Bulk Power System Dynamics and Control - VI, August 22-27, 2004, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy
Coordinated Power System Security Control
Joseph S. K. Leung
Department of Electronic Engineering, City University of Hong Kong
Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong
(joeleung, eedavid@cityu.edu.hk)
Abstract—Following a series of recent international blackouts,
the reliability and security of modern electrical power systems
has been challenged. This paper argues that deregulation
should be accompanied by further development of security
control. An adaptive coordinated control scheme is proposed,
which attempts to coordinate responses to various stability
issues across the power system and in all operating states. This
control scheme is further described along with case studies on
a test system. The results suggest that power system security
can be enhanced by means of coordinated control as a
substitution for infrastructure expansions.
Index Terms— Deregulation, adaptive control, stability
I. INTRODUCTION
Power systems are becoming more complex due to the
interconnection of regional systems, deregulation and the
operation of associated electricity markets. Several major
blackouts around the world during August and September 2003
have brought attention to the security and reliability issues of
power systems. Many have directly related the cause to market
deregulation. In fact, the role of deregulation in power outages has
been a topic of consideration for some time especially following
outages in the context of the troubled California market since
1996.
Does deregulation really affect power system security? Certainly it
does. In fact, deregulation and system security are inherently
oppositional. The former aims directly to establish competitive
behaviour, connecting market participants irrespective of distance.
Power systems are complex systems, which are held together by a
delicate balancing act involving synchronized generators and
careful frequency and voltage regulation. Most security problems
are aggravated by the consequent increase in uncertainty and
increased power flows over longer distances. The level of
uncertainty in the system is being increased beyond anything
introduced to compensate and power levels have tended to
increase far more than physical expansion.
At a very general level, power systems are facing challenges from
all directions. The load demand is continuously rising while the
transmission capacity is getting close to the natural limits; little
room is left for an appropriate stability margin. Electricity
deregulation changes the habitat of power system control from a
vertically integrated, centralized system into a partially
decentralized system. The operations and communications of
The research is sponsored by Hong Kong Research Grant Council under
Central Allocation Grant Number CityU 1/00C.
409
David J. Hill
power systems are now influenced by economic considerations as
well as engineering. In parallel, the trend towards building a more
complicated grid, which inherently gives a lot of security issues,
has proceeded via greater interconnection and diversity, e.g.
distributed generation technology. Therefore, future paradigms for
power system engineering, including expansion planning, power
dispatch, control and protection are open for ideas.
Some solutions were promptly offered, e.g. there was talk of the
need for substantial new physical expansion. This appears to be
unrealistic as a total solution as we refer to developed countries.
Control-based expansion is a cost-effective way to expand system
capacity as well as looking for ways to build many more lines.
This discussion notwithstanding, it is time to consider new
paradigms for power system control. The aim of this paper is to
argue that deregulation should be accompanied by further
development of security control.
This paper follows earlier work by the authors [1-3]. In [2], a
novel global control strategy was introduced for coordinated
transient stability and voltage regulation by excitation control. In
[1], a framework was developed for more general global control
schemes involving coordination of many controls with diverse
goals. In [3], the use of a unified power flow controller (UPFC) for
power flow control and improved damping performance was
studied. In this paper, we propose a coordinated power system
security control scheme as a specific global controller. It utilizes
various local network controllers spread over the network,
combined with the usual generator excitation control (including
PSS), to implement coordinated control over all three major
dynamic issues for power systems, namely transient stability,
voltage regulation and inter-area oscillations following a
disturbance. The control is adaptive and reconfigurable as needed
to accommodate changed circumstances.
This paper is structured as follows: an electrical system is set up in
Section II for testing. Specific models such as nonlinear dynamic
load, power system stabilizer (PSS) and IEEE Type DC1
excitation system with limits are used to simulate various
instability mechanisms. For illustrative purposes, the local network
controller will be a static VAr compensators (SVC) for which both
local voltage and inter-area power flow signals are used for
voltage compensation and power oscillation damping. In Section
III, after addressing the needs for a more control-based
coordination system, an adaptive coordinated power system
security control scheme is presented. It includes the details of the
adaptive control framework. Simulations and results at different
scenarios are provided in Section IV. Conclusions are summarized
in Section V.
410 Bulk Power System Dynamics and Control - VI, August 22-27, 2004, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy

II. SYSTEM, STABILITY AND THE CORRESPONDING
MODELS
A. Test System
One major characteristic of modern power networks is their
complex interconnectivity. In order to reflect this feature while
keeping the model simple enough for the purpose of
demonstration, a WSCC 3-generator 9-bus system is used [4].
This model is complex enough to show power flow from three
different areas to three different load centres. As a result, two
inter-area power oscillation modes of 1.4 Hz and 2.1 Hz are
present, in addition to the local generator oscillation modes. Some
modifications are made: (1) governors and turbines are not
modelled in this simulation, as their slow response renders them
insignificant in transient studies; (2) three nonlinear dynamic loads
All stability issues are not mutually exclusive. Many major system
disturbances lead to a combination of these stabilities issues. In
order to represent correctly the respective instability mechanisms,
specific models are needed. For the rest of this section, three
devices, namely IEEE DC1 excitation system, power system
stabilizer (PSS) and nonlinear dynamic load models are
introduced.
C. IEEE DC1 Excitation System and PSS
The basic controller for a generator is the excitation system
comprised of the synchronous machine regulator and excitor [6].
By varying the magnitude of the dc field current, the terminal
voltage of the synchronous machine can be controlled. The
diagram of the IEEE DC Type 1 exciter [7] is shown in Fig. 2.
Vref VRmax

are connected to buses 5, 6 and 8 to provide load sensitivities to 1 - +

+
1 + sT c KA + 1
voltage change; (3) the rest of the transmission lines are modelled VT
1 + sTR Σ Σ 1 + sT B 1 + sTA
Σ
sTE
E fd
- - -
as double circuits while preserving the original overall line Terminal
PSS
V fb
VRmin
impedances from [4]. A diagram of the test system is shown in voltage
transducer signal SE + KE

Fig. 1. sK F
1 + sTF

NDL2
11 Fig.2. IEEE DC Type 1 excitation system
SVC2
7 By controlling the field voltage output after a major disturbance,
2 3 the transient stability of the system can be improved. However, the
9 extent of the field voltage output is limited by the exciter’s ceiling
2 8 3 voltage [6].
5 6
The basic principle of a power system stabilizer (PSS) for
damping local modes of oscillation is clear [6], but its capability to
10 12 further dampen inter-area oscillation requires careful consideration
SVC1 SVC3
[8]. Also, in response to a major disturbance, the PSS tends to pull
4 the generator field voltage away from its ceiling too early,
NDL1 NDL3
reducing the impact of the excitation system for improving
NDL = Nonlinear transient stability [6]. The block diagram of a typical PSS is shown
Dynamic Load
1 in Fig. 3. The corresponding differential equations of the
excitation system and PSS can be found in [9].
1
Lupper
Fig.1. Modified WSCC system

B. Stability K PSS sTw (1 + sT1 )(1 + sT3 ) PSS

∆ω
1 + sTw (1 + sT2 )(1 + sT4 ) signal

Power systems work under a lot of constraints. There are thermal
and excitation limits for the generator, maximum power transfer
capability for transmission lines, and maximum loadability for
transformers. There are three well-known categories of problems
in a power system, namely transient, voltage and frequency
instabilities. Their respective stability definitions are as follows
[5]:
1. Transient stability (rotor angle stability) – the ability of
synchronous machines of an interconnected power system to
remain in synchronism after being subjected to a disturbance.
2. Voltage stability – the ability of a power system to
maintain steady voltages at all buses in the system after being
subjected to a disturbance from a given initial operating condition.
3. Frequency stability – the ability of a power system to
maintain steady frequency following a severe system upset
resulting in a significant imbalance between generation and load.
Washout Lead − lag Llower
Fig.3. Power system stabilizer (PSS)
D. Nonlinear Dynamic Load
It is now known that voltage collapse can be caused by several
mechanisms, including increase in loading, limitation of generator
reactive power limit and load recovery dynamics [10]. While the
excitation system described above can be used to create a voltage
collapse scenario (by limiting the regulated voltage, thus the
reactive power), a nonlinear dynamic load is also used in this
paper to reflect another common voltage collapse mechanism [11].
A block representation of the nonlinear dynamic load is shown in
Fig. 4. It consists of a static term and a dynamic term, which are
assumed first order dynamics [11]. Both terms are also dependent
Bulk Power System Dynamics and Control - VI, August 22-27, 2004, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy
on voltage and their functions are labelled as N1(·) and N2(·).
Equations (1) – (3) are the mathematical representations of the
nonlinear dynamic model for real power. Similar construction is
also applicable for the reactive power load model.
ω Pr
V N1 (⋅) G (s)
Pt
N 2 (⋅)
Fig.4. Nonlinear dynamic load model
dPr
Tp + Pr = N p (V )
dt
αs αt
V  V  system control is needed.
N p (V ) = P0  
 − P0  
 (2)
 V0   V0 
α
V  t
Pd = Pr + P0   (3)
 V0 
where
αs = steady state active load – voltage dependence
αt = transient active load – voltage dependence
P0 = active power consumption at pre-fault voltage (MW)
Pd = active power consumption model (MW)
Pr = active power recovery (MW)
Tp = active load recovery time constant (s)
V = supply voltage (kV)
V0 = pre-fault supply voltage (kV)
III. ADAPTIVE COORDINATED SECURITY CONTROL
A. Need for Coordinated Control
Although all power systems are inherently prone to instability,
they have been highly reliable in the past. This can be
attributed to several unique features of earlier (vertically
integrated) systems:
1. The sizes of power grids were relatively smaller and
divided into areas solely owned and operated by a single
utility;
2. All information within the grid was available and the
company could monitor and control the system directly;
3. Simple controllers were adequate for the system as high
margins were allowed during the design of the system;
and
4. Operation was at conservatively low power levels.
However, the introduction of market-based operation after
deregulation has forced the industry to undergo some rapid
changes. Along with the benefits of more competition come some
new problems for power system operation:
1. As more attention is paid to economic efficiency and
market activities, less capital investment was put into
maintaining and upgrading the system infrastructure,
especially the ageing transmission networks;
2. The goal of electricity industry reform was to achieve
maximum economic profit; this demands maximizing the
411
usage of the existing network and decreases the reserve
margin with respect to stability limits;
3. Market operation has also brought new uncertainties to
the behaviour of power systems; it is more difficult to
predict power flow which is now determined by both
+ market outcomes and physical constraints; and
∑ Pd 4. Markets have encouraged the participation of new
+ generators such as cogeneration and independent power
producers (IPP), which have less predictable influence on
the grid.
In summary, market operation typically makes the system more
complex from an operation and control point of view. While
physical expansions appear to be unrealistic as a complete
(1) solution, as least in well-developed countries, given established
reluctance to grant right-of-way for new power lines, new power
B. Proposed Adaptive Control Framework
The goal of the adaptive coordinated control proposed is to
maintain system stability under all operating conditions, especially
unforeseen ones. It is a framework within which a variety of
methods and different controllers can be coordinated to handle
complex systems. The essence of this adaptive control is
“coordination” and “reconfigure-ability”. It offers the possibility to
coordinate control actions across the whole system geographically
and for all operating situations in an adaptive way [1,2]. Reference
[1] refers to the collection of available control elements
“swarming” onto problems as they arise.
Coordination Controller
1) Stability Indicators
2) Scheduling (Switching) signals
3) Optimization
4) Actuation
Thresholds Power
System
signals
Local Controllers actions
Fig.5. An adaptive coordination control framework
Framework
Following [1,2], the global control framework has a natural
two-tier structure, i.e. local controls and some degree of central
coordination control. The local controllers perform their
normal operations with the original local settings until an
abnormal situation happens where the coordination control
takes over. A diagram of this adaptive control framework is
shown in Fig. 5. This system-wide control has four main tasks,
namely: 1) indicator processing, 2) scheduling, 3) optimization
and 4) actuation. An important point is that this is not fully
centralized control. The control architecture is somewhere
between decentralized and centralized with just enough
communication links to implement the necessary coordination.
The signal processing layer collects and processes network
412 Bulk Power System Dynamics and Control - VI, August 22-27, 2004, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy

information and transforms it into meaningful signals such as

stability indicators. The coordination controller will then
determine the severity of each kind of instability, i.e. to decide
whether the system is in the proximity of transient, voltage or
frequency instability. Accordingly, a group of control actions
will be scheduled (typically of the switching type) which have
the capacity, with further tuning, to overcome the instability.
After the optimization process, which allows tuning of control
parameters, a set of weighted parameters will be transmitted to
the corresponding local controllers for actuation. The level of
coordination would be designed for each system to be adequate
to deal with likely contingencies.

Indicators
As discussed in Section II, any power system instability can be
caused by a combination of factors. Voltage collapse, for
example, can be caused by either the actions of the load or
generator or both [10]. Fig. 7 shows a case of voltage collapse Fig.8. Generator rotor angles excursion
caused by the generator excitation reaching its limit, after an
increase of the loading. It results in voltage collapse as seen in
Fig. 6 and the machine angles decouple as in Fig. 8.

Fig.9. Voltage collapse caused by increasing load demand

Fig.6. Voltage collapse caused by reaching excitation limit

Fig.10. Power-voltage curve

On the other hand, even with sufficient limits for the excitation
Fig.7. Excitation field voltage system, excessive load (with/without dynamic characteristic),
can also cause voltage collapse – see Fig. 9 and 10. Fig. 10 is a
typical P-V curve of the power system. Originally the real
Bulk Power System Dynamics and Control - VI, August 22-27, 2004, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy
power load at Bus 10 is of 3.5 p.u. (Position 1) When the load
is increased to 4.5 p.u., the static term of the dynamic load
immediately increases to a value close to 4 p.u. (Position 2),
and the dynamic term of the load equation gradually catches up
(to Position 3). Since the value of 4.5 p.u. is beyond the power
system capacity, the bus voltage gradually decreases and
finally voltage collapse results (Position 4).
The above examples show that without clear identification of
the underlying reason, any remedial action carries a risk of
further deteriorating the system. This implies proper selection
of stability indicators is necessary. Under the proposed control
scheme, three stability indicators are used; they are the angle,
voltage and damping indicators. The theory of power systems
[12] provides many sophisticated possibilities. Here we
deliberately choose simple indices of the type which would be
likely to be chosen in practice. The aim of this work is to later
compare the results with theoretically motivated indicators.
a) Angle indicator – When transient instability occurs, at least
one generator rotor angle undergoes a large excursion. Thus,
the maximum bounded rotor angle of one generator relative to
the others can serve to define an indicator of transient stability.
For a multi-machine systems, an “extended” version of the
equal area criteria (EAC), denoted EEAC [13], can be used.
This procedure firstly separates all the machines present in the
system into two clusters, namely the critical cluster and the
cluster of the remaining machines, by using the critical cluster
centre of inertia (CCCOI) transformation. The cluster of
critical machines is identified as the group of “candidate”
critical machines which give the smallest critical clearing time
(CCT). Detailed algorithm is provided in [14]. Then it
calculates the average rotor angle weighted by the inertia of
each cluster. Finally the relative rotor angle of these two
clusters can be calculated as follows:
∑M δ ∑M δ
i∈S
i i
j∈ A
j j
∆δ sa = δ s − δ a = −
∑M ∑M
i∈S
i
j∈ A
j
where
Mi is the moment of inertia of the i-th machine in the S-cluster
Mj is the moment of inertia of the j-th machine in the A-cluster
δi is the rotor angle of the i-th machine in the S-cluster
δj is the rotor angle of the j-th machine in the A-cluster
The set of ∆δsa for the different cluster pairs form the stability
indicators. By running through different contingency scenarios
off-line, the maximum relative rotor angles at the point where
transient instability occurs are noted as the threshold values for
the transient controller. Table 1 lists out some critical angles of
the test system calculated by using the EEAC routine. In the
later simulation, the threshold of 110˚ is used.
Fault Critical angle (˚) Critical clearing time (s)
Location
Bus 5 148 0.115
Bus 6 151 0.105
Bus 8 135 0.105
Table 1. Critical rotor angle deviations
413
b) Voltage indicator – The task of the voltage controller in the
adaptive coordinated scheme is to maintain acceptable voltages
throughout the whole power system and to prevent voltage
collapse. It aims to extend the capabilities of the existing local
controllers, such as static VAr compensator (SVC) and
capacitor banks, further to cover areas beyond their normal
operating regions. A +α% and –β% band is chosen for the
voltage controller. Within this band, local voltage controllers
continue to operate in the normal mode. If the voltage of any of
the selected buses goes outside this band, the global voltage
control scheme will be activated as follows:
  ∆Vi  α
1, if max >

  Vi 0  100

  ∆V  − β
Fi (∆Vi ) = − 1, if min  i  < (5)
  Vi 0  100
0, otherwise


where Fi is the indicator function for high, normal and low
voltage controllers. Of course, soft switching functions could
also be used.
If voltage collapse is an issue, the indicator could include one
of the numerous proximity indicators for this problem – see for
instance [15] and references therein. In this paper, α is chosen
to be 15 and β is set to be 10.
c) Damping indicator – Different modes of oscillation are
present in a multi-machine power system. Each mode is
characterized by its natural frequency and damping factor. The
goal of the small-signal damping controller is to achieve a
satisfactory post-disturbance damping factor. The negative real
part of the critical frequency (in terms of its eigenvalue, λi
=σi±jωi), σi0, is chosen to represent the damping threshold. Of
(4) course, in practice a damping estimator would be needed.
In practice, by using Prony’s method [16] or other real-time
techniques, frequency information described above can be
estimated. In this paper, however, the goal is to demonstrate
the basic principles of the control scheme. Small signal
stability analysis is thus used to provide the equivalent
information.
Switching function
The global controller will be activated whenever any of the
three stability thresholds is exceeded. The controller is of a
switching form passing the indicator values to switching
functions which decide on which of, how much of and when
each control action is enacted (possibly with subsequent
tuning). The decision process is simplified by adopting priority
orders for dealing with the different stability problems. For
instance, transient stability has the highest priority over the
other two stability issues, i.e. whenever angle instability
occurs, the global transient controller will ‘swarm’
immediately to eliminate this problem. Otherwise, switching
can be on the basis of the degree by which the indicators
exceed the thresholds.
414 Bulk Power System Dynamics and Control - VI, August 22-27, 2004, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy

The overall switching function of the global controller is a set installation in the test system. It shows that coordinating
of weighting functions: several SVC’s together can effectively provide better voltage
µ = F (∆δ , ∆V , ∆λ ) (6) regulation. For example, during critical low voltage situations,
T
where µ is a vector [µ1, µ2, … µi … µn] and F denotes the low voltage indicator from the critical bus could activate the
vector of indicator functions for all local controllers. The ith neighbouring SVC’s for immediate voltage support.
element contains the weighting parameters of the ith controller.
The values of the weightings can be pre-determined and stored
in a look-up table in the global controller. Alternatively, they
can be tuned on-line; this is done systematically by an
optimization process. For look-up mode, the format for each
parameter can be as follows:
if ∆δ i > δ i 0
µ = µ set1i
else
  ∆V j  α
µ set 2 j , if max >
  V j 0  100
  (7)

  ∆V 
µ = µ set 3 j , if min j  < − β
  V j 0  100
 
 k
µ set 4 , if ∆σ k > 0

µ set 0 , otherwise Legend:
where 1 – Three SVC’s at Bus 5, 6 and 8
2 – One SVC at Bus 5, one at Bus 8
for the i th separation mode, δ io is the threshold value 3 – One SVC at Bus 5, one at Bus 6
4 – One SVC at Bus 5
for the j th
bus, ∆V j = V j (t ) − V jo 5 – One SVC at Bus 6, one at Bus 8
6 – One SVC at Bus 8
for the k th linear mode, ∆σ k = σ k (t ) − σ ko 7 – One SVC at Bus 6
8 – No SVC
and λ k = σ k ± jω k
Fig. 12. Effect of placements of SVC’s for voltage support
C. Static VAr Compensator (SVC)
Supplementary damping controls
A Static VAr compensator (SVC) is a shunt-connected
controller whose main function is to maintain the voltage of the An additional PSS-like damping control can be installed on the
bus that it’s connected to [17]. With a combination of different SVC to modulate the oscillating power on the transmission
capacitance and reactance, reactive current can be injected into system, especially for the inter-area mode oscillations [18]. Its
or absorbed from the system for the purpose of voltage strcuture is similar to the PSS as shown in Fig. 13.
regulation. It is widely used by the utilities nowadays for its
relatively low cost, well-established technology and reasonable Lupper

response time. The control block of the SVC is shown in Fig. Additional
sTw (1 + sT1 )(1 + sT3 )
11. ∆P K SVC
(1 + sT2 )(1 + sT4 ) SVC
1 + sTw
Washout Lead − lag Llower
signal
Bmax
Vref
Fig. 13. Block diagram of SVC damping controller

VT +
- (1 + sTn ) KR
BSVC Remarks
+ (1 + sTd ) 1 + sTR Special attention has to be paid when multiple controllers, such
as SVC’s, are installed in a power system. New kinds of
Other dynamic interactions such as the coupling effect of the SVC’s
SVC Bmin voltage control loops, torsional interaction and/or harmonic
Signals resonances could be introduced [19-22]. The need for more
Fig. 11. Block diagram of SVC comprehensive coordination of these controllers becomes more
essential if the adverse interactions are to be minimized; and
The state of a power system is influenced by every piece of the necessary control objectives can be integrated within the
equipment attached to it. For example, although the primary proposed global control framework.
purpose of a SVC is for local voltage support, the neigbouring
areas may also benefit from its installation. Fig. 12 shows the
degree of voltage support for different combinations of SVC’s
Bulk Power System Dynamics and Control - VI, August 22-27, 2004, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy 415

D. Summary of Control Parameters

The gains of different controllers used in the simulation below

for different stability situations are summarized below.

Gains Normal Transient Voltage Damping

Power
damping KSVC 0 0 0 1
gain
SVC
VAr
control KR 20 20 80 80
gain
PSS gain KPSS 10 5 2 10
Excitation gain KA 20 80 40 40

Table 2. Summary of gains in the adaptive coordinated control framework

IV. SIMULATION RESULTS Fig.15. Bus voltages with no adaptive control

In this section, several network contingency situations are

simulated. The effects of the adaptive coordinated control
scheme are demonstrated and compared with a traditional
scheme.

Scenario 1 – Three-phase short circuit fault

A short circuit fault happens near Bus 5 at t=0.1s. One of the

two parallel lines between Bus 4 and Bus 5 is tripped at
t=0.215s (more than 6 cycles) to clear the fault.

Fig. 14 and Fig. 15 show the angle oscillation and voltage

fluctuation when all the controllers operate individually
without coordination. Comparing Fig. 14 and Fig. 16, it is seen
that when the EEAC-simplified rotor angle exceeds 110˚ (the
angle threshold), the transient controller is activated and the
maximum angle excursion is reduced to 116˚, instead of 125˚
as in Fig. 14. Secondly, the voltage restores much quickly – see Fig.16. Rotor angle oscillations with adaptive control
Fig. 17. When the transient controller ceases operation at 0.5s,
the damping controller begins to function, aiming at restoring
the damping factor of the dominant eigenvalue back to its pre-
disturbed value, as seen in Fig. 18.

Fig.17. Bus voltages with adaptive control

Fig.14. Rotor angle oscillations with no adaptive control

416 Bulk Power System Dynamics and Control - VI, August 22-27, 2004, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy

Fig.18. Adaptive control switching indicators for Scenario 1 Fig.20. Increased load at Bus 10

The advantage of the adaptive scheme is demonstrated – while

the gains of the PSS and SVC damping controllers are reduced
during the transient fault, it is easier for the system to restore
during the post fault period. The increase in excitation gains,
however, increases the system voltages. This over-voltage
situation can be adjusted later by gradually tuning the
excitation gains.

Scenario 2 – Network Operation – Load increase after the

removal of a line

Suppose one (out of the two) of line 4-5 is taken out, say for
maintenance purpose – this changes the line impedance from
0.085 to 0.170 p.u. . This action will increase the burden of the
remaining line, and push the system closer to its stability
margin. If during this period, there is an increase in loading
unexpectedly (see Fig. 20), voltage collapse will happen, as
seen in Fig. 19. The underlying reason for this voltage collapse Fig.21. Slow increase in the SVC capacitance
is that the increase in SVC capacitance cannot meet with the
increase in load demand – see Fig. 21. In order to bring the system back to within the stability margin,
more reactive power is needed. A loadflow task is performed to
calculate the optimal SVC capacitance required to maintain the
system stability, while bringing minimal changes to the bus
voltages. The values are listed in Table 3.

SVC Capacitance (p.u.)

Load at Bus 10 (p.u.)
Bus 5 Bus 6 Bus 8
1.5 (original) 0 0 0
3 0.4 0 0
4 0.9 0.1 0.1
5 1.7 0.3 0.1
6 1.9 0.3 0.1
Table 3. Optimal SVC capacitance for voltage restoration

Under the adaptive coordinated scheme, a +15% and -10%

voltage band is chosen for voltage regulation. The voltage
controller is activated when the voltage is below the -10%, the
low voltage threshold – see Fig. 22. The gains of the SVC’s are
Fig.19. Bus voltages after load increase with no adaptive control
increased; making the SVC capacitance rise more rapidly and
bringing the system back to a new operating point – see Fig.
25. When the system voltages are restored to above 0.9 p.u.,
Bulk Power System Dynamics and Control - VI, August 22-27, 2004, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy
the damping controller takes control and dampens the
consequent oscillations. Fig. 23 shows the changes in bus
voltages and Fig. 24 shows the load increase at Bus 10
respectively. Fig. 24 shows the rapid reactions of neighbouring
SVC’s under the global control coordination.
Fig.22. Adaptive control switching indicators for Scenario 2
Fig.23. Bus voltages after load increase with adaptive control
Fig.24. Increased load at Bus 10
417
Fig.25. Fast increase in the SVC capacitance with adaptive control
Scenario 3 – Successive events
As a final demonstration where two successive events occur in
the WSCC 3M9B system, the following scenario is set up:
• A fault is initiated at Bus 5 at t = 1s
• The fault is cleared at t = 0.215s by tripping one of the two
lines at Bus 4 – Bus 5
• At t = 20s, the load at Bus 5 is increased
Fig.26. Adaptive control switching indicators for Scenario 3
Fig. 26-31 show how the adaptive control scheme works. In
Fig. 26, it is seen that the transient controller is in service
between t = 0.216s and t = 0.415s. From t = 10.27s to t =
12.623s, the voltage controller takes over the control. For the
rest of the time, damping the remaining oscillation is the main
task of this adaptive scheme. Fig. 27 shows the bus voltages. It
is seen that after the first fault, the bus voltages rise above the
upper voltage threshold, and are quickly reduced by the voltage
control scheme. Fig. 28 shows the increase in real load power
as the second event. Fig. 29 shows the fluctuations of reactive
power flows to the loads and Fig. 30 shows the angle
oscillations during the simulation respectively. Fig. 31 shows
the contribution of reactive power compensation by the three
SVC’s. It is noted that the final p. u. value of the SVC at Bus 5
418 Bulk Power System Dynamics and Control - VI, August 22-27, 2004, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy

reaches almost 2.5 p.u. This is due to the severe jump of the
real load demand. In reality, if there is such a need, either
several SVC units or a SVC combined with some
mechanically-switched capacitor can be used to meet this
demand.

Fig.30. Generator rotor angles in Scenario 3

Fig.27. Bus voltages in Scenario 3

Fig.31. SVC capacitance in Scenario 3

It is also noted that at the new steady state, the real part of the
Fig.28. Load (real) power in Scenario 3
dominant eigenvalue is above its pre-disturbed value. After a
series of large disturbances, the system changes to a new
operating state. More damping control effort, in this case, is
therefore needed to increase the damping of the overall system.

V. CONCLUSIONS

Although there are concerns about power system security after

a series of worldwide blackouts, it has been shown that there
are opportunities to maximize the stability of the power system
by coordinating local controllers in an adaptive way. The paper
presented a novel adaptive control scheme for power systems
as further progress beyond [1, 2] toward universal type
controllers which flexibly respond to all stability problems.
The controller uses measurable network information to
determine the locality and type of the stability problem. Then it
formulates and coordinates the necessary control actions from
all the available local control actions. In this study, the control
actions are standard SVC, generator excitation and PSS
Fig.29. Reactive power flow in Scenario 3
controls, but the ideas extend to all control devices. Their
Bulk Power System Dynamics and Control - VI, August 22-27, 2004, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy
variable parameters are switched according to the values and [4]
thresholds of transient, voltage and small-signal stability [5]
indicators. The global controller responds to a variety of
contingencies to ensure extension of the transient stability
limit, voltage regulation and enhanced damping of low- [6]
[7]
frequency oscillations.
Further work can proceed in several dimensions. Following the [8]
suggestion in [1], the performance of the global controller will
be enhanced by greater use of optimization in switching and [9]
tuning of the controllers. Following [2], many alternative local
controllers can be derived using ideas from fuzzy, nonlinear [10]
and adaptive control. Many researchers have studied these
individually, but within this adaptive coordinated control [11]
framework, it is possible to mix-and-match to achieve the
appropriate control architecture for each system.
[12]
In order to furnish this control framework, more research on
the following areas are recommended, including: (1) faster and [13]
more reliable on-line security assessment indicators; (2) better
control and coordination framework, under which the power of
[14]
power electronics and communication innovations can be
unleashed; (3) communication architectures for better
coordination; and (4) power system modelling and
identification, such as for load characteristics. [15]
[16]
Finally, it is believed that with the proper use of some
advanced technologies, such as power electronics, control,
communication and information computing, it is possible to [17]
develop a self-monitoring, self-correcting and self-healing [18]
power system, which guarantees power quality, safety,
uninterruptible supply and reliable delivery [23]. [19]
VI. APPENDIX [20]
The three IEEE Type DC1A exciters have the following sets of
identical parameters: [21]
TA = 0.2, KE = 1.0 TE = 0.314, KF = 0.063, TF = 0.35, SE1 =
0.0039, SE2 = 1.555 [22]
The parameters of the power system stabilizer are:
[23]
T1 = 0.2, T2 = 0.1, T3 = 0.2, T4 = 0.1, Tw = 10 (All time in sec.)
The three SVC’s have the following sets of parameters:
Bcmax = +3, Bcmin = -3, TR=0.05, Td=5, Tn=1
The parameters of the SVC power dampers are:
T1 = 0.0, T2 = 10, T3 = 0.0, T4 = 0.0, Tw = 1 (All time in sec.)
The parameters of the nonlinear dynamic loads are:
αs = 0.57, αt = 1.64, Tp = 10.0, βs= 3.94, βt = 4.80, Tp = 10.0
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