.1 DigSilent
DigSilent stands for Digital Simulation and
Electrical Network calculation program. It is a
computer aided engineering tool that is widely used
for industrial, utility, commercial and academic
applications.
Figure 3: HVAC two area multi machine system
DIgSILENT has the ability to simulate load flow,
fault analysis, harmonic analysis and stability
analysis for AC-DC systems. The generators have been modelled using the 6th
The load flow is performed using Newton Raphson order machines. Each machine is rated 900 MVA set
method for power flow solutions [4]. to supply 700 MW (see appendix for machine data).
DigSilent does not however allow the user to model Two machines connected to buses 1 and 2 are in
the components from basic component levels, but area 1 and the other two machines connected to
buses 3 and 4 are in area 2.These two area are
connected through a weak tie. For the HVAC Table 3: HVAC two-area multi machine reactive power
transmission line, Machine 3 is set to be the slack profile
bus of this system and all other machines are Element Reactive Power (Mvar)
modelled as PV buses. The machines are rated at 20 DigSilent PST PSAT Ref[1]
kV and transmission lines are rated to 230 kV. Gen 1 184.64 185.26 185.01 185.00
There are 2 loads in the system, Load 1 = 976 + j100 Gen 2 233.77 234.84 234.59 235.00
MVA in area 1 and Load 2 = 1767 + j100 MVA in Gen 3 175.6 176.26 176 176
Gen 4 201.18 202.35 202.05 202.00
area 2. To boost up the voltage in the system, HVAC 1 -53.17 -53.79 -53.56 *
capacitor banks Cap 1 = 200 Mvar and Cap 2 = 350 HVAC 2 -53.17 -53.79 -53.56 *
Mvar are connected to the same buses as the loads . Load 1 100 100 100 100
Area 1 and area 2 are connected by a double set of Load 2 100 100 100 100
transmission lines that are 220 km long. The lines Cap 1 200 200 200 200
are modelled as π equivalent circuits. The Cap 2 350 350 350 350
parameters of the transmission lines are given in the *: Not displayed in reference [1]
Appendix. Power is transferred from area 1 to area
2 to supply Load 2 that is much bigger than the total All generators supply 700 MW except generator 3
generator capacity of area 2. which supplies close to 719 MW. The total power
generated is approximately (2819 + j798) MVA for
Table 1: HVAC two area multi machine system voltage all the software packages, from which about half of
profile this power is generated in each area. Since the 1767
Elemen Rated Voltage magnitude and angle (pu) MW load in area 2 cannot be fully supplied by what
t Voltage DigSile PST PSAT Ref[1] is generated in area 2, about 380 MW is imported
(kV) nt from area 1. Approximately 185Mvar is supplied
Bus 1 20 1.03 2 1.03 2 1.03 2 1.03 2 from generator 1, 234Mvar from generator 2, 176
0.25 0.25 0.27 0.20
Bus 2 20 1.01 1 1.01 1 1.01 1 1.01 1
Mvar from generator 3 and 202 Mvar from generator
0.49º 0.51º 0.5º 0.5º 4. Each of the lines carries half of the power to area
Bus 3 20 1.03 - 1.03 - 1.03 - 1.03 - 2. The negative sign on the transmission lines
6.8º 6.8º 6.8º 6.8º reactive power indicates that the respective lines are
Bus 4 20 1.01 - 1.01 - 1.01 - 1.01 - absorbing reactive power. The power generated in
16.99º 16.99º 16.99º 17º
the different packages by all machines is very close
Bus 5 230 1.01 1 1.01 1 1.01 1 *
3.79º 3.79º 3.8º to the values presented in the literature.
Bus 6 230 0.98 3 0.98 3 0.98 3 *
.71º .71º .72º 4.2 HVDC system (scenario 2)
Bus 7 230 0.96 - 0.96 - 0.96 - *
4.7º 4.69º 4.68º
The HVDC system is a monopolar 500 kV, 230
Bus 8 230 0.95 1 0.95 1 0.95 1 * MVA, 0.46 kA link with 12 pulse converters on both
8.56º 8.57º 8.56º rectifier and inverter sides. This HVDC system is
Bus 9 230 0.97 - 0.97 - 0.97 - * modified from the CIGRE benchmark model [7, 8].
32.15º 32.17º 32.15º The HVDC line is modeled as a π equivalent circuit.
Bus 10 230 0.98 - 0.98 - 0.98 - *
Each converter has its own converting transformer.
23.73º 23.73º 23.73º
Bus 11 230 1.01 - 1.01 - 1.01 - * The HVDC transmission line is 220km long and its
13.43 13.44 13.43 parameters are given in the Appendix. To control the
*: Not displayed in reference [1] power transmitted across the HVDC link the
rectifier is modelled using current control. Apart
from the HVDC system, the rest of the structure of
Table 2: HVAC two-area multi machine system active
the system and the parameter is similar to the HVAC
power profile system.
Element Active Power (MW)
DigSilent PST PSAT Ref[1]
Gen 1 700 700 700 700
Gen 2 700 700 700 700
Gen 3 719.05 719.11 719.09 719
Gen 4 700 700 700 700
HVAC 1 190.69 190.67 190.67 *
HVAC 2 190.69 190.67 190.67 *
Load 1 967 967 967 967
Load 2 1767 1767 1767 1767
Cap 1 0 0 0 0
Cap 2 0 0 0 0
*: Not displayed in reference [1]

Figure 4: Hybrid two area multi machine system

Figure 4 depicts the parallel combination of the
HVAC and HVDC transmission lines. The current
control on the rectifier station is set to 0.4kA so that Table 6: Hybrid two-area multi machine reactive power
the power flow between the lines is quasi equally profile
split. The power flow results for this system are
presented below. Reactive Power (Mvar)
Element
DigSilent PST PSAT
Gen 1 216.79 219.56 217.03
Table 4: Hybrid two area multi machine system voltage
Gen 2 311.17 317.33 311.7
profile Gen 3 192.94 195.02 193.53
Gen 4 246.9 251.34 248.53
Element Rated Voltage and angle (pu)
Voltage HVAC Line -57.88 -58.53 -57.86
DigSilent PST PSAT
(kV) HVDC Line 0 0 0
Bus 1 20 1.03 1.03 1.03 Rectifier 62.76 43.68 47.629
21.36 21.43 21.32 Inverter 77.24 77.02 56.028
Bus 2 20 1.01 1.01 1.01 Load 1 100 100 100
11.51º 11.57º 11.48º Load 2 100 100 100
Bus 3 20 1.03 1.03 1.03 Cap 1 200 200 200
-6.8º -6.8º -6.8º Cap 2 350 350 350
Bus 4 20 1.01 1.01 1.01
-16.87º -16.88º -16.86º The power generated by all machines with the
Bus 5 230 1.00 1.00 1.00 exception of machine 3 in the hybrid system is 700
14.86º 14.92º 14.83º MW. Machine 3 produces roughly 712 MW, and the
Bus 6 230 0.97 0.96 0.97
4.64º 4.68º 4.6º
total generated power is approximately (2812 +
Bus 7 230 0.94 0.94 0.94 j971) MVA. Machine 3 is supplying less power than
-4.02º -4º -4.06º in the HVAC system. This is due to the fact that the
Bus 8 230 0.93 0.93 0.93 HVDC line only looses approximately 1.8 MW
-18.31º -18.33º -18.33º losses while the HVAC line looses approximately
Bus 9 230 0.96 0.96 0.96
9.2 MW across all packages, hence more power is
-32.19º -32.23º -32.18º
Bus 10 230 0.98 0.98 0.98 delivered to area 2 on the hybrid system. The HVDC
-23.67º -23.69º -23.66º line transfers approximately 201 MW across all
Bus 11 230 1.01 1.01 1.01 software packages. The reactive power obtained in
-13.38º -13.39º -13.38º Matlab PST is slightly higher when compared to
Rectifier 500 1.01 1.01 * DigSilent and Matlab PSAT.
0º 0º
Inverter 500 1.01 1.01 *
0 0 5. CONCLUSIONS
*: No display of the results in PSAT For AC power flow, all software packages perform
satisfactorily. The results for the voltage power
The voltage magnitudes for machines 1 and 3 are profile for the HVAC system across all software
1.03 pu and 1.01 pu for machines 2 and 4. The packages agree with what is given in literature,
lowest voltage for this syetem is 0.93 pu on the hence validating their power flow results.
HVAC line at bus 8. The voltages on the DC side of Generators 1, 2 and 4 supply 700 MW and the slack
the rectifier and inverter are 1.01pu respectively in bus (generator 3) supplies close to 719 MW. The
DigSilent and Matlab PST. Matlab PSAT does not voltage drop across the hybrid is a result of the
display the voltage profile for the HVDC converter interaction of a weak AC system with a DC system.
stations. The lack of reactive power, which is consumed by
the converter stations, in the weak AC system leads
Table 5: Hybrid two area multi machine system active to a fall in the AC voltage. The hybrid system is a
power profile combination of an HVAC and HVDC transmission
systems. Generators 1, 2 and 4 each supply 700
Active Power (MW)
Element
DigSilent PST PSAT
MW, and generator 3 supplies close to 712 MW
Gen 1 700 700 700 across all software packages as the HVDC has fewer
Gen 2 700 700 700 losses than the HVAC transmission system.
Gen 3 712.06 712.27 712.09 The active power generated by the hybrid system
Gen 4 700 700 700 reduces by nearly 7 MW overall across all packages.
HVAC Line 187.43 187.15 187.04
All software packages agree in the results obtained.
HVDC Line 201.1 201.25 201.96
Rectifier 202.09 202.24 202.95 Both for HVAC and a parallel combination, power
Inverter 201.1 201.25 201.96 flow studies can confidently be performed using any
Load 1 976 976 976 of the packages.
Load 2 1767 1767 1767 Limitations: Matlab PST and PSAT do not allow
Cap 1 0 0 0 HVDC systems to be modeled without an HVAC
Cap 2 0 0 0
system in parallel connected to it. Matlab PSAT
does not display the results for the rectifier and
inverter buses when the HVDC load flow is
performed.
Future work: All software packages will be used to
perform small-signal and transient stability studies
 on the HVAC and Hybrid two-area multi machine
systems.
REFERENCES:
[1] P. Kundur, “Power System Stability and
Control”, McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1997
[2] D. A. Woodfrod, “HVDC Transmission”,
Manitoba HVDC Research Centre, Canada, 18
March 1998
[3] J. Arrilaga, Y. H. Lin, N. R. Watson, “Flexible
power transmission The HVDC options”, John
Wiley & Sons, ISBN 978-0-470-05688
[4] DigSilent Power Factory Version 12.0.194 Basic
User’s Manual, 2001
[5] Joe Chow, Power system Toolbox Version 2.0
Load Flow Tutorial and Functions Manual, 2003
[6] Federico Milano, Power System Analysis
Toolbox Quick Reference Manual for PSAT version
2.1.2, June 26, 2008
[7] M. O. Faruque, Y. Zhang and V. Dinavahi,
“Detailed Modelling of the CIGRE HVDC
Benchmark System Using PSCAD/EMTDC and
PSB/SIMULINK”, IEEE Transactions on Power
Delivery, Vol. 21, No. 1, January 2006
[8] Working Group 14.02, “The CIGRE benchmark
model – A new proposal with revised parameters”,
December 2003
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APPENDIX
Synchronous generator data
Xd = 1.8 X’d = 0.3 X’’d =0.25 Xq = 1.7 X’q =
0.55 X’’q = 0.25 Xl = 0.2 Ra = 0.0025 T’do = 8s
T’’do = 0.03s T’qo = 0.4s T’’qo = 0.05s Asat =
0.015 Bsat = 9.6 ψTI = 0.9 S1.0 = 0.039 S1.2 =
0.223 KD = 0 H = 6.5(For machines 1 and 2) H
= 6.175(for machines 3 and 4)
HVAC line parameters:
R = 0.0529 Ω/km, X = 0.529 Ω/km and B = 3.371
μS/km.
Using an Sbase = 100 MVA and a Vbase = 230 kV, the
equivalent parameters in per unit values are
R = 0.0001 pu, X = 0.001 pu and B = 0.00175 pu.
HVDC line parameters:
R = 0.0281 Ω/km, X = 0.02 Ω/km, B’ = 0.44 μS/km.
Using a Sbase = 230 MVA and a Vbase = 500 kV, the
equivalent parameters in per unit values are
R = 0.000025 pu, X = 0.000022 pu and B =
0.000021 pu.