1

FLEXIBLE AC TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS

Dhivya N
Dept. Of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Amrita School of Engineering,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham , Coimbatore-641112, Tamil Nadu, India.
[email protected]



Abstract The present day quest of the power
industry is to transfer bulk power along a desired path.
Traditional solutions such as shunt inductor/capacitor, phase
shifting transformer etc. affect both the active and the reactive
power flow in the transmission lines simultaneously. The
objective can be attained only through independent control of
active and reactive power flow in the line.FACTS use power
electronic converters for dynamic reactive power management
to improve system stability, power handling capacity of a
transmission line and power factor. These devices have a
rugged construction and can be either air or water cooled
depending on their rating and specifications. These FACTS
devices help us to avoid investment on a new transmission
line and apart from improving the power system efficiency,
they are found to save energy and also make it feasible for
long distance. They help us to solve technical problems in the
interconnected power systems.


I. INTRODUCTION
FACTS controllers are used to control the interrelated
parameters that govern the operation of transmission systems
including series impedance, shunt impedance, current, voltage,
phase angle, and the damping of oscillations at various
frequencies below the rated frequency.
Flexibility of Electric Power Transmission: The ability to
accommodate changes in the electric transmission system or
operating conditions while maintaining sufficient steady state
and transient margins.
Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS): Alternating
current transmission systems incorporating power electronic-
based and other static controllers to enhance controllability
and increase power transfer capability.
FACTS CONTROLLER: A power electronic based
system and other static equipment that provide control of one
or more AC transmission system parameters.
CLASSIFICATION OF CONTROLLERS:
Series controllers
Shunt controllers
Combined series-series controllers
Combined series-shunt controllers
Series Controllers: The series controller could be variable
impedance, such as capacitor, reactor, etc., or a combination
of these. All series controllers inject voltage in series with the
line. As long as the voltage is in phase quadrature with the
line current, the series controller only supplies or consumes
variable reactive power.
Shunt Controllers: The shunt controller could be variable
impedance, such as capacitor, reactor, etc., or a combination
of these. All shunt controllers inject current into the system at
the point of connection.
Combined series-series controllers: These could be a
combination of separate series controllers, which are
controlled in a coordinated manner, in a multiline
transmission system.
Combined series-shunt controllers: In these controllers the
shunt part injects current into the system and the series part
injects voltage in the line.
II. SHUNT COMPENSATION
The objective of applying shunt compensation in a
transmission system is to supply reactive power to increase
the transmittable power. Thus, the shunt compensator should
minimize the line voltage under light load conditions, and
maintain voltage levels under heavy load conditions.

From figure,
The compensator voltage is in phase with the midpoint
voltage V
m
. Assuming the compensator is ideal and therefore
lossless,
V
sm
=V
mr
=V cos(/4)
I
sm
=I
mr
= {4V sin(/4)}/X
The transmitted active power P
p
is given by
P
p
= V
sm
I
sm
= V
mr
I
mr=
VI cos(/4)
Substituting I, P
p
= {2V
2
sin(/2)}/X
2

The reactive power supplied by shunt compensation is,
Q
p
= {4V
2
(1-cos(/2))}/X.
Therefore the maximum transmitted power is increased
significantly to twice the uncompensated value P(max) but at
the expense of increasing the reactive power demand on the
shunt compensator and also on the end terminals.
Ideal location for shunt compensator- mid point of the
transmission line because,
Voltage drop is largest at the mid point for
uncompensated line.
Midpoint breaks the line into two equal segments for
which maximum transmittable power is the same.
Some of the shunt controllers are:
Thyristor Controlled Reactor (TCR)
Thyristor Switched Capacitor (TSC)
Static VAR Compensator (SVC)
Static synchronous Compensator (STATCOM)
Here SVC and STATCOM are discussed.

Static Var Compensator: A shunt connected static var
generator or absorber whose output is adjusted to exchange
capacitive or inductive current so as to maintain or control
specific parameters of the electrical power system.(typically
bus voltage).
SVC is based on thyristors without the gate turn off capability.
It includes separate equipment for leading and lagging vars,
the TCR for absorbing reactive power and TSC for supplying
the reactive power. A control system determines the exact
gating instants of reactors according to predetermined strategy.
The strategy aims to maintain the transmission line voltage at
fixed level. For this reason, the control system has inputs
taken from PT.

SVC CIRCUIT
STATCOM: It is an voltage sourced converter. If the line
voltage V is in phase with the converter output voltage V
0
and
has the same magnitude so that V
0
0=V0, there can be
no current flowing into or out of the compensator and no
exchange of reactive power with the line. If the converter
voltage is increased, the voltage difference between V and V
0
appears across the leakage reactance of the step-down
transformer. So a leading current with respect to V is drawn
and the compensator behaves as a capacitor, generating VARs.
If its the other way, the compensator draws a lagging current,
behaving as an inductor, and absorbs VARs.

General arrangement of STATCOM
Power electronics circuits ,devices and applications by
Muhammad Rashid

Features:
Lower rating than SVC to achieve the same stability
Increased transient rating and superior capability to
handle dynamic disturbances.
III. SERIES COMPENSATION
Static Synchronous Series Compensator: SSSC is connected
in series with a power system. It has a voltage source
converter serially connected to a transmission line through a
transformer. It can be considered as asynchronous voltage
source as it can inject an almost sinusoidal voltage of
variable and controllable amplitude and phase angle, in
series with a transmission line. The injected voltage is
almost in quadrature with the line current. A small part of the
injectedvoltage that is in phase with the line current
3

provides the losses in the inverter. Most of the injected
voltage, which is in quadrature with the line current, provides
the effect of inserting an inductive or capacitive reactance in
series with the transmission line. The variable reactance
influences the electric power flow in the transmission
line.


Thyristor Controlled Series Capacitor (TCSC):
TCSC is series type compensator, used to increase power
transfer as well as to enhance system stability. TCSC
controllers use TCR in parallel with segments of series
capacitor bank. The combination of TCR and capacitor allow
the capacitive reactance to be smoothly controlled over a wide
range and switched upon command to a condition where the
bi-directional thyristor pairs conduct continuously and insert
appropriate reactance into the line.
The TCSC consists of three main components: capacitor bank
C, bypass inductor L and bidirectional thyristors SCR1 and
SCR2. The total susceptance of the line is controlled by
controlling the firing angle of the thyristors.


IV.COMBINED SHUNT SERIES COMPENSATION
Unified Power Flow Controller(UPFC): Among the available
FACTS devices, the Unified Power Flow Controller
(UPFC) is the most versatile device that can be used
to enhance steady state stability, dynamic stability and
transient stability.The UPFC is capable of both supplying and
absorbing real and reactive power and it consists of two ac/dc
converters. One of the two converters is connected in series
with the transmission line through a series transformer and the
other in parallel with the line through a shunt transformer. The
dc side of the two converters is connected through a
common capacitor, which provides dc voltage for the
converter operation. The power balance between
the series and shunt converters is a prerequisite to
maintain a constant voltage across the dc capacitor. As the
series branch of the UPFC injects a voltage of variable
magnitude and phase angle, it can exchange real power with
the transmission line and thus improves the power flow
capability of the line as well as its transient stability limit. The
shunt converter exchanges a current
of controllable magnitude and power factor angle with the
power system. It is normally controlled to balance the
real power absorbed from or injected into the power
system by the series converter plus the losses by
regulating the dc bus voltage at a
desired value.

UPFC arrangement

V. COMPARISON OF FACTS DEVICES





VI OTHER FACTS DEVICES

Thyristor Controller Braking Resistor (TCBR)
Thyristor Controlled Voltage Limiter (TCVL)
Thyristor Controlled Voltage Regulator (TCVR)
Interphase Power Controller (IPC)
VII FACTS IN DISTRIBUTION
SYSTEMS

FACTS controllers are used for power quality
improvement in distribution systems.
PQ problem- Any problem manifested in voltage,
current or frequency deviation that result in failure of
customer circuit.
The PQ problems are categorized as :
1. Transients
4

(a) Impulsive
(b) Oscillatory
2. Short-duration and Long-duration variations
(a) Interruptions
(b) Sag (dip)
(c) Swell
3. Voltage unbalance
4. Waveform distortion
(a) DC offset
(b) Harmonics
(c) Inter harmonics
(d) Notching
(e) Noise
5. Voltage Flicker
6. Power frequency variations
VIII. CONCLUSION
FACTS devices are extensively used for power control,
voltage control and thus maintain stability. They increase the
loading capability of lines to their thermal capabilities,
including short term and seasonal. They increase the system
security through raising the transient stability limit, limiting
short circuit currents and overloads, managing cascading
blackouts and damping electromechanical oscillations of
power systems and machines. As discussed above there are
different configurations of FACTS controllers used for
different purposes. The dynamics of the system is
compared with and without the presence of UPFC in the
system in the event of a major disturbance. Then the
performance of the UPFC for power system stability
improvement is compared with the other FACTS devices
such as SVC, TCSC, and SSSC respectively. It is clear from
the simulation results that there is a considerable
improvement in the system performance with the
presence of UPFC for which the settling time in post fault
period is found to be around 0.6 second.

IX. REFERENCES
1. Vireshkumar G. Mathad, Basangouda F. Ronad
Member , Suresh H. Jangamshetti , Review on
Comparison of FACTS Controllers for Power System
Stability Enhancement, International Journal of
Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 3,
Issue 3, March 2013 .
2. N.G. Hingorani,L Gyugyi, Understanding FACTS
Concepts and Technology of Flexible AC
Transmission Systems, IEEE, Press, New York,
2000.
3. Muhammad H Rashid, Flexible AC Transmission
Systems, Power Electronics-Circuits, Devices and
Applications,2012,pp 571-598.