1

Security Issues of Power System Interconnection

Mo-Shing Chen, Emeritus Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington

Abstract--Voltage stability, transient stability and dynamic disturbance. The system is said to be stable in transient state if
stability studies are three approaches to power system security the rotor angle separation between any two machines tends to
studies. keep in a certain range after the disturbance. On the other
For evaluation of the synchronous interconnection of the African hand, the system is transient unstable if the rotor angles keep
regional power pools interconnection, security issues should be
running away. Figure 1 illustrates the stable and unstable cases
taken care of before any economic analysis is done. Power system
security studies have been used in industries only in time of during a transient period for a four-machine system. Figure1
planning. This paper will address a futural real time security (a) is stable case because the difference between any two rotor
system in operation of deregulated power pools. angles is within a certain range though the rotors are speeding
up. Figure 1(b) shows generators separated in two groups and
Keywords-- Dynamic stability, power system margin, power their rotor angles continue to drift apart. Therefore, (b) is
system operation, real-time, security, transient stability, voltage unstable case.
stability
III. DYNAMIC STABILITY
I. INTRODUCTION OF STABILITY
Dynamic stability is the ability of a power system to return
S tability is categorized as synchronous or angular stability
and voltage stability depending on the quantities in which
one is interested. Synchronous stability is focused on rotor
to its initial state or reach another steady state nearby after a
small disturbance. Dynamic stability of a system can be
understood by looking at the damping of the system
angles or frequencies of generators and voltage stability is oscillation, which can be triggered by either an unexpected
focused on bus voltages. Depending on the time-period one is disturbance, or a regular operation of the power system. The
observing, stability can be categorized as transient stability oscillation should die out in several seconds after the
and dynamic stability. The observed time-period for transient disturbance for a strong system, Figure 2(a). If the oscillation
stability is about a couple of swings after the disturbance. That is decaying slowly, Figure 2(b), then the system has bad
of dynamic stability is normally 1 to 6 seconds after the dynamic characteristics. If the system has a lasting oscillation,
disturbance. However, if necessary, the simulation time can be Figure 2(c), or even diverging oscillation, Figure 2(d), the
longer than 10 seconds. Table 1 summarizes different system is dynamically unstable. The poor damping of the
categories of stability. oscillation signals a narrow stability margin of the power
system. With this small margin, the system operators must be
Table 1 Categories of power system stability very careful when they are executing the system operations
Transient Dynamic because the operation criteria might not apply. The same
Stability Stability operation might drive the system to an unstable area though it
Synchronous Observe Observe dynamic was good yesterday.
Stability transient response (1~6 In a power system, it may be stable during transient period
response (1~2 Seconds after but unstable during dynamic period, as shown in Figure 3.
Swings after disturbance) of
disturbance) of generators
generators Rotor Angle

Voltage Observe Observe dynamic

Stability transient response (1~6
response (1 or 2 Seconds after
swings after disturbance) of bus
disturbance) of voltages
1
bus voltages 2

II. TRANSIENT STABILITY 4

For transient stability, one is interested in the system’s

ability to survive a large disturbance, such as a fault, or a
sudden change in generation, load, or system configuration,
without a prolonged loss of synchronism. In this part, people Time
(a) Stable
just look at the rotor angle behavior of generators after the
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Rotor Angle

1
2

4 (c)

Time
(a) Unstable
Figure 1 Rotor angle behavior during a transient

Both of two generators speed up after the fault and one would
say that the system is transient stable from the first swing of
rotor angles. After the first swing, the rotor angles begin a
divergent oscillation, which is unstable. One of the
phenomena of dynamic stability problems is the oscillation.
The frequency of the oscillation is between 0.2 and 10 Hz.
Thus, this oscillation is called low frequency oscillation since (d)
its frequency is low compared to system frequency. Figure 2 Oscillations

Rotor Angle

Dynamic
unstable

(a)
Transient
stable

Figure 3 Transient stable and dynamic unstable Time

System oscillation is often found in an interconnected

system. Power oscillation begins when the power flow on the
tie line linking two areas in the system increases to some level.
The oscillation disappears if the power flow is reduced.
Therefore, the transmission capacities of tie lines are subject
to a stability limit and, unfortunately, the stability limit is
normally lower than thermal limit.
(b) System dynamic characteristics are changing not only with
system expansion, but also with system operation. The power
system might have spontaneous low frequency oscillation
without any known specific disturbance if the system is
operating near the dynamic stability margin. Actually, there
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must be some but not special disturbance. Because the system power interruption to customers, but also in mass
is near the margin, this disturbance happens to drive the transportation and industrial manufacturing. The losses to the
system to an unstable area and triggers the spontaneous power utility are in both finance and customer service.
oscillation. Once the disturbance disappears, the oscillation Voltage collapse is generally caused by increasing load and
will be decaying slowly. Figure 4 is the example of a the deficient reactive power supply. It is a combinatorial
spontaneous low frequency oscillation observed on April 1991 problem affected by both system and load characteristics. The
in a power system. The oscillation frequency is about 0.8 Hz. power-voltage characteristics of a power system are
Figure 4(a) is the system frequency oscillation and 4(b) is the represented by a P-V curve. In the Figure 5, one of the P-V
real power oscillation of a nuclear unit. curves represents the present system, which has limited
Since the power system is always subject to small reactive sources. The other curve shows the PV curve with
disturbances, dynamic stability is essential for system plenty of regulating reactive source devices.
operation, particularly if the system is operated at a tight
dynamic stability margin.
Frequency (Hz)

System Load (GW)

Fig 5 PV curve of a power system

4(a) System frequency oscillation

It is clear from the figure that the degree of stability cannot
be judged based on how close the bus voltage is to the normal
level. The power industry is basically just using the magnitude
of bus voltage as a measurement of voltage stability.
Generator Output (12MW/Div)

V. TODAY’S CONGESTION MANAGEMENT

• Only check the thermal limit

• Real-time limit is not there
• No voltage stability limit
• No transient stability limit
• No dynamic stability limit
4(b) Real power oscillation
• The responsibility of system congestion due to single
Spontaneous low frequency oscillation contingency is not clear
If we study the detailed story of the August 2003 U.S.
blackout, we will learn that the security issues of power
IV. VOLTAGE STABILITY system must be handled with a different approach.

Power system shall be operated securely not only in usual

conditions, but also when there exist disturbances. The power VI. CONCLUSION
system is stable when the system is able to restore to its initial
condition or reach another steady state, which is acceptable in Today’s control room, the power system operator does not
terms of operational standards after experiencing a know the system margin. All utility’s operation control system
disturbance. For voltage stability, the system should be able to should provide the following:
keep the magnitudes of bus voltages when experiencing the • Real-time data of system margin
disturbance. • Operator is informed and involved
Power failures caused by voltage instability, or so called • System identifies weak bus(es) of system
voltage collapse, that led to power system blackouts have been • Dynamic load-shedding (if necessary)
reported in many countries, such as Sweden, France, Japan • An intelligent system should be installed immediately at
and the United States of America (including Aug-2003 all ISO facilities
Blackout). The affected area, because of voltage instability, A conceptual design of an intelligent system is shown below.
can be metropolitan or nation wide. The effects are not only in
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Yes (1) No
Operator
Takes Action
?

Plan B(2)
Rem edy

Status B
Sy stem Data Evaluate System Status A
Calculate System Intelligent Relay s Plan A(2)
Status Based on
OM Monitoring Rem edy
OM
Status C

Plan C(2)
P-V Curve Rem edy
Display

(1)
Operator Takes No
Action
?

Yes

Note: (1) Preventive actions include Re-dispatch, Shedding interruptible loads, Shedding weak bus loads, etc.
(2) Plans A, B, C remedies

Figure 6 Conceptual design of an intelligent control-room operating system

VII. BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Mo-Shing Chen is an IEEE fellow. Currently he is

Emeritus professor of Electrical Engineering at University of
Texas at Arlington. He was recipient of the first Edison Power
Engineering Educational Award. He has published more than
100 papers on IEEE and other professional journals.