POWER FLOW ANALYSIS OF POWER SYSTEM

EMBEDDED WITH UPFC USING PSASP PROGRAM

A. Mete Vural 1
1

Mehmet Tmay 2

[email protected]
[email protected]
Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, University of Gaziantep, 27310 Gaziantep/Turkey
2
Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Cukurova University, 01330 Adana/Turkey
Key words: Unified power flow controller, FACTS, simulation, power flow control

ABSTRACT
Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) is a very
superior high power compensator in which solidstate power electronic-based converters are
employed, able to control simultaneously or
selectively all three network parameters (voltage,
impedance, transmission angle) determining power
transmission. This paper shows that it is possible to
use currently available commercial software,
Power System Analysis Software Package
(PSASP), to easily simulate a UPFC embedded
within a power network. Computer simulation of
UPFC is conveniently obtained from a power
injection model, which is suitable for steady-state
studies. On the basis of computer modeling, case
studies would be useful to investigate potential
capabilities of an UPFC on active and reactive
power flows.
I. INTRODUCTION
The development of power electronic-based
Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) has been
initiated by Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI),
in which power flow is dynamically controlled by
various power electronic devices [1]. And because of
the fast progress in power electronics technology [2],
it becomes as a promising subject. Along with
advanced control techniques on FACTS devices,
transmission grid is getting more controllable and
flexible [3,4]. Among a variety of FACTS members,
UPFC is the most compete and versatile, capable of
acting over basic electrical system parameters; line
voltage, line impedance, and phase angle which
determine transmitted power [5,6,7]. Therefore it is
chosen as the focus of investigation. It allows to force
power transmit in prescribed routes in which the
power flow is solely governed by classical network
laws. Power flow in individual lines of the
transmission grid is determined by their impedance
and it often cannot be restricted to the desired power

corridors. As a consequence, power flow loops

develop and certain lines become overload, while
some of them are underloaded below their thermal
limit, all the situations lead to inefficient use of
transmission system and also with the overall effect of
deteriorating voltage profiles and decreased system
stability. [8]. Besides acting on power flow control,
the most important characteristics of UPFC are its
multiple control functions including, dynamic voltage
regulation, transient stability enhancement and
oscillation damping [9,10]. Comparison of UPFC,
with more conventional compensation method of
employing thyristor switched/controlled reactors
(TSC/TCR) and pure reactors shows its superior
performance including the unmatched capability of
using both reactive and real power compensation to
counteract dynamic disturbances, and being uniform
in applicability. Based on IEEE 14-bus test system
[11], a simulation study of UPFC is carried out in this
paper. Firstly a mathematical representation of UPFC
is developed based upon power injection model;
secondly a method embedded in PSASP is applied to
adopt the model for location of UPFC on a
transmission line in IEEE 14-bus test system. The
static characteristics of the system with UPFC under
normal operating conditions, including the control
effects of UPFC on various operational parameters
and the steady-state response of the system when
UPFC input parameters are being changed, is
investigated.
II. A BRIEF REVIEW OF UPFC
Figure 1 shows the schematic diagram of the basic
structure of an UPFC. It consists of shunt and series
connected power electronic-based voltage sourced
converters, two coupling transformers, Trsh and Trse,
and a dc link capacitor, C. Power converters are
constructed by GTO thyristor valves and diodes. The
principal function of the converters is to emulate

symmetrical ac output voltages with controllable

magnitude and phase angle at their ac output
terminals. The formation of ac voltages might be
implemented principally by two approaches. Firstly,
the outputs of multiple converter units giving
symmetrical square waveform are shifted in phase and
summed to give multi-pulse nearly sinusoidal
waveform by means of a magnetic structure. This
method requires low pulse number design for each
unit, but multi-level structure introduces complexity
into the magnetic structure and its related controls.
Another approach is that using sinusoidal pulse width
modulation technique (SPWM), which can be an
alternative to improve the shortcomings mentioned
above. In case of SPWM technique, the magnetic
structure is even simpler and since high number of
pulses is aimed, the harmonic injection into the power
system would not be too large. Generally the more
number of pulses are achieved, the fewer amounts of
adverse effects of harmonics are introduced into the
power system. Operating losses of the converters
should also be taken into account in terms of
efficiency.
BUS i

Vse

Transmission Line

Trse

Trsh

BUS j

P
Shunt Converter

Measurements

DC link

Control

Series Converter

Set points

Figure 1 Basic schematic diagram of UPFC

In Figure 1 also the directions of both real power
flow P, and reactive power flow Q in UPFC may be
observed. The dc link provides a path for active power
exchange between the two converters, while each
converter can either deliver or consume reactive
power at their output terminals. In a UPFC, the series
connected converter can perform the main function of
power flow control by inserting a controllable voltage,
Vse into the transmission line through transformer,
Trse. Meanwhile shunt connected converter is used to
balance the real power, which is injected into or
absorbed from the transmission line by the series
connected converter via the dc-linked capacitor. Since
each converter unit is capable of performing reactive
power compensation, shunt connected one may also
be used for dynamic voltage control. Since the
objective of this study is both to develop a sufficient
steady-state model of UPFC for representing it in
PSASP and to investigate the capabilities of UPFC on
active and reactive power flow control, thereby the
following assumptions are made.

UPFC is simulated on a concept of power

injection model based on the idea of representing
the ac outputs of the two converters as ideal
sinusoidal voltage sources of which the
magnitude and phase angle are fully and

independently controllable. So the outputs of the

converters are assumed to be harmonic free.
The dynamics of switching behavior of the
converters and the coupling transformers are
neglected.
At the same time, the voltage of the DC link
capacitor is assumed to be constant, i.e., the
dynamics of the DC link are ignored. Thereby the
active power exchange between the series and
shunt converter are assumed to be fully satisfied.

If a dynamic study were to be carried out, in order to

obtain accurate simulation results, the factors listed
above should be taken into account in order to reflect
precisely
and
thoroughly
the
operational
characteristics of the UPFC and its effects on power
network.
III. UPFC POWER INJECTION MODEL
Power injected model of UPFC can be derived by
referring Figure 2. Bus i and Bus j are added to system
by incoming of UPFC. Sending-end and Receivingend Buses are the two buses belonging to transmission
line on which UPFC might be sited. The converters
are realized as controllable voltage sources and
transformers as leakage reactances. The transmission
line is modelled by its nominal -equivalent circuit
and transmission line current is flowing through
voltage source Vse, causing an active power exchange,
Pseries, between UPFC and power system through shunt
branch.
Sending
End

Vi i

+ ~

Vsh

~
~ Vi
IL

Vj j

X se

Pseries

X sh

BUS i

~
Vse

BUS j

Receiving
End

rL

xL

B/2

B/2

Pshunt

Figure 2 UPFC equivalent circuit in case of UPFC

location near sending-end bus
By using the transformation from thevenin equivalent
circuit into norton equivalent circuit, series connection
of voltage sources and reactances can be transformed
into shunt connection of current sources and
susceptances. This transformation enables developing
injected power model of UPFC. After a number of
calculation steps [12], UPFC power injection model
derived in polar form as injections of powers, Pi,upfc,
Pj,upfc, Qi,upfc, and Qj,upfc at Bus i and Bus j is obtained
as shown in Figure 3. At the derivations the total
efficiency of UPFC is taken as 98% [13].
Sending
End

Vj j

Vii

Qi,upfc
Pi,upfc
BUS i

Xse

Qj,upfc

~
IL

Pj,upfc

BUS j

Receiving
End

rL

xL

B/2

B/2

Figure 3 UPFC power injection model

Power injections, Pi,upfc, Pj,upfc, Qi,upfc, and Qj,upfc are

derived as follows:

g am m a

Y=A

TM1

b se

Y=A

TM2

Y=A

TM3

p i/180

Y=A

TM8

Pi ,upfc = 0.02rb se Vi Sin

1.02rb se Vi V j Sin( i j + )

TM1
TM2

(1)

VT 1

AX 1*X2

VT 1

Q i ,upfc = rb se Vi Cos

(2)

Pj,upfc = rb se Vi V j Sin( i j + )

(3)

Q j,upfc = rb se Vi V j Cos( i j + )

AN G B 1
AN G B 2

AX 1+B X2

AX 1+B X2

TM3

TM8

TM6

TM7
VT 1
VT 2

TM1
AX 1*X2

AX 1*X2

TM4

TM3

AX 1*X2

COS

TM7

PSASP is a newly developed power system analysis

software package developed by EPRI China [14], has
capability of creating user-defined models of many
types of power system equipment. The block diagram
of user-defined model of UPFC is drawn in Figure 4.
Many blocks constitute the model and the functions of
them are explained in Table 1. When constructing
user-defined model, the following situations are
realized.
UPFC user-defined model is completely
developed based upon power injection model
derived in equations [1-4].
Two P-Q buses (load buses) must be created on
transmission line where UPFC is considered to be
located.
The transmission line data must be modified,
depending on the location of UPFC, sending-end
side, receiving-end side, or middle of line
position.
Series reactance Xse, leakage reactance of series
coupling transformer of UPFC, must be
considered in order to represent the model
correctly.

P j,up fc

AX 1*X2

Q j,up fc

P i,up fc

AX 1*X2

TM5

Q i,up fc

AX 1*X2

TM5

Figure 4 Block diagram of user-defined model of

UPFC
V. SIMULATION SCENARIOS
Power flow case studies on IEEE 14-bust test system
with embedded UPFC, shown in Figure 5 is carried
out using PSASP. Newton (Power) calculation method
is selected Allowed iteration tolerance is taken as 1E-6
in all of the cases. Four different cases are considered
in simulations. First of all and without any
compensation, the electrical system is studied in order
to determine the load flow in each of the transmission
line. This allows to have a general idea about system
steady-state operation. Then UPFC siting is chosen
arbitrarily as near Bus 2 location on line (2-5), but
thought to be near power generation sections.
Different UPFC parameters are set to activate UPFC,
the transmitted active and reactive power of all of the
lines has remarkably changed. Table 2 shows the
selected results of the load flow analysis as well as
total transmission losses.

B12

Table 1 Blocks and their functions constituting userdefined model

Name of Block Function
Y=A
Constant parameter block; input is
equal to pre-defined constant A
AX1*X2
Multiplication block; multiplies the
two inputs and outputs the result
AX1+BX2
Summing block; summes the two
inputs and outputs the result
SIN
Sine block; take the sine of input
and outputs the result
COS
Cosine block; take the cosine of
input and outputs the result

AX 1*X2

AX 1+B X2

SIN

COS

TM6

AX 1*X2

TM6

IV. UPFC IMPLEMENTATION IN PSASP

SIN
AX 1*X2

(4)

TM8

TM5

AX 1*X2

TM4

Where
r is per unit magnitude of Vse,
is phase angle of Vse, with respect to i,
bse is reciprocal of Xse, leakage susceptance of series
coupling transformer.

TM4

AX 1*X2

B13

B14

L 16

L9

L11

L 17

L10
B11

L8

L 10
G en .

B1

L9

S yn . C .

B6
L 15

L5
S lac k
Bus
L1
B2
L1

L2

L 14

B9

B10

B8

L 13

L7
L6

T r.

B5

L 12

T r.

B4

L7

L5

L4

T r.

G en .
L4

L3
L6

L3

B3

L 11

B7

S yn . C .

L2

Figure 5 IEEE 14-bus test system

S yn . C .

Comparing load flow solutions of the system without

and with UPFC, it can easily be concluded that userdefined model for UPFC developed in this study is
working properly that Table 2 shows a clear
convergence of program in case of different UPFC
parameters. Also the model is efficient on analysis of
power flow and control parameters of UPFC. The
simulation results regarding the system voltage profile
can also be observed in Figure 5.
Figure 6 Voltage Profile of test system

Table 2 Load flow results of the IEEE 14-Bus test

system with and without UPFC
Without UPFC
UPFC parameters
r=0.0
=0.0
Power flow in (pu)
Line
P+jQ
L1
1.5512-j0.2296
L2
0.7774-j0.1363
L3
0.7176+j0.0132
L4
0.5564-j0.1648
L5
0.4183-j0.1927
L7
-0.6114-j0.055
Transmission Losses
Active (MW)
13.83
11.02
Case 2
UPFC Parameters
r=0.1
=90.0
Power flow in (pu)
Line
P+jQ
L1
0.6586+j0.0045
L2
0.5223-j0.1303
L3
0.7129+j0.0136
L4
0.5496-j0.1791
L5
-0.4284-j0.1910
L7
-0.6234-j0.0944
Transmission Losses
Active (MW)
10.21
9.61

Case 1
UPFC parameters
r=0.05
=45.0
Power flow in (pu)
P+jQ
1.2055-j0.1448
0.7002-j0.1770
0.7190+j0.0130
0.5665-j0.2031
0.0777-j0.04151
-0.6052-j0.1587
Transmission Losses
Reactive (MVAR)
11.91
12.55
Case 3
UPFC Parameters
r=0.12
=15.0
Power flow in (pu)
Line
P+jQ
L1
1.2375-j0.1529
L2
0.6898-j0.2461
L3
0.7009+j0.0149
L4
0.5383-j0.2507
L5
0.1548+j0.02262
L7
-0.6533-j0.2907
Transmission Losses
Active (MW)
12.66
13.03

VI. CONCLUSIONS
An injected power model for evaluating UPFC steadystate performance is developed and adopted into a
user-defined model in PSASP in this study. The
software used in this study is a very practical and
useful software package that allows modeling of
complex devices, such as UPFC. The application has
been verified and tested on IEEE 14-bus test system in
which UPFC is sited on a transmission line.
Numerical computations have shown that the
algorithm is effective in terms of computational speed
and convergence. The case studies demonstrate that
the UPFC is able to control both active and reactive
power transmit on transmission lines. The studies on
the IEEE 14-bus test system also show that the
incoming of UPFC can disturb system voltage profile
at the neighboring buses to UPFC located line
significantly unless a voltage regulation support at
those buses is provided.
VII. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE
WORK
The study may be expanded by using a closed-loop
feedback control algorithm in order to regulate active
and reactive power flows on transmission lines so as
to keep them in pre-defined values. This situation is
considered as a prospective study by the authors.
VIII. REFERENCES

Table 2 PSASP calculation performance

Iteration
number

Accuracy

4
8
7
6

0.000000
0.000000
0.000000
0.000000

UPFC parameters
r (pu)
0.0
0.12
0.1
0.05

(degrees)
0.0
15.0
90.0
45.0

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