Voltage 

stability analysis 

Transmission system aspects
• Definition
• Si
Single‐Load Infinite‐Bus System
l L d I fi i B S
(SLIB system)
• Maximum deliverable power 
• Power‐voltage relationship 
Power‐voltage relationship
• Generator reactive power requirement 
• Methods of improving Voltage Stability 
(
(series, shunt, SVC)
, , )
Voltage stability
Defn
Voltage stability is the ability of a power
system to maintain steady acceptable
voltages
l at all
ll buses
b i the
in h system under
d
normal operating conditions and after
b i subjected
being bj d to a disturbance.
di b
• Voltage stability is the ability of a power
system to maintain voltage so that when
the system nominal load is increased the
MW transferred to that load will increase.
Classification of power system stability
Classification of power system stability
Classification of power system stability
• Long‐term voltage instability may take several minutes 
to several hours to occur.
to several hours to occur.
Power system voltages go unstable due to a 
failure to transmit sufficient reactive power to the 
points (the load area) where the Mvar is needed.
• Short‐term or transient voltage instability is a rapid 
event occurring in less than 15 seconds following the
event occurring in less than 15 seconds following the 
initial disturbance.
Motor stalling leads to a large increase in MVar
consumption. If a severe enough shortage of 
reactive power develops voltage instability. 
Causes, voltage instability
Causes, voltage instability 
• Voltage instability is primarily caused by an 
i
increase in system loading.
i t l di
In reality voltage instability is caused by many 
other additional factors such as: 
th dditi lf t h

wer limits
– the transmission capability of the network,
– generator reactive power and
t ti d

active pow
– characteristics of reactive compensation devices 
– voltage control limits,
voltage control limits

reaching re
– Line tripping or generator outages, etc. 

r
Single‐Load Infinite‐Bus System
(SLIB system)
The basic concept of voltage stability can be explained 
The basic concept of voltage stability can be explained
with the following  two terminal network.
The relationship p between the transmitted p power ((PR),
Receiving end voltage (VR) and the reactive power
injection (Qi) can be derived from this simple diagram.
The magnitude of the current is given by
The magnitude of the current is given by
After few rearrangements:

Receiving 
end voltage

Pr can be 
increased by 
increasing the  Supplied to 
source voltage  the load
and/or 
decreasing the
decreasing the 
angle Supplied 
to the load
The plots of I,V and PL are shown in Figure as a function of ZL/ ZD ratio for a 
specific value of θ and φ
Note!
• There is a maximum value of active power that can be
transmitted through an impedance from a constant voltage
source.
• The transmitted power reaches a maximum when the voltage 
drop in the line is equal to the load voltage V. 
p q g ((ZL = ZD )). 
• The critical operating condition, corresponding to maximum 
power, which is the limiting point of satisfactory operation. 
– For higher load demand, control of power by varying load 
would be unstable, as a reduction in load impedance will 
reduce power.
reduce power. 
– The load characteristics decides whether the system voltage 
decreases progressively and the system will become 
unstable. 
bl
Power‐voltage relationship
(Refer the two terminal network)
(Refer  the two terminal network)
After few substitutions

OR

This equation describes a 
Where φ as a 
family of curves with  
parameter One such P V
parameter. One such P‐V 
curve is shown, for a 
particular value of power 
factor cosφ in the figure 
below.
Point A – High voltage but low current
Point B – Low voltage high current
• Point A and the upper portion –
pp p stable
• Poinnt B and the lower portion – unstable
• As the load increases point A and point B
come closer and coincide at the tip of P‐V
curve – called maximum loading point or
critical point.
• Further
h i
increase i the
in h load
l d demand
d d
results in no intersection between the
l d h
load‐characteristic
i i and d PV
V curve and d
hence, represents voltage instability.
• The same equation shown earlier when 
plotted for different values of φ gives a 
family of P‐V curves known as nose 
curves. 
The impact of large a disturbance on voltage 
stability 
stability
• Large disturbance causes the loss of a
transmission line resulting in increases in
reactance X or loss of generator resulting in
reduction in E.

• The post disturbance PV curve and the load

• The critical voltage is 70% of nominal
• The critical MW transfer is 3000 MW.
Th iti l MW t f i 3000 MW
Once the critical values are exceeded the system has 
g y y
entered a condition of voltage instability. The system 
voltage could collapse at any time. 
Notes from the sample PV curve
Notes from the sample PV curve 
• As the MW transfer increases across the system, 
y ,
the voltage at the receiving bus (VR) slowly 
decreases.
• Any further increase in MW transfer beyond the 
Any further increase in MW transfer beyond the
“knee” of the P‐V curve leads to a rapid decrease 
in voltage.
• Therefore, the knee of the P‐V curve is the 
boundary between  voltage stability and voltage 
instability. 
instability
• The voltage and MW transfer levels at the knee of 
the curve are called the “critical” values.
Example

• If the nominal load were to grow any larger, the MW transferred to the load 
would actually begin to decrease.
ld ll b i d
• Once the MW transfer exceeds the critical value the system is voltage unstable
and a voltage collapse could occur at any time.
• If the power system is operated in the area of point “A”A , any
small increase in MW transfer leads to only a small decrease in
receiving end voltage, VR.
• In contrast, if the power system is operated in the area of point
“B”, any small increase in MW transfer leads to a large
decrease in VR. This is due to the heavy Mvar usage of the
system in the area of point “B”.
• The large
g voltageg dropsp that result from increased MW
transfers, in the area of point “B”, is due to the large Mvar
losses on the system.
• System operation to the right of point “B” must be avoided for
voltage instability concerns
Whose responsibility?
• P‐V curves are created by utility planning and
operating
p g engineers
g as an analysis
y tool to studyy
voltage instability in the power system.
• Many utilities that are concerned with voltage
collapse develop P‐V curves for different
operating conditions such as:
– equipment outages, 
– generation patterns, 
g p
– load levels, etc ‐ encountered on their systems. 
The operating restrictions associated with the curves are 
th di
then discussed with the system operations.
d ith th t ti
Methods of improving Voltage 
Stability (Term Paper)
Stability  (Term Paper)
Voltage stability can be improved by 
adopting the following means:
adopting the following means: 
• Enhancing the load reactive power 
support using shunt compensators
support using shunt compensators.
– Most inexpensive means of providing reactive
power and voltage
p g support
pp
– Limitations: the reactive power generated by a
shunt capacitor is proportional to the square
off the
h voltage,
l d i system conditions
during di i off low
l
voltage the var support drops, thus
compounding the problem
Methods (Cont’d)
( )
• Line length compensation using series
compensation.
Series capacitors are selfself‐regulating
regulating. The
reactive power supplied by series capacitors is
proportional to the square of the line current
and is independent of bus voltages. This has a
favourable effect on voltage stability.
stability
• Using FACTS controllers. 
Static  Var System (SVS)
SVC regulates voltage wiih in the regulating 
range with no instability problem. But when 
pushed to the limit or beyond the SVC beomes
a simple capacitor which may lead to instability.
i l it hi h l d t i t bilit
• Reduce the characteristic impedance
• Static synchronous condensor
i h d (
(STATCOM)/ 
)/
Synchronous condenser
H
Have an internal voltage source, these 
i t l lt th
continue to supply power down to relatively 
low voltage
low voltage
• Load shedding during contingencies.

• Constructing additional transmission lines.