ECEN 615

Methods of Electric Power

Systems Analysis
Lecture 2: Power Systems Overview

Prof. Tom Overbye

Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Texas A&M University
[email protected]
Announcements
• RSVP to Alex at [email protected] for the
TAMU ECE Energy and Power Group (EPG)
picnic. It starts at 5pm on September 27, 2019
• Start reading Chapters 1 to 3 from the book (more
as background material)
• Download the 42 bus educational versions of
PowerWorld Simulator and the DS at
https://www.powerworld.com/gloveroverbyesarma

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Texas Electricity Sources
• In 2017 the Texas top five fuel sources for
electricity were Natural Gas (45%), Coal (30%),
Wind (14.8%), Nuclear (8.5%) and Other Gas
(0.5%) (almost tied with Solar)
• In 2017 the California top five fuel sources for
electricity were Natural Gas (43%), Hydro
(20.5%), Solar (11.8%), Nuclear (8.7%), and Wind
(6.2%)
• In 2017 the Kentucky top five fuel sources for
electricity were Coal (78%), Natural Gas (14.2%),
Hydro (6.1%), Petroleum (0.7%) and Wood (0.5%)
Source: www.eia.gov/electricity/state
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History, cont’d

• 1896 – ac lines deliver electricity from hydro

generation at Niagara Falls to Buffalo, 20 miles
away; also 30kV line in Germany
• Early 1900’s – Private utilities supply all customers
in area (city); recognized as a natural monopoly;
states step in to begin regulation
• By 1920’s – Large interstate holding companies
control most electricity systems

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History, cont’d

• 1935 – Congress passes Public Utility Holding

Company Act to establish national regulation, breaking
up large interstate utilities (repealed 2005)
• This gave rise to electric utilities that only operated in one state
• 1935/6 – Rural Electrification Act brought electricity
to rural areas
• 1930’s – Electric utilities established as vertical
monopolies
• Frequency standardized in the 1930’s

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Vertical Monopolies

• Within a particular geographic market, the electric

utility had an exclusive franchise
Generation In return for this exclusive
franchise, the utility had the
Transmission obligation to serve all
existing and future customers
at rates determined jointly
Distribution
by utility and regulators
Customer Service
It was a “cost plus” business

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Vertical Monopolies

• Within its service territory each utility was the only

game in town
• Neighboring utilities functioned more as colleagues
than competitors
• Utilities gradually interconnected their systems so
by 1970 transmission lines crisscrossed North
America, with voltages up to 765 kV
• Economies of scale keep resulted in decreasing
rates, so most every one was happy

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History, cont’d -- 1970’s

• 1970’s brought inflation, increased fossil-fuel

prices, calls for conservation and growing
environmental concerns
• Increasing rates replaced decreasing ones
• As a result, U.S. Congress passed Public Utilities
Regulator Policies Act (PURPA) in 1978, which
mandated utilities must purchase power from
independent generators located in their service
territory (modified 2005)
• PURPA introduced some competition

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History, cont’d – 1990’s & 2000’s

• Major opening of industry to competition occurred as

a result of National Energy Policy Act of 1992
• This act mandated that utilities provide
“nondiscriminatory” access to the high voltage
transmission
• Goal was to set up true competition in generation
• Result over the last few years has been a dramatic
restructuring of electric utility industry (for better or
worse!)
• Energy Bill 2005 repealed PUHCA; modified PURPA

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Electricity Prices, 1960-2010

Source: EIA, Annual Energy Review, 2010, Figure 8.10

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Utility Restructuring

• Driven by significant regional variations in electric

rates
• Goal of competition is to reduce rates through the
introduction of competition
• Eventual goal is to allow consumers to choose their
electricity supplier

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State Variation in Electric Rates

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The Rise of Natural Gas Generation

Source: US EIA, 2016

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August 14th, 2003 Blackout

Above image from energy.gov, August 14, 2003 Blackout

Final Report

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My Favorite 8/14/2003 Blackout
Cartoon!

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My Favorite Blackout Hoax Photo

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345 kV+ Transmission Growth at a
Glance (From Jay Caspary)

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345 kV+ Transmission Growth at a
Glance (From Jay Caspary)

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345 kV+ Transmission Growth at a
Glance (From Jay Caspary)

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345 kV+ Transmission Growth at a
Glance (From Jay Caspary)

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The Smart Grid
• The term “Smart Grid” dates officially to the 2007
“Energy Independence and Security Act”, Title 13
(“Smart Grid”)
• Use of digital information and control techniques
• Dynamic grid optimization with cyber-security
• Deployment of distributed resources including
• Customer participation and smart appliances
• Integration of storage including PHEVs
• Development of interoperability standards

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Smart Grid Perceptions (Some of
Us Like the Term “Smarter”)

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 Renewable Portfolio Standards
(September 2012)

TX is now
10 GW
by 2025
which we’ve
met (i.e., 25
GW of wind
now); CA
is 50% by
2030

Image source: http://www.dsireusa.org/

See also www.ncsl.org/research/energy/renewable-portfolio-standards.aspx 23

Growth in Solar PV

Value in
April 2018
was 1596,
up 24%
from April
2017; the
value in
April of 2019
was 1963,
up 23%
from 2018!

Source: www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/update/
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Slowing Electric Load Growth

Much of
the slowing
load growth
is due to
distributed
generation,
such as
solar PV,
which sits
on the
customer
side of the
meter
Source: EIA Monthly Energy Review, July 2019
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 Except in Texas!

The left graph is peak demand, the right energy

ERCOT set a new peak electric load of 74.5 GW on 8/12/19,
surpassing the 73.3 GW record from 2018; total energy in
2017 was 357 billion kWh
Source: www.ercot.com/gridinfo/load/forecast 26
Interconnected Power System
Basic Characteristics
• Three – phase AC systems:
– generation and transmission equipment is usually three
phase
– industrial loads are three phase
– residential and commercial loads are single phase and
distributed equally among the phases; consequently, a
balanced three – phase system results
• Synchronous machines generate electricity
– Exceptions: some wind is induction generators; solar PV
• Interconnection transmits power over a wider
region with subsystems operating at different
voltage levels
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Power Systems: Basic Characteristics
• The transmission network consists of following
– the high voltage transmission system;
– frequently, the subtransmission system;
– sometimes, even the distribution system
• The transmission system forms the
backbone of the integrated power
system and operates at the highest
voltage levels; typically, above 150 kV
• Less losses at high voltages (S=VI* and I2R
losses), but more difficult to insulate.
• The subtransmission levels are in the 69 to138 kV
range
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Power Systems: Basic Characteristics
• The generator output voltages are typically in the
11kV to 35 kV range and step up transformers are
used to transform the potentials to transmission
system voltage levels
– Wind turbines have voltages in 600V range
• Bulk power system, which includes the
transmission system and generators, is networked

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Power Systems: Basic Characteristics
• Electrical devices are joined A Substation Bus
together at buses
• The distribution system is
used to supply the electricity
to the consumers
– primary distribution voltages
are in the 4 kV to 34.5 kV
range at which industrial
customers obtain their electricity supply
– secondary distribution voltage is 120/240 V to the
residential/commercial customers
– distribution system is usually radial, except in some
urban areas
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Electricity Supply
• The basic function of a power system is to convert
energy from one source to the electrical form; a key
characteristic is that energy is not consumed as
electricity but converted into heat, light, sound,
mechanical energy or information
• The widespread use of electricity is due to its ability to
transport and control efficiently and reliably
• Electricity is, by and large, a relatively clean source of
energy
– Most forms of renewable energy are created in the form of
electricity; examples include hydro, wind and solar.

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Fundamental Power System
Requirements
• System must be able to track load continuously:
continuous balance of supply and demand
• System must provide reliable supply of electricity at
least cost
• System must have least environmental impacts in
providing electricity to meet its customers’ demands
Yearly Load Variation Daily Load Variation

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Fundamental Requirements of a
Power System
• Electric power delivery by the system must meet
minimum standards of power quality
– constant frequency
– constant voltage
– adequate reliability
• System must be able to supply electricity even
when subjected to a variety of unexpected
contingencies, such as the loss of a transmission
line or generator
• A key focus of this course is the control capability
to meet these requirements

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 Power Systems Operate on
Many Time Scales

Slide source: Prof. George Gross UIUC ECE 530 34

 Power Systems Operate on
Many Time Scales

Slide source: Prof. George Gross UIUC ECE 530 35

 Power System Operation Regimes

Slide source: Prof. George Gross UIUC ECE 530 36

 Generation Control and
Scheduling Example

Slide source: Prof. George Gross UIUC ECE 530 37

Modeling Cautions!
• "All models are wrong but some are useful," George
Box, Empirical Model-Building and Response
Surfaces, (1987, p. 424)
– Models are an approximation to reality, not reality, so they
always have some degree of approximation
– Box went on to say that the practical question is how wrong
to they have to be to not be useful
• A good part of engineering is deciding what is the
appropriate level of modeling, and knowing under
what conditions the model will fail
• Always keep in mind what problem you are trying to
solve!
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Course Objectives
• Acquaint students with some key analytical aspects of
large-scale systems
• Stress the importance of problem formulation
• Expose students to some of the major considerations in
the design and operation of large-scale systems
• Equip students with skills to read the relevant literature
on analytical and computational techniques
• Develop practical skills in solving these types of
problems
• Learn how to use example commercial software,
especially with application to larger systems
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Static Power System Analysis
• One of the most common power system analysis tools
is the power flow, which tells how power flows through
a power system in the quasi-steady state time frame
– Load flow is an alternative name for power flow; both terms
have been used interchangeably for at least 50 years. I prefer
power flow because the power flows, not the load
• The power flow can be used to model the full, three-
phase system, but usually (practically always) for
transmission system analysis the system is assumed to
be balanced. Hence a per phase equivalent model is
used.

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Power System Component Models:
Transmission Lines
• Power flow timeframe models for common power
system devices, including transmission lines,
transformers, generators and loads, are developed in the
prerequisite courses ECEN 459 and 460
– In 615 we will just be using the models, so it isn’t strictly
required that you know the details on how they were
developed; engineers need to know model validity range
• Transmission lines will be modeled using the p circuit

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Power System Component Models:
Transformers
• Transformer equivalent model

In 615 the off-nominal turns ratio, a, will be a key control

value. This is potentially a complex number (e.g., with a
phase shifting transformer)
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Power System Component Models:
Generators
• Engineering models depend upon application
• Generators are usually synchronous machines
• For generators we will use two different models:
– a steady-state model, treating the generator as a constant power
source operating at a fixed voltage; this model will be used for
power flow and economic analysis
– a short term model treating the generator as a constant voltage
source behind a possibly time-varying reactance (with much
more detailed modeled developed in ECEN 667)

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Per Phase Calculations
• A key problem in analyzing power systems is the
large number of transformers.
– It would be very difficult to continually have to refer
impedances to the different sides of the transformers
• This problem is avoided by a normalization of all
variables.
• This normalization is known as per unit analysis

actual quantity
quantity in per unit 
base value of quantity

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Per Unit Conversion Procedure, 1f

1. Pick a 1f VA base for the entire system, SB

2. Pick a voltage base for each different voltage level,
VB. Voltage bases are related by transformer turns
ratios. Voltages are line to neutral.
3. Calculate the impedance base, ZB= (VB)2/SB
4. Calculate the current base, IB = VB/ZB
5. Convert actual values to per unit
Note, per unit conversion only affects magnitudes, not
the angles. Also, per unit quantities no longer have
units (i.e., a voltage is 1.0 p.u., not 1 p.u. volts)
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Per Unit Solution Procedure

1. Convert to per unit (p.u.) (many problems are

already in per unit)
2. Solve
3. Convert back to actual as necessary

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Single-Phase Per Unit Example

Solve for the current, load voltage and load power

in the circuit shown below using per unit analysis
with a single-phase SB of 100 MVA, and voltage bases of
8 kV, 80 kV and 16 kV

Original Circuit
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Per Unit Example, cont’d

8kV 2
Z BLeft   0.64
100 MVA
Middle 80kV 2
ZB   64
100 MVA
16kV 2
Z BRight   2.56
100MVA

Same circuit, with

values expressed
in per unit
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Per Unit Example, cont’d

1.00
I   0.22  30.8 p.u. (not amps)
3.91  j 2.327
VL  1.00  0.22  30.8 
    p.u.
2
VL
SL  VL I L*
  0.189 p.u.
Z
SG  1.00 0.2230.8  30.8p.u.
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Per Unit Example, cont’d

To convert back to actual values just multiply the

per unit values by their per unit base
VLActual  0.859  30.8 16 kV  13.7  30.8 kV
SLActual  0.1890 100 MVA  18.90 MVA
SGActual  0.2230.8 100 MVA  22.030.8 MVA
100 MVA
I Middle
B   1250 Amps
80 kV
I Actual
Middle  0.22  30.8 Amps  275  30.8

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