© SEP 2018 | IRE Journals | Volume 2 Issue 3 | ISSN: 2456-8880

Enhancing Loadability of Transmission Lines Using

Series Compensation (Facts) Device in Nigeria Network
AMEH B V 1, EZECHUKWU A O 2
1,2
Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Nnamdi Azikiwe university, Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract -- This work studied the presence of reactive Alleviating this stress for reliable system operation is
component of power in the transmission line which an enormous challenge. The ability to transfer active
enhances congestion of the transmission line leaving little
room for active power flow. The Nigerian Bus system power from production sources to consumption or
operated at 330kV with 41 buses was used to evaluate load centres during steady operating conditions is a
voltage drop index for load buses as active power varied at major aspect of voltage stability. In meeting this
constant reactive power values. The study is to improve
challenge, innovations driven by economy, efficiency
the nodal voltage profile of the electric networks and
improve the real power transfer capacity (loadability) of and security for high level of operational and
congested power system transmission lines at stable component reliability have been made in the electric
voltages using FACTS devices ( SVC and TCSC). And to power sector with impacts that are both short and
achieve this, load flow analysis was carried out at various
load varying cases for the Nigerian bus grid system long termed. The general consensus among
operated at 330kV using NEPLAN simulator. With power academicians, practitioners and policy makers is that
varied from a base case through five steps of 10% direct access to the transmission grid is indispensable
increment from the previous, the result of the total voltage for competitive electricity market (Shmuel, 1998).
drop index ranked Yola, as can be seen in descending
order as the optimal locations for series compensation.
Aided with this ranking, load flow analyses were executed
for the individual and simultaneous series compensation II. TRANSMISSION LINE LOADABILITY
at these buses. Each of the compensated cases when CONSTRAINTS
compared with the base case bus load flow tabular and
bar chart results showed significant improvement due to
the compensation. Power is transmitted when the line voltage causes
current to flow in the conductors. In other words, the
Indexed Terms: FACTS, TCSC, SVC, LOADABILITY. amount of power an individual line carries is
proportional to the product of the current and the
voltage. However, every transmission line is limited
I. INTRODUCTION in the amount of power it can transmit by constraints
on voltage and current. Flows of reactive power limit
Both Human population and industrialization growth both the voltage and current capacity in a
has pushed electrical energy demand, subjecting the transmission line (John, 1989). The main constraints
electric power system network configuration and to power transfer capability of transmission lines
operation to excessive stress. One of the major according to Bakshi & Bakshi (2009) are:
challenges prevalent in our (Nigeria) power system is
the fact that the system thrives on what is being • Thermal limits
generated at the source in meeting up with the • Voltage drop limits or regulation limit and,
excessive load demand (reactive and active) without • Stability limit
adequate compensation. And when there are much
reactive loads on the power system without adequate Again, transmission lines’ overloading, congestion
compensation, the possibility of the systems and stress can also occur as a result of network
operating near their thermal limits, transmission lines location concentration between generation and load.
being congested and overloaded, losses in
transmission lines, voltage violation at the buses, and Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems
eventual system collapse. (FACTS) was developed and deployed as a

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 © SEP 2018 | IRE Journals | Volume 2 Issue 3 | ISSN: 2456-8880

sustainable short term measure to control system equipment that provide control of one or more ac
operation by ensuring voltage stability and increasing transmission system parameters to enhance
transmission line transfer capacity and it is currently controllability and increase power transfer capability.
incorporated in the implementation of Electric Power FACTS devices are found to be very effective in the
System Smart Grids. FACTS are of various types utilization of existing facilities of a transmission
based on the desired function but to achieve networks without sacrificing the desired stability
increased transmission transfer capacity with margin (Rai, Arora, & Naimul, 2014). In other words,
economic considerations, a FACTS type; the Static it can be effectively used for improved system
Var Compensator (SVC) and the Thyristor- stability limit, power flow control, load sharing
Controlled Series Capacitor (TCSC) is proposed. The among parallel corridors, voltage regulation, and
SVC and TCSC have the same circuitry and enhancement of transient stability. Then according to
component but defer by their mode of incorporation Gönen (2014), the basic purpose is to minimize the
to the power system. The SVC is a shunt connected bottlenecks in existing transmission systems and
device and it is a variable shunt reactance, injecting improve the availability, reliability, stability, and
or absorbing reactive power for voltage regulation quality of the power supply.
and stability. The TCSC being a series connected
device, is a variable reactance device placed in series In general, FACTS controllers can be divided into
to the transmission line with the ability to modify the four categories (Kothari & Nagrath, 2003), namely,
line reactance and by extension the impedance Series, Shunt, Series-Series and Series-Shunt
thereby controlling the power flow through the respectively. For the purpose of this study, focus will
transmission line. Its presence and operation provides be on Series and Shunt controllers respectively.
an opportunity to relieve heavily loaded and stressed
lines while increasing the transmission corridor or 3.1 Series Controllers:
transfer capacity margin so that more power (real) Series controllers inject voltage in series with the
can be transferred via the transmission line. line. If the voltage is in phase quadrature with the
line, the series controllers only supplies or consumes
According to Glanzmann & Andersson (2005), in variable reactive power (Kothari & Nagrath, 2003;
order to truly investigate singular or combined Singh, 2011; Essays, UK, 2013). They include SSSC,
impacts of these devices in the steady state operation IPFC, TCSC, TSSC, TCSR and TSSR. They can be
of the power grid into which they are incorporated, effectively used to control current and power flow in
models that accurately capture their local and the system and to damp system’s oscillations (Bakshi
neighbouring influences on line power flows and bus & Bakshi, 2009; Singh, 2011; Essays, UK, 2013).
voltages are indispensable. The mutual influences
among the devices can arise possibly resulting to 3.2 Shunt Controllers:
adverse interaction (Larsson, Rehtanz, & In practice, all shunt controllers inject current into the
Westermann, 2004; Li, Li, & Zheng, 2001). system at the point of connection. Even variable
shunt impedance connected to the line voltage cause
a current flow and hence represent injection of
III. FLEXIBLE ALTERNATING CURRENT current into the line. The reactive power injected can
TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS (FACTS) be varied by varying the phase of the current. They
may be variable impedance, variable source or a
FACTS are recent technologies that employ high combination of the two (Singh, 2011). The examples
speed thyristors for switching in and out of are Static Synchronous Generator (SSG), Static VAR
transmission line components such as capacitors, Compensator (SVC).
reactors or phase shifting transformers to attain
certain system desirable performance criteria
(Wadhwa, 2013). The Institute of Electrical
Electronics Engineering, IEEE defines FACTS as a
power electronic based system and other static

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IV. THYRISTOR-CONTROLLED SERIES • Bypass mode: Here, the thyristor valve is always
CAPACITOR (TCSC) on, causing TCSC to operate as capacitor and
inductor in parallel, reducing current through
Thyristor Controlled Series Capacitor (TCSC) is one TCSC.
of the important members of FACTS family that is
increasingly applied to long transmission lines of • Capacitive boost mode: Forward voltage
power system by modern utilities. It can have various thyristor valve is triggered slightly before
roles in the operation and control of power systems, capacitor voltage crosses zero to allow current to
such as scheduling power flow; decreasing flow through inductive branch, adding to
unsymmetrical components; reducing net loss; capacitive current. This effectively increases the
providing voltage support; limiting short-circuit observed capacitance of the TCSC without
currents; mitigating sub- synchronous resonance requiring a larger capacitor within the TCSC.
(SSR); damping the power oscillation; and enhancing
transient stability (Murali, Rajaram, & Reka, 2010). TCSC allows for increased compensation simply by
using a different mode of operation, as well as
TCSC is a series controlled capacitive reactance with limitation of line current in the event of a fault. TCSC
a combination of TCR and a fixed capacitor which also has the capability of damping of sub
allow the capacitive reactance to be smoothly synchronous resonance caused by torsional
controlled over a wide range to provide continuous oscillations and inter-area oscillations. This feature
control of power on the ac line (Alok & Amar, 2013). promotes transfer of more power, and the possibility
of connecting the power systems of several areas
The main circuit of a TCSC model is shown in Fig.1 over long distances (Yu, 2009).

While the static VAR compensator (SVC) can be

used for stability improvements, it is in general not
well suited for increasing transfer capacity over
congested lines. It is primarily used for reactive
compensation of long transmission lines which is
why it is proposed in this study.

To control power flow for increased transfer

Fig. 1: TCSC Model (Baskshi, 2009) capability, the thyristor controlled series capacitor
(TCSC) or the unified power flow control (UPFC)
According to Yu (2009), TCSC is used in power are best suited. The UPFC is the most versatile
systems to dynamically control the reactance of a device and can be used in all areas, but it is also the
transmission line so as to provide sufficient load most expensive (Shaffner & Anderson, 2002).
compensation. As part of the benefits, TCSC has the
ability to control the amount of compensation of a In addition to the above mentioned features of TCSC
transmission line, and as well, can operate in and SVC, the choice of TCSC/SVC was also based
different modes. TCSC finds its usefulness in the on the simplicity of the design, the implementation
network since power system loads are constantly cost and the fact that SVC are mainly used for fast
changing and cannot always be predicted. reactive power control and compensation of fast
changing loads.
The modes of operation as cited by Yu (2009)
include:
• Blocking mode: Thyristor valve is always off,
opening inductive branch, and effectively
causing the TCSC to operate as Fixed Series
Capacitor (FSC).

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V. POWER FLOW MODEL MAXIMUM 5.3 VDI Expression

POWER TRANSFER OF
TRANSMISSION LINE

The flow of active power (P) and reactive power (Q) Where For s = number of percentage real power
through transmission system has influence on voltage increase for pure load buses in the network
magnitude and phase difference of voltage at
terminals and voltage along the line (Bakshi & r = the stage of load flow analysis after load increase
Bakshi, 2009). The receiving-end powers according and VDI is Voltage drop Index.
to Sivanagaraju & Satyanarayana (2009) & Gönen
(2014) as follows: 5.4

Where TVDI is total Voltage drop index.

VI. OPTIMAL COMPENSATION

LOCATION USING VOLTAGE DROP
INDEX

The load flow results of the 41 bus system as active

power at all pure load bus are increased through five
steps of 10% each from a base case are presented
between below. The bus real power values for load
flow analysis, computed VDI Magnitude for real
power load and Load bus VDI in descending order
Where, results are presented below. For each of the load flow
𝑷𝑹is the receiving end active power, case, the bus voltage profile is presented in a bar
𝑷𝑺is the sending end active power, chart after each table. The need for this increment is
𝑸𝑹is the receiving end reactive power, to observe the voltage drop profile as increase is
𝑸𝑺is the sending end reactive power made from the base case to 50% the active total load
with equal percentage participation among the buses.
5.1 Mathematical Model of SVC for Reactive Power However, the steady state behaviour of the network
Flow. was also tested at 10% active load decrease from the
base case. This analysis preceded subsequent load
increases.

5.2 Mathematical Model of TCSC for Active Power

flow

𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑷𝒊𝒌 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒕 𝑩𝒖𝒔 𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑸𝒊𝒌 𝒊𝒔

𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒖𝒔 𝒌.

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Yola were all series compensated with TCSC at

varied reactive power at load buses. No branch in the
network had any form of line voltage violation as the
least line voltage was well within the prescribed
limit.

REFERENCES

[1] Bakshi, U.A., & Bakshi, M.V.

(2009).Transmission and Distribution.(4th
ed.).Pune, India. Technical Publication
Pune.
[2] Essays, UK. (2013). Transfer Capability
Enhancement and Congestion Retrieved
from http://www.ukessays.com/essays/e
ngineering/transfer-capability-enhancement-
and-congestion-engineering-
essay.php?cref=1
[3] Glanzmann, G., & Andersson, G.
(2005).Using FACTS devices to resolve
Congestions in Transmission Grids. Zurich,
Switzerland.
[4] Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) & Conference
Internationale des Grands Reseaux
VII. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Electriques (CIGRE).(2003, 2004).Task
Force on Power System Stability.Author.
The result of this paper evaluates the series [5] Kothari, D.P., & Nagrath, I.J.
compensating devices using VDI method. This is (2003).Modern Power System Analysis (3rd
then followed by the evaluation of the steady state ed.). New Delhi. Tata McGraw Hill
performance of the network with respect to line Education Private Limited.
voltage magnitude and branch flows with the [6] Larsson, M., Rehtanz, C., and Westermann,
D.(2004). Improvement of cross-border
insertion of series and shunt compensating devices
trading capacities through wide-area control
which produces Yola branch as the prime location of of FACTS.Proceedings of the Bulk Power
series compensation as can be seen from the figure 2. System Dynamics and Control VI. Cortina
D’Ampezzo, Italy.
[7] Li, F., Li, B., & Zheng, X. (2001).
VIII. CONCLUSION Coordination of Power flow control in large
Power System. IEEE Power Systems
The paper has demonstrated and investigated an Transactions, Vol. 16 issue 4. Pg.776-781.
improved voltage transfer in a transmission line of a [8] Liangzhong, Y., Phill, C., Laurent S, and
network. The Nigerian Bus system operated at 330kV Xiao-Ping Z. (2005).Congestion
with 41 buses was used to evaluate voltage drop management of Transmission Systems Using
FACTS. Paper presented at the IEEE/PES
index for load buses as active power varied at
Transmission and Distribution Conference &
constant reactive power values was injected into lines Exhibition, Asia and Pacific, Dalian,
at steps of 10% incremental values of the base case. China.Retrieved from http://
Each of the compensated cases when compared with www.ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?ar
the base case bus load flow result showed significant numb er=1547213
improvement indicating that the compensation was [9] Shmuel, S. O. (1998). Transmission Pricing
worth it. The best steady state operation case recorded and Congestion Management: Efficiency,
when the trio branches at Maiduguri. Omotosho and

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Simplicity and Open Access. University of [11] Wadhwa, C.L. (2013). Electrical Power
California, Berkeley USA. Systems (6th ed.). Daryaganj, New Delhi:
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APPENDIX

Fig. 3: One-Line Diagram of the Nigerian 330kV Test Network with 41 bus

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Table 1: Load Bus Real Power Values for Load flow Analysis

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Table 2: Computation of VDI from bus voltage magnitude for increasing load real power

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Table 3: Load Bus VDI in descending Order

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Table 4: List of Generation Stations

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Table 5: List of Bus bars

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