Electric Power System Operations with a Variable Series Reactor

Series FACTS devices, such as a Variable Series Reactor (VSR), have the ability to continuously regulate the transmission line reactance so as to control power ow. This research work evaluates the benefits brought by VSRs in different aspects of power system and develops efficient planning models and algorithms to provide optimal investment plan for the VSRs. First, an optimization approach capable of finding both optimal locations and settings of VSRs under a specific operating condition is developed. The tool implements a full ac model as well as detailed models for different power system components. Second, an optimization tool which can optimally allocate VSRs to improve the load margin in a transmission network considering a multi-scenario framework including base case and some critical contingencies is proposed. Starting from a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model, a reformulation technique is leveraged to transform the MINLP model into a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model so that it is computationally tractable for large scale power systems. Detailed numerical simulations on the practical Northwest US power network demonstrate the proposed technique and the capability of VSRs. Third, the VSR is introduced in the Transmission Expansion Planning (TEP) problem. A security constrained multi-stage TEP with the VSR is formulated as an MILP model. To reduce the computational burden for a practical large scale system, a decomposition approach is proposed. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach and show that the appropriately allocated VSRs allow reduced planning costs. Fourth, in order to investigate the economic benefits brought by VSR in contingencies, a planning model to allocate VSR considering different operating conditions and the N - 1 contingencies is formulated. We consider a single target year planning. Three distinct load patterns which represent peak, normal and low load level are selected to accommodate the yearly load profile. The transmission contingencies can occur in any of the three load conditions. A two phase Benders decomposition is proposed to solved the large scale MILP model. Simulation results on the IEEE-118 bus system and the practical Polish system establish the efficient performance of the proposed algorithm

Risk-based security assessment for operating electric power systems

The power system is a widespread and complex network whose complete behavior, at present, still remains partially characterized. Power systems have operated in most cases reliably, but conservatively with the help of many deterministic techniques that rely heavily on the modeling of system components and the associated dynamics. Now, with increasing competition and growing demand, the power system, however, has been shifting from a deterministically regulated system to a competitive and uncertain market environment. Power utilities are required to have a comprehensive knowledge of the risks as well as benefits in their transmission operations. Our interest is motivated by this need of the industry to provide a method to quantify the risk of operating a power system with consideration to the probabilistic nature of system behaviors. The objective of this dissertation is to develop a foundation of risk-based bulk power system security assessment that leads to the definition, calculation, and application of the risk in operating electric power systems. The work includes three parts of risk assessments: transmission line thermal overload, voltage insecurity, and composite risk assessments. Both the probability of insecurity problems and their cost consequences are measured such that an expected monetary impact is given as the measurement of risk. This quantitative measurement of thermal, voltage, and composite risk is helpful for the operator to trade off the benefits and costs in the competitive utility environment. For making this economic tradeoff, several decision criteria, including both deterministic and probabilistic strategies, from conservative to greedy preference, are introduced to aid the operator to make operating decisions. This research establishes a bridge between power system security and economics by the index of risk that is compatible with the economic results of market-based electricity trading. Both the method to quantify the risk and the ways to apply it in decision-making make contributions to the power industry

Enhancing the performance of flexible AC transmission systems (FACTS) by computational intelligence

The thesis studies and analyzes UPFC technology concerns the management of active and reactive power in the power networks to improve the performance aiming to reach the best operation criteria. The contributions of the thesis start with formatting, deriving, coding and programming the network equations required to link UPFC steady-state and dynamic models to the power systems. The thesis derives GA applications on UPFC to achieve real criteria on a real world sub-transmission network. An enhanced GA technique is proposed by enhancing and updating the working phases of the GA including the objective function formulation and computing the fitness using the diversity in the population and selection probability. The simulations and results show the advantages of using the proposed technique. Integrating the results by linking the case studies of the steady-state and the dynamic analysis is achieved. In the dynamic analysis section, a new idea for integrating the GA with ANFIS to be applied on the control action procedure is presented. The main subject of the thesis deals with enhancing the steady-state and dynamics performance of the power grids by Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) based on computational intelligence. Control of the electric power system can be achieved by designing the FACTS controller, where the new trends as Artificial Intelligence can be applied to this subject to enhance the characteristics of controller performance. The proposed technique will be applied to solve real problems in a Finnish power grid. The thesis seeks to deal, solve, and enhance performances until the year 2020, where the data used is until the conditions of year 2020. The FACTS device, which will be used in the thesis, is the most promising one, which known as the Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC). The thesis achieves the optimization of the type, the location and the size of the power and control elements for UPFC to optimize the system performance. The thesis derives the criteria to install the UPFC in an optimal location with optimal parameters and then designs an AI based damping controller for enhancing power system dynamic performance. In this thesis, for every operating point GA is used to search for controllers' parameters, parameters found at certain operating point are different from those found at others. ANFISs are required in this case to recognize the appropriate parameters for each operating point

SVC device optimal location for voltage stability enhancement based on a combined particle swarm optimization-continuation power flow technique

The increased power system loading combined with the worldwide power industry deregulation requires more reliable and efficient control of the power flow and network stability. Flexible AC transmission systems (FACTS) devices give new opportunities for controlling power and enhancing the usable capacity of the existing transmission lines. This paper presents a combined application of the particle swarm optimization (PSO) and the continuation power flow (CPF) technique to determine the optimal placement of static var compensator (SVC) in order to achieve the static voltage stability margin. The PSO objective function to be maximized is the loading factor to modify the load powers. In this scope, two SVC constraints are considered: the reference voltage in the first case and the total reactance and SVC reactive power in the second case. To test the performance of the proposed method, several simulations were performed on IEEE 30-Bus test systems. The results obtained show the effectiveness of the proposed method to find the optimal placement of the static var compensator and the improvement of the voltage stability

Optimization Methods Applied to Power Systems Ⅱ

Electrical power systems are complex networks that include a set of electrical components that allow distributing the electricity generated in the conventional and renewable power plants to distribution systems so it can be received by final consumers (businesses and homes). In practice, power system management requires solving different design, operation, and control problems. Bearing in mind that computers are used to solve these complex optimization problems, this book includes some recent contributions to this field that cover a large variety of problems. More specifically, the book includes contributions about topics such as controllers for the frequency response of microgrids, post-contingency overflow analysis, line overloads after line and generation contingences, power quality disturbances, earthing system touch voltages, security-constrained optimal power flow, voltage regulation planning, intermittent generation in power systems, location of partial discharge source in gas-insulated switchgear, electric vehicle charging stations, optimal power flow with photovoltaic generation, hydroelectric plant location selection, cold-thermal-electric integrated energy systems, high-efficiency resonant devices for microwave power generation, security-constrained unit commitment, and economic dispatch problems

Contribution to wide area control of power systems

L'objectif principal des réseaux électriques est de convertir l'énergie d'une forme naturelle à la forme électrique et aussi de la distribuer aux clients avec la meilleure qualité. L'énergie électrique est une des formes d'énergie les plus utilisées dans l'industrie, dans les résidences, aux bureaux et dans le transport. Présentement, la complexité des réseaux électriques augmente continuellement en raison de la croissance des interconnexions et de l'utilisation des nouvelles technologies. Également, la croissance de la demande d'énergie électrique a forcé l'utilisation des réseaux électriques à leur capacité maximale et donc près de la limite de stabilité. Dans ces conditions, si le système est soumis à une perturbation, la chute de la tension ou celle de la fréquence serait très probable. Par conséquent, les équipements de contrôle, qui constituent une structure avec plusieurs niveaux de contrôle, peuvent aider les réseaux électriques à surmonter les événements imprévus. Les récentes pannes dans les réseaux électriques démontrent le besoin urgent d'une structure de contrôles multi-niveaux basés sur une technologie avec très rapide réponse appelée en anglais Wide Area Measurement and Control system (WAMAC). Présentement, le Wide Area Measurement System (WAMS) qui utilise le Global Positioning System (GPS) et la technologie satellite, joue un rôle important dans différentes parties du système de contrôle des réseaux électriques pour emp^echer les pannes globales ou locales du système. Les informations transférées par cette technologie seraient employées dans un contrôleur global appelé Wide Area Controller en anglais pour améliorer la performance dynamique des réseaux électriques pendant et après les perturbations. Donc, pour implémenter un Wide-Area Controller dans cette thèse, nous présenterons un plan multi-étapes pour l'amélioration de la stabilité du système et l'amortissement des oscillations du réseau. La première étape de ce plan serait l'estimation d'état dynamique des réseaux électriques en utilisant des phaseurs qui sont accessibles de Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU). Les angles des machines synchrones estimés à la première étape, qui pourrait nous montrer l'état des oscillations du réseau, seront utilisés comme des signaux d'entrée pour le contrôleur. La deuxième étape de notre plan est de trouver les meilleurs eplacements des dispositifs FACTS sur le réseau électrique pour augmenter la puissance transmise dans le réseau, maximiser la chargeabilité et minimiser les pertes. Après le placement optimal des dispositifs FACTS, la troisième étape consiste à implémenter le Wide-Area Controller. Ce contrôleur reçoit les états estimés, qui sont disponibles à partir des résultats de la première étape, et d'autres informations de partout dans le réseau en utilisant des PMUs. Après la vérification des signaux reçus, le contrôleur commande des contrôleurs locaux, tels que les contrôleurs des dispositifs FACTS qui ont été placés de façon optimale à la deuxième étape. Le contrôleur implémenté modifie les signaux de référence des éléments locaux pour améliorer la performance dynamique du système et amortir les oscillations du réseau.The main goal of power system is to convert the energy from one of its natural forms to the electrical form and deliver it to the costumers with the best quality. So far, the complexity of power system is continually increasing because of the growth in interconnections and use of new technologies. Also, the growth of electrical energy demand has forced the power networks to work with the maximum possible capacity and in turn near the stability limits. In this condition, if the system is subjected to a disturbance, the voltage or frequency collapse events would be more probable. Therefore the control equipments, which constitute a multi level control structure, can help the power system to overcome the contingencies. Recent collapse events in the power system networks show the urgent need for such a multi level control structure based on a rapid response technology such as Wide Area Measurement and Control (WAMAC). Nowadays, the wide area measurement and monitoring, which uses the Global Positioning System (GPS) and satellite technology, plays an important role in different parts of power system control strategies to prevent from global or local collapses. The information transferred by this technology would be employed in a master central controller, called wide area controller, to improve the power system dynamic performance during and after disturbances. From this point of view, in this thesis we will present a multi-step plan for system stability improvement and network oscillations damping by implementing a FACTS-based wide-area power oscillation damper (WA-POD) controller. The frrst step of this plan would be the dynamic state estimation of power system using the phasor measurements signals accessible from Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs). The estimated rotor angles of the synchronous machines from the first step, which could show us the network oscillations condition, will be used as the input signals of the wide-area controller. The second step of this plan is to find the best locations of FACTS devices to increase the power transmitted by network, maximize the system loadability and minimize the transmission line losses. After optimal placement of FACTS controllers, the third step is to implement a wide-area damping controller which receives the estimated rotor angles, available from the results of step one, and other information from all over the network, and then modifies the set points of optimized local control utilities such as FACTS device controllers. The implemented wide area controller, which acts as a master controller, sends the reference signals and setpoints to the local FACTS controllers such as UPFC to improve the oscillations damping performance. This result in higher transfer limits across major transmission interfaces and less blackouts in terms of frequency, duration and consequences