Flexible AC Transmission Systems: Placement, Control, and Interaction

Mariesa L. Crow University of Missouri-Rolla

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Flexible AC Transmission Systems

Alternating current transmission systems incorporating power electronics-based and other static controllers to enhance controllability and increase power transfer capability

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Without fundamental research in this area, very little use will be made with full confidence of the real opportunities offered by FACTS devices. For the time being we only have limited examples, entirely based on simulation, which demonstrate that fast regulation of reactive compensation on a transmission grid could be very useful in the future. Because of this, there may exist an immediate danger of uncoordinated system-wide fast regulation via FACTS devices which could become detrimental to system integrity under certain operating conditions.
Marija Ilic, Fundamental engineering problems and opportunities in operating power transmission grids of the future Int'l Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 207-214, June 1995.

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Constraints on Useable Transmission Capacity

Dynamic:
Transient and dynamic stability Subsynchronous oscillations Dynamic overvoltages and undervoltages Voltage collapse Frequency collapse

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 Static:
Uneven power flow Excess reactive power flows Voltage capability Thermal capability

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FACTS Controllers
Static VAR Compensator - SVC Thyristor Controlled Series Compensator - TCSC Thyristor Controlled Phase Angle Regulator - TCPAR Static Synchronous Compensator - StatCom Solid State Series Compensator - SSSC Unified Power Flow Controller - UPFC

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SVC

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Thyristor Controlled Series Compensator (TCSC)

TCSC

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StatCom

shunt device lower rated components since only carry a fraction of the line current impacts bus voltage and reactive power support
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SSSC

series device must have higher rated transformer and devices impacts active power flow
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UPFC

combination of StatCom and SSSC may control voltage, impedance, and angle impacts active and reactive power flow in line
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UPFC Topology

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Placement and Coordination of FACTS Devices

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Long-term Control -Power Flow control -FACTS scheduling -Economics

Dynamic Control -System oscillation damping -Voltage stability -FACTS ringing

Is there a one-size-fits-all controller?

Local Control -Control target acquisition -Power electronics topology -Modulation strategies

time
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Steady-State Power Flow Control

UPFC SSSC TCSC TCPAR
These devices can affect active power flow

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Approaches
Sensitivity analysis

bij t

t g

g ij t

Where is the change in power transfer capacity in response to an addition of t compensation in line i-j with admittance bij+j gij and b and g are sensitivity parameters
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 Optimization (optimal power flow) with genetic algorithms to minimize some cost function
Generation costs Congestion Problem is nonlinear, non-smooth, and non-convex
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 Max-flow (graph theory) uses forward and backward labeling from source to sink to dynamically determine line flows

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Issues and Challenges

Dynamic Coordination of FACTS settings
Security Economics Droop

Hierarchical or local control of FACTS?

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Dynamic Control
transient stability improvement inter-area oscillation damping voltage collapse avoidance subsynchronous resonance mitigation Each control objective will (possibly) require a different FACTS placement
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Issues
Most dynamic control development has concentrated on SMIB or very small two-area systems How is control implemented in a large nonlinear interconnected dynamic network?
FACTS-FACTS interaction FACTS-generator interaction

Hardware/field verification limited

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Challenges to FACTS Implementation

Unbalanced operation Harmonics Integration of Energy Storage (BESS, SMES, flywheels) Power electronic topologies Power electronics devices
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StatCom/BESS

voltages
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active power

SSSC/BESS

voltages
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active power

Issues
Most work considers only:
Simplified topologies UPFC = variable impedance StatCom = PV bus Three-phase balanced operation No harmonics Simulation based Isolated performance (no interactions)
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Cascaded Converter
Advantages
Use fewer components to achieve the same number of levels Has modularized circuitry which makes packaging possible Does not have balancing problem when with batteries

Disadvantages
Needs separate DC sources for active power conversion

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Diode-Clamped
Advantages The harmonic content decreases as the number of levels increases, thus reducing the size of filters Efficiency is high since devices are switched at the fundamental frequency It is easy to realize bi-directional active power flow with a BESS or other energy storage system Disadvantages: Requires a large number of high power clamping diodes if the number of levels is high A high voltage rating is required for the blocking diodes There is potentially a voltage balancing problem
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Food for thought

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Long-term Control -Power Flow control -FACTS scheduling -Economics

Dynamic Control -System oscillation damping -Voltage stability -FACTS ringing

Local Control -Control target acquisition -Power electronics topology -Modulation strategies

time
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 Conventional eigenvalue analysis cannot predict the high frequency self-modes of the several FACTS devices embedded in a large power system network. High frequency control interactions among the several FACTS devices must be checked using an EMTP-type program A promising technique is based on the use of high frequency eigenvalue calculation using Generalized Switching Function Models for the different FACTS devices under consideration.
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Series controllers
low loop impedance - the series controllers may experience a very strong interaction, and therefore these controllers must be designed in a coordinated way - the main linking variable among the series controllers is the ac current high loop impedance - no control interactions may be expected among series controllers
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HVDC
HVDC converters embedded in a large network will not experience control interactions if the transference impedances between their commutation busbars are high. This means that, in this case, the dc control design of each station can be based exclusively on the Short-Circuit Ratio (SCR) at its ac connection point.
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SCADA systems
Dedicated SCADA systems will have to be developed if global control of multiple FACTS controllers is desired. Currently available SCADA systems have a refresh rate of 1 second (maximum). This is sufficient for steady-state control dispatch of FACTS controllers. However, this is completely inadequate for dynamic control, especially if we consider that high frequency modes (10-100 Hz) may occur on FACTS assisted power systems
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Discussion

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