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Dynamic Performance Comparison of Synchronous Condenser and SVC

Sercan Teleke, Tarik Abdulahovic, Torbjrn Thiringer, and Jan Svensson, Member, IEEE
AbstractIn this paper, a comparison of the dynamic performance between a conventional synchronous condenser, a superconducting synchronous condenser, and a static var compensator (SVC) is made in a grid setup by simulating different cases that affect the performance of reactive power compensation. The results show that the SVC injects more reactive power and has a better dynamic performance during faults that cause a moderate or minor voltage drop on its terminals, such as single-phase to ground faults in weak grids. The synchronous condensers, on the other hand, bring the voltage to the nominal value quicker and show a better dynamic performance for severe faults such as three phase to ground faults in stiff grids. The superconducting synchronous condenser injects up to 45% more reactive power compared to the conventional synchronous condenser during a nearby three phase to ground fault. Index TermsStatic var compensator (SVC), superconducting synchronous condenser, synchronous condenser.

Fig. 1. Single-line diagram with a synchronous condenser connected to grid.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the dynamic performance of a conventional synchronous condenser, a superconducting synchronous condenser (SuperVAR) and an SVC during various grid set ups and fault types. II. PRESENTATION OF REACTIVE POWER COMPENSATION DEVICES In this section, the synchronous condenser and the SVC are presented. A. Synchronous Condensers Synchronous condensers have played a major role in voltage and reactive power control for more than 50 years [7][12]. In this section, conventional and superconducting synchronous condensers are described. 1) Conventional Synchronous Condenser: A synchronous condenser is a synchronous motor without any mechanical load [13]. Its eld is controlled by a voltage regulator to generate or absorb reactive power to support a systems voltage or to keep the system power factor at a specied level. Synchronous condensers installation and operation are identical to large electric machines. A single-line diagram with a synchronous condenser is shown in Fig. 1. 2) Superconducting Synchronous Condenser (SuperVAR): Only the eld winding of the synchronous condenser utilizes a high-temperature superconductor winding cooled with a cryocooler subsystem to about 3540 K [14]. The cryocooler modules are placed in a stationary frame and helium gas is used to cool the rotor of the machine. The stator winding is a conventional copper winding. However, the winding is not placed in conventional iron core teeth, since the iron core saturates due to the high magnetic eld, typically 1.52.0 T, imposed by the eld winding. Only the stator yoke (back iron) uses magnetic iron to provide magnetic shielding and to carry ux between adjacent poles. The absence of iron in most of the magnetic circuits in these machines results in a very low synchronous reactance (typically 0.30.5 p.u.). More details of

I. INTRODUCTION

EACTIVE power compensation is dened as the reactive power management with the aim of improving the performance of ac power systems [1]. Reactive power compensation is viewed from two aspects: load compensation and voltage support. In load compensation, the objectives are to increase the power factor, to balance the load and to eliminate current harmonics from nonlinear industrial loads [2], [3]. Voltage support reduces voltage uctuation at a given terminal of a transmission line [1] and improves the stability of the ac system by increasing the maximum active power that can be transmitted. It also helps to maintain a substantially at voltage prole at all levels of power transmission, increases transmission efciency, controls steady-state and temporary over-voltages [4], and helps to avoid catastrophic blackouts [5], [6]. As reactive power compensation is an effective way to improve the electric power network, there is a need for controlled reactive power compensation which can be done either by synchronous condensers or static var compensators (SVCs), which utilize power electronic devices.
Manuscript received April 16, 2007; revised September 9, 2007. This work was supported by ABB FACTS, Vsters, Sweden. Paper no. TPWRD-002162007. S. Teleke is with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27606 USA (e-mail: steleke@ncsu.edu). T. Abdulahovic and T. Thiringer are with the Department of Energy and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Gteborg SE-412 96, Sweden (e-mail: abdulaho@student.chalmers.se; torbjorn.thiringer@chalmers.se). J. Svensson is with ABB FACTS, Vsters SE-721 64, Sweden (e-mail: jan.r. svensson@se.abb.com). Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TPWRD.2007.916109

0885-8977/$25.00 2008 IEEE

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Fig. 2. Single-line diagram of the SVC used in the simulations. Fig. 3. Single-line diagram of the used grid setup.

the SuperVAR, including performance features, design congurations, and maintenance challenges can be found in [15]. B. Static VAR Compensator (SVC) Maintenance requirements of conventional synchronous condensers rose interest in the development of static VAR systems [16]. Several papers have studied modeling [17][20] and the application of SVCs [16], [21], [22]. A typical SVC, composed of thyristor-switched capacitors (TSCs) and thyristor-controlled reactors (TCRs), together with lters, is shown in Fig. 2. The lters (FCs) are used to remove low-frequency harmonics produced by the TCR and to produce reactive power. With proper coordination of the capacitor switching and reactor control, the reactive power output can be varied continuously between the capacitive and inductive ratings of the equipment. The compensator operates to regulate the voltage of the transmission system at a selected terminal. However, the maximum obtainable capacitive current decreases linearly with the system voltage since the SVC becomes a xed capacitor when the maximum capacitive output is reached. Therefore, the conventional thyristor-controlled SVC rapidly deteriorates its voltage support capability with the decrease of system voltage. III. SETUP OF PERFORMANCE STUDY A. Setup of Compensators For comparison of the SuperVAR [15], the conventional synchronous condenser and the SVC, a grid setup using PSCAD is made, where the parameters are given in the Appendix. The conventional synchronous condenser and the SuperVAR are using the type DC2A exciter and the type ST1A exciter, respectively. The 32 Mvar SVC consists of two TSC banks where each bank has 35.8% of the rated power, two 3rd and 5th harmonic lters where each carries 10.2% of the rated power and two 7th and 11th harmonic lters where each carry 4% of the rated power. For reactive power consumption, one TCR with the size of 38% of the rated power is employed. In the connection of the SVC coupling transformer with the size to the network, a 10% of rated reactive power is used, where the high voltage side was connected with Y grounded. B. Grid Setup The grid setup used to compare the performance of the SuperVAR, the conventional synchronous condenser and the SVC, is shown in Fig. 3. The setup shows a factory, where the main load consists of two sets of 50 induction machines of 500 HP

with 0.9 power factor; 10 kV with inertia constant of 2 s. These units are connected to a 36 kV substation via 25 MVA transformers (10% leakage reactance, 36/10 kV). Moreover, a resistive and an inductive load of 16 MW and 12 Mvar are also connected to the substation via a 25 MVA transformer (10%, 36/10 kV). A capacitor bank of 8 Mvar is connected to each 10 kV load bus in order to keep the 10 kV bus within 95% to 100% of nominal voltage during full load operation. The short-circuit ratio (SCR), which is the ratio between the short-circuit power measured at the 36-kV bus and the load total apparent power, is 3.9 which represents a medium strong system. Four 8 MVA synchronous condensers or one 32 Mvar SVC are/is connected to the 36 kV bus via a 32 MVA transformer (10%, 13.8/36 kV), to provide reactive power compensation, especially in case of faults occurring in the network that transfers the power from the generator to the factory. The network consists of two 200 km lines with an X/R ratio of 15 where the fault occurs in one of the lines, which will cause the breakers to open after a 250 ms delay, and accordingly to disconnect the faulted line and connect it back 500 ms after the fault is cleared. In the 36 kV substation, there is a 70 MVA step down transformer (10%, 130/36 kV) that adapts the voltage level to the factory. Finally, the 130 kV source is an innite bus. IV. SIMULATION RESULTS FROM THE STUDY To compare the synchronous condensers with the SVC, the parameters of the grid have been altered. The conguration without any reactive power compensation is denoted by WOC. The cases with conventional synchronous condensers and SuperVARs connected to the 36 kV bus are denoted by CON and SCO, respectively. Finally, the conguration with the SVC connected to the 36 kV bus is denoted by SVC. A. Different Fault Types In this section, single-phase-to-ground, two-phase-to-ground, and three-phase-to-ground faults are simulated and analyzed. 1) Single Phase to Ground Fault: To determine the performance of the different compensators, a single phase to ground fault in the middle of one of the two lines is applied. The resulting positive-sequence voltage, reactive power injection and the speed of the induction machines are displayed in Figs. 46. From Fig. 4, it is clear that without any reactive power compensation, the system collapses and with compensation it survives. Moreover, after the fault, the SVC brings the voltage back to 1 p.u. quickly and accurately.

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Fig. 6. Speed of the induction machines. Single-phase-to-ground fault. Fig. 4. Positive-sequence voltage using the synchronous condensers and the SVC. Single-phase-to-ground fault.

Fig. 7. Positive-sequence voltage using the synchronous condensers and the SVC. Two-phase-to-ground fault.

Fig. 5. Reactive power injected (20 Hz LP-lter) by the synchronous condensers and the SVC. Single-phase-to-ground fault.

The reactive power injections are shown in Fig. 5. The SVC injects reactive power after a delay caused by the delay in the controller, whereas the synchronous condensers react instantaneously due to the change in the terminal voltage. However, after the initial delay, the SVC injects more reactive power due to faster voltage control compared to the synchronous condensers that have signicantly larger time constants due to their eld windings. It can be observed that at the instant of the fault, the SuperVAR injects more reactive power than the conventional synchronous condenser, which is the consequence of the lower synchronous reactance. However, as we reach the instant of the fault clearance, the conventional synchronous condenser reaches the performance of the SuperVAR. This is the result of the quicker exciter utilized for the conventional synchronous condenser. It can be seen in Fig. 6 that the induction machines collapse without any reactive power compensation and the speed of the induction machines recover quicker with the SVC. 2) Two-Phase-to-Ground Fault: The resulting positive-sequence voltage, reactive power injection and the speed of the induction machines for a two phase to ground fault are displayed in Figs. 79. Now, the positive-sequence voltage drops more with the SVC compared to the case using the synchronous condensers. Moreover, the positive-sequence voltage reaches the nominal value quicker with synchronous condensers. The explanation is that the SVC injects less reactive power during and after the fault

Fig. 8. Reactive power injected (20 Hz LP-lter) by the synchronous condensers and the SVC. Two-phase-to-ground fault.

Fig. 9. Speed of the induction machines. Two-phase-to-ground fault.

until the line is connected back. This is due to that the SVC provides reactive power proportional to the square of its terminal voltage, so severe voltage drops on its terminals limit its reactive power injection. And, this also means that the speed of the

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TABLE I MINIMUM POSITIVE-SEQUENCE VOLTAGE DURING THE FAULT AT 36-kV BUS

TABLE II MAXIMUM INJECTED REACTIVE POWER BY SYNCHRONOUS CONDENSERS AND SVC DURING THE FAULT Fig. 10. Positive-sequence voltages in the presence of the synchronous condensers and the SVC. Three-phase-to-ground fault.

Fig. 11. Reactive power injected (20 Hz LP-lter) by the synchronous condensers and the SVC. Three-phase-to-ground fault.

To observe the effect of reactive power compensation on minimum voltage levels more clearly during different fault types, minimum positive-sequence voltage levels at 36 kV bus during the fault are put on Table I. The maximum injected reactive power during the fault for the conventional synchronous condenser, the SuperVAR and the SVC can be observed in Table II. It should be mentioned that the values marked with * are obtained with a 40 MVA SVC (where the system did not collapse) due to collapse with a 32 MVA SVC during the three phase to ground fault. It can be seen from Table I and II that the SVC injects more reactive power when there is less voltage drop on 36 kV bus whereas, when the voltage drops more, such as the case observed in two phase and three phase to ground faults, synchronous condensers inject more reactive power than the SVC. B. Different Fault Location To determine the sensitivity of the fault location, the fault location is changed to 50 km from the source which corresponds to 25% of the line length and 150 km from the source which corresponds to 75% of the line length and a single phase to ground fault is applied. The minimum positive-sequence voltage during the fault for different fault locations is shown in Fig. 13, which displays that the minimum positive-sequence voltage drops more when the fault location is far away from the source. Moreover, the synchronous condensers perform better, while the performance of the SVC drops. This is in spite of the fact that the positive-sequence voltage only drops to 0.86 p.u. As the fault is closer to the load, the reactive power injection performance drops slightly with the SVC, while the performance of the synchronous condensers improves during the fault (Fig. 14). However, after the fault has been cleared and the line is restored, the voltage rises up, which helps the SVC to inject more reactive power due to its quicker response, while the synchronous condensers react slower due to their eld winding dynamics. The minimum speed of the induction machines drops more when the fault is closer to the load, as shown in Fig. 15. The minimum speed is strongly related to the minimum positive-

Fig. 12. Speed of the induction machines. Three-phase-to-ground fault.

induction machines drops more with the SVC due to the lower positive-sequence voltage. 3) Three Phase to Ground Fault: The resulting positive-sequence voltage, reactive power injection and the speed of induction machines for a three-phase-to-ground fault are displayed in Figs. 1012. Here, the positive-sequence voltage drops even more with the SVC and it can be noticed that the system collapses due to insufcient injection of reactive power. However, the reactive power injected by the synchronous condensers is increasing. The larger the positive-sequence voltage drop, the more reactive power is provided by the synchronous condensers due to that the injected reactive power is proportional to the difference of terminal voltage and the internal machine voltage induced in the stator by the rotating magnetic eld. The speed of the induction machines drop more with the SVC and hence the induction machines can not recover their speed after the fault has been cleared.

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Fig. 13. Minimum positive-sequence voltage at the 36 kV bus. Different fault locations on the transmission line.

Fig. 16. Positive-sequence voltage at the 36 kV bus. SCR = 2:4.

Fig. 17. Positive-sequence voltage at the 36 kV bus. SCR = 5:8.

Fig. 14. Maximum injected reactive power by the synchronous condensers and the SVC. Different fault locations on the transmission line.

Fig. 15. Minimum speed of the induction machines. Different fault locations on the transmission line.

sequence voltage. When the fault is closer to the source, the speed is higher due to larger reactive power injection by the SVC. This advantage diminishes as the fault is closer to the load and the voltage drop during the fault is increased. C. Different SCR To observe the effect of different SCR, the short-circuit capacity seen at the 36 kV bus is changed to have a SCR of 2.4 (double line length to 400 km) and 5.8 (half line length to 100 km). The results are obtained by applying a single phase to ground fault while keeping the other parameters unchanged.

It takes more time for the synchronous condensers to bring the voltage level back to the nominal value by decreasing the SCR to 2.4 (Fig. 16). Also it can be seen that the voltage during the fault drops only 10% which represents a small error for the exciters, resulting in a small increase in the eld current of the synchronous condensers. When the fault is cleared, the induction machines begin to consume a lot of reactive power to recover their speed. Due to this fact and to the slow response of the synchronous condensers for low voltage changes, the voltage continues to drop and it takes more time for the synchronous condensers to bring the voltage back to the nominal value. The SVC shows better performance in this case and keeps the voltage at 1 p.u. even during the fault, but due to the measurement delay it produces overvoltages during instants of the fault clearance and the line restoration. For the system when the SCR is increased to 5.8, which corresponds to a strong system, the system will not collapse even if it is not supported by reactive power compensation devices, which can be noticed in Fig. 17. However, reactive power compensation units help in restoring the voltage in the 36 kV bus quicker. In Fig. 17, the advantages and disadvantages of each device mentioned before can be conrmed. Injection of more reactive power by the SVC during and after the fault, which is seen in Fig. 18, explains the reason for bringing the voltage back to the nominal value quicker with the SVC which can be noted in Figs. 16 and 17. Trends shown in Fig. 18, clearly underline the better performance of the SVC in the case of weak grid systems. V. CONCLUSION In this paper, it was found that the SVC injects more reactive power and shows better performance during faults that caused

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TABLE VI PARAMETERS OF SUPERVAR

Fig. 18. Maximum injected reactive power by the synchronous condensers and the SVC. Various SCRs.

TABLE VII EXCITER PARAMETERS FOR SUPERVAR

TABLE III PARAMETERS OF CONVENTIONAL SYNCHRONOUS CONDENSER

REFERENCES
[1] T. J. E. Miller, Reactive Power Control in Electric Power Systems. New York: Wiley, 1982. [2] E. Wanner, R. Mathys, and M. Hausler, Compensation systems for industry, Brown Boveri Rev., vol. 70, pp. 330340, Sep./Oct. 1983. [3] G. Bonnard, The problems posed by electrical power supply to industrial installations, Proc. Inst. Elect. Eng. B, vol. 132, pp. 335340, Nov. 1985. [4] A. Hammad and B. Roesle, New roles for static VAR compensators in transmission systems, Brown Boveri Rev., vol. 73, pp. 314320, Jun. 1986. [5] N. Grudinin and I. Roytelman, Heading off emergencies in large electric grids, IEEE Spectr., vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 4347, Apr. 1997. [6] C. W. Taylor, Improving grid behaviour, IEEE Spectr., vol. 36, no. 6, pp. 4045, Jun. 1999. [7] J. A. Oliver, B. J. Ware, and R. C. Carruth, 345 MVA fully watercooled synchronous condenser for Dumont station part I: Application considerations, IEEE Trans. Power App. Syst., vol. PAS-90, no. 6, pp. 27582764, Nov. 1971. [8] H. A. Landhult and B. Nordberg, 345 MVA fully water-cooled synchronous condenser for Dumont station part II. design, construction and testing, IEEE Trans. Power App. Syst., vol. PAS-90, no. 6, pp. 27652777, Nov. 1971. [9] Y. Katsuya, Y. Mitani, and K. Tsuji, Power system stabilization by synchronous condenser with fast excitation control, in Proc. Int. Conf. Power Syst. Technol., Perth, Australia, Dec. 47, 2000, vol. 3, pp. 15631568. [10] J. M. Van Coller, R. G. Koch, T. D. J. Hennessy, R. Coney, and G. Topham, The effect of a synchronous condenser on the voltage dip environment-as expressed in terms of the eskom ABCD dip chart, in Proc. IEEE. AFRICON, Stellenbosch, South Africa, Sep. 2427, 1996, vol. 2, pp. 620625. [11] S. Nakamura, T. Yamada, T. Nomura, M. Iwamoto, Y. Shindo, S. Nose, A. Ishihara, and H. Fujino, 30 MVA superconducting synchronous condenser: Design and its performance test results, IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. M-21, no. 2, pp. 783790, Mar. 1985. [12] S. Kalsi, D. Madura, and M. Ross, Performance of superconductor dynamic synchronous condenser on an electric grid, in Proc. IEEE Transm. Distribution Conf. Exhibit., 2005, pp. 15. [13] C. Corvin, SLAC synchronous condenser, in Proc. Particle Accelerator Conf., Dallas, TX, May 15, 1995, vol. 4, pp. 21142116. [14] S. Kalsi, K. Weeber, H. Takasue, C. Lewis, H.-W. Neumueller, and R. D. Blaugher, Development status of rotating machines employing superconducting eld windings, Proc. IEEE, vol. 92, no. 10, pp. 16881704, Oct. 2004. [15] S. Kalsi, D. Madura, R. Howard, G. Snitchler, T. MacDonald, D. Bradshaw, I. Grant, and M. Ingram, Superconducting dynamic synchronous condenser for improved grid voltage support, presented at the IEEE Transm. Distrib. Conf., Dallas, TX, Sep. 10, 2003. [16] T. R. Boyko, K. A. Ewy, M. P. Hausler, A. Kara, C. S. Miller, D. R. Torgenson, and E. P. Weber, Integration of a static var system into Fargo substation, in Proc. Int. Conf. AC DC Power Transmission, London, U.K., Sep. 1720, 1991, pp. 241247.

TABLE IV SATURATION DATA OF CONVENTIONAL SYNCHRONOUS CONDENSER

TABLE V EXCITER PARAMETERS OF CONVENTIONAL SYNCHRONOUS CONDENSER

less voltage drop on its terminals, such as single phase to ground faults or faults in weak grids. However, during severe faults, such as three phase to ground faults and severe faults in stiff grids, the synchronous condensers perform better and bring the terminal voltage to the nominal value quicker. This is especially true for the case with the SuperVAR, which injects up to 45% more reactive power compared to the conventional synchronous condenser. Moreover, for future studies, it will be very interesting to expand the analysis and comparison to include the STATCOM and the authors are planning to present a paper on this subject. APPENDIX Tables III and IV are used for the conventional synchronous condenser. Table V is used for the exciter DC2A of the conventional synchronous condenser. Table VI is used for calculating parameters for the SuperVAR. Table VII is used for the exciter ST1A of the SuperVAR.

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[17] A. M. Gole and V. K. Sood, A static compensator model for use with electromagnetic transients simulation programs, IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 13981407, Jul. 1990. [18] S. Lefebvre and L. Gerin-Lajoie, A static compensator model for the EMTP, IEEE Trans. Power Syst., vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 477486, May 1992. [19] S. Y. Lee, S. Bhattacharya, T. Lejonberg, A. E. Hammad, and S. Lefebvre, Detailed modeling of static var compensators using the electromagnetic transients program (EMTP), IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 836847, Apr. 1992. [20] IEEE Special Stability Controls Working Group, Static VAR compensator models for power ow and dynamic performance simulation, IEEE Trans. Power Syst., vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 229240, Feb. 1994. [21] L. Gerin-Lajoie, G. Scott, S. Breault, E. V. Larsen, D. H. Baker, and A. F. Imece, Hydro-Quebec multiple SVC application control stability study, IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 15431551, Jul. 1990. [22] A. E. Hammad, Applications of Static Var Compensators in Utility Power Systems 1987, pp. 2835, Application of Static Var Systems for System Dynamic Performance, IEEE 87TH0187-5-PWR.

Tarik Abdulahovic was born in Srebrenik, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 1976. He received the B.S degree from the University of Tuzla in 2001 and the M.S. degree in electric power engineering from Chalmers University of Technology (CTH), Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2006, where he is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree. The main focus of his research is the generation and propagation of high-frequency disturbances in a sea-based wind park consisting of modern convertercontrolled wind turbines.

Torbjrn Thiringer received the Ph.D. degree in 1996 from Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden. Currently, he is a Professor in the Department of Energy and Environment at Chalmers University of Technology. His areas of interest are issues pertaining to grid integration of wind energy into power systems as well as power-electronic converters in general.

Sercan Teleke was born in Ankara, Turkey, in 1983. He received the B.S. degree in electrical and electronics engineering from Middle East Technical University, Ankara, in 2005 and the M.S. degree in electric power engineering from Chalmers University of Technology, Gteborg, Sweden, in 2006. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering at North Carolina State University, Raleigh. His research interests are in the areas of powerelectronics applications to power systems and design and control of special purpose electrical machines.

Jan Svensson (S96M98) received the M.Sc., Lic. Eng., Ph.D., and D.Sc. degrees from Chalmers University of Technology, Gteborg, Sweden, in 1991, 1995, 1998, and 2002, respectively. From 1998 to 2002, he was an Assistant Professor with the Department of Electric Power Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology. Currently, he is with ABB Power Systems, Vsters, Sweden, involved in development of FACTS and HVDC transmission, especially design and control of light-concept devices. His interests include control of power electronics in power systems, power quality, energy storage, and wind power.

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