ISSN (Print) : 2320 – 3765

ISSN (Online): 2278 – 8875

International Journal of Advanced Research in Electrical,

Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering
(An ISO 3297: 2007 Certified Organization)

Vol. 3, Issue 12, December 2014

Voltage Profile Improvement of Transmission

Lines Using Static VAR Compensator
Devendra Kumar Sahu1, Ankit Dubey2
PG Student [ED&PS], Dept. of EEE, Disha Institute of Management & Technology, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India 1
Assistant Professor, Dept. of EEE, Disha Institute of Management & Technology, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India 2

ABSTRACT: In the present scenario the power system are operated nearer to their stability limits due to economic and
environmental reasons. Now days a stable and secure operation of a power system is therefore a very important and
challenging issue. Efficient transmission of voltage and stable operation of the power system is very much essential.
The stability has been given much attention by power system researchers and planners in recent years, and is being
regarded as one of the major sources of power system problems and insecurity. To compensate these problems in
transmission system svc is used. A static VAR compensator is chosen as a low cost solution to replace a conventional
capacitor bank, thus allowing a continuous and flexible nodal voltage adjustment. Due to simplest structure, easy
designing and low cost, PI controller is used in SVC as voltage regulator is used to regulate the voltage in most
industries. In this paper shunt FACTS device-SVC is used in transmission line for improving the voltage profile and
stability. MATLAB Simulink platform has been used in this study.

KEYWORDS: shunt device, transmission line, MATLAB, SVC, voltage stability.

I.INTRODUCTION
Static VAR Compensators can be very effective in controlling voltage fluctuations at rapidly varying loads.
Unfortunately, the price for such flexibility is high. Nevertheless, they are often the only cost-effective solution for
many loads located in remote areas where the power system is weak [2]. In the present scenario the demand for
electrical energy has very much intense. This has led to the facing of power transmission limitation crisis by energy
transmission systems. The limitations occur due to maintaining a balance between supplying the allowed level of
voltage and maintaining stability of the system. Voltage stability is severe problem, which steadily reach operating
limits imposed by economic and environment conditions. Whenever there is change in load or fault the system voltage
level changes. With the drop in voltage level, the reactive power demand increases. If the reactive powers demand is
not met, then it leads to furtherer decline in bus voltage resulting in the cascading effect on neighbouring regions.

As the disturbance are arises in the system due any abnormal condition of fault, it goes to transient oscillations. These
unwanted oscillations can change the performance characterics of applications. Hence this is required to control and is
done by the use the same shunt FACTS device Static VAR Compensator (SVC) designed with auxiliary controllers [9].
Therefore SVC is more effective and if accommodated with supplementary controller, by adjusting the equivalent shunt
capacitance, SVC will damp out the oscillations and improves the overall system stability [10]. The system operating
conditions change considerably during disturbances. Various approaches are available for designing auxiliary
controllers in SVC. In [11] a proportional integral derivative (PID) was used in SVC. It was found that significant
improvements in system damping can be achieved by the PID based SVC. Although PID controllers are simple and
easy to design, their performances deteriorate when the system operating conditions vary widely and large disturbances
occur.

Hence there is a requirement of devices which can control the random fluctuations and the transient oscillations comes
in the transmission line voltage during transmission. It is necessary that system has very less overshoot and very less
settling time for retain of voltage in steady level. So for this from the last few years static VAR compensator plays an
important role in voltage regulation in AC Transmission Systems. A Static VAR Compensators provides such system
improvements and benefits by controlling Shunt reactive power sources, both capacitive and inductive, with fast power
electronic switching devices. The shunt connected, fixed or mechanically switched reactors are applied to minimize the

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International Journal of Advanced Research in Electrical,

Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering
(An ISO 3297: 2007 Certified Organization)

Vol. 3, Issue 12, December 2014

line overvoltage under light load condition, and shunt connected, fixed or mechanically switched capacitors are applied
to maintain voltage levels under the heavy load conditions [1].
II. STATIC VAR COMPENSATOR
According to definition of IEEE PES Task Force of FACTS Working Group: Static VAR Compensator (SVC): 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). This is a general
term for a Thyristor Controlled Reactor (TCR) or Thyristor Switched Reactor (TSR) and/or Thyristor Switched
Capacitor (TSC) Fig 1. The term, “SVC” has been used for shunt connected compensators, which are based on
thyristors without gate turn-off capability [3]. It includes separate equipment for leading and lagging VARs; the
thyristor–controlled or thyristor – switched reactor for absorbing reactive power and thyristor – switched capacitor for
supplying the reactive power.

Fig1: Static VAR Compensator [3]

II.(a) SVC V-I characteristics

The SVC can be operated in two different modes:

 In voltage regulation mode (the voltage is regulated within limits as explained below).
 In VAR control mode (the SVC susceptance is kept constant)
When the SVC is operated in voltage regulation mode, it implements the V-I characteristic as shown in Fig. (2). As
long as the SVC susceptance B stays within the maximum and minimum susceptance values imposed by the total
reactive power of capacitor banks (Bcmax) and reactor banks (Blmax), the voltage is regulated at the reference voltage
Vref. However, a voltage droop is normally used (usually between 1% and 4% at maximum reactive power output),
and the V-I characteristic has the slope indicated in the Fig. 2 [8].

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International Journal of Advanced Research in Electrical,

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(An ISO 3297: 2007 Certified Organization)

Vol. 3, Issue 12, December 2014

Fig 2: SVC V-I characteristics [3]

II.(b) Control Concept of SVC

The control concept of svc is based on controlling of shunt susceptance (B) which can be controlled by changing the
firing angle of thyristor. The control objective of the SVC is to maintain a desired voltage at the high-voltage bus. The
SVC regulates voltage at its terminals by controlling the amount of reactive power injected into or absorbed from the
power system. When system voltage is low, the SVC generates reactive power (SVC capacitive). When system voltage
is high, it absorbs reactive power (SVC inductive). The variation of reactive power is performed by switching three-
phase capacitor banks and inductor banks connected on the secondary side of a coupling transformer. Each capacitor
bank is switched on and off by three thyristor switches (Thyristor Switched Capacitor or TSC). Reactors are either
switched on-off (Thyristor Switched Reactor or TSR) or phase-controlled (Thyristor Controlled Reactor or TCR). Fig.3
shows a single-line diagram of a static VAR compensator and a simplified block diagram of its control system [8]. The
control system consists of
 A measurement system measuring the positive-sequence voltage to be controlled. A Fourier-based
measurement system using a one-cycle running average is used.
 A voltage regulator that uses the voltage error (difference between the measured voltage Vm and the
reference voltage (Vref) to determine the SVC susceptance B needed to keep the system voltage constant.
 A distribution unit that determines the TSCs (and eventually TSRs) that must be switched in and out, and
computes the firing angle α of TCRs.
 A synchronizing system using a phase-locked loop (PLL) synchronized on the secondary voltages and a pulse
generator that send appropriate pulses to the thyristors.

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Vol. 3, Issue 12, December 2014

Fig 3: Single line Diagram of a Static VAR Compensator [3]

II (c) SVC Modelling

The Static VAR Compensator is basically a shunt connected variable VAR generator whose output is adjusted to
exchange capacitive or inductive current to the system. One of the most widely used configurations of the SVC is the
FC- TCR type in which a Fixed Capacitor (FC) is connected in parallel with Thyristor Controlled Reactor (TCR). The
magnitude of the SVC is inductive admittance BL (α) is a function of the firing angle α and is given by [2, 3]:

π α α
B (α) = B …1
π ( )

π
For ≤ α ≤ π
Where Xs = and V = SVC bus bar voltage
Q = MVA rating of reactor. As the SVC uses a fixed capacitor and variable reactor combination (TCR-FC). The
effective shunt admittance is:

B = − B (α) ...2
Where X ( ) = capacitive reactance
A rapidly operating Static VAR Compensator (SVC) can regularly provide the reactive power necessary to control
dynamic voltage swings under different system conditions and thereby improve the power system transmission and
distribution performance. Installing an SVC at one or more appropriate points in the network will enhance transfer
capability through improved voltage stability, while maintaining a smooth voltage profile under different network
conditions. In addition, an SVC can diminish active power oscillations through voltage amplitude modulation [3].
III. METHODOLOGY
The Static VAR Compensator is basically a shunt connected variable VAR generator whose output is adjusted to
exchange capacitive or inductive current to the system. One of the most widely used configurations of the SVC is the
FC- TCR type in which a Fixed Capacitor (FC) is connected in parallel with Thyristor Controlled Reactor (TCR). The
block diagram of SVC voltage regulator is shown in the Fig.4 With the help of block diagram representation. The SVC
control system consists of the following four main modules:
i. Measurement System measures the positive-sequence primary voltage. This system uses discrete Fourier
computation technique to evaluate fundamental voltage over a one-cycle running average window. The
voltage measurement unit is driven by a phase-locked loop (PLL) to take into account variations of system
frequency.
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International Journal of Advanced Research in Electrical,

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Vol. 3, Issue 12, December 2014

ii. Voltage Regulator uses a PI regulator to regulate primary voltage at the reference voltage (1.0 pu specified in
the SVC Controller block menu). A voltage droop is incorporated in the voltage regulation to obtain a V-I
characteristic with a slope (0.01 pu /100 MVA). Therefore, when the SVC operating point changes from fully
capacitive (+300 Mvar) to fully inductive (-100 Mvar) the SVC voltage varies between 1-0.03=0.97 pu and
1+0.01=1.01 pu.
iii. Distribution Unit uses the primary susceptance Bsvc computed by the voltage regulator to determine the TCR
firing angle α and the status (on/off) of the three TSC branches. The firing angle α as a function of the TCR
susceptance BTCR is implemented by a look-up table from the equation

π α α
B = ….3
π

Where BTCR is the TCR susceptance in pu of rated TCR reactive power (109 Mvar).
iv. Firing Unit consists of three independent subsystems, one for each phase (AB, BC and CA). Each subsystem
consists of a PLL synchronized on line-to-line secondary voltage and a pulse generator for each of the TCR
and TSC branches. The pulse generator uses the firing angle α and the TSC status coming from the
Distribution Unit to generate pulses. The firing of TSC branches can be synchronized (one pulse is sent at
positive and negative thyristors at every cycle) or continuous. The synchronized firing mode is usually the
preferred method because it reduces harmonics faster.

III.EFFICIENT COMMUNICATION

Fig 4: Block Diagram representation of SVC

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International Journal of Advanced Research in Electrical,

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Vol. 3, Issue 12, December 2014

VOLTAGE PROFILE IMPROVEMENT USING STATIC VAR COMPENSATOR

Fig 5: simulation model of SVC based voltage regulator

IV. RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS

The efficient regulation of voltage with the help of Static VAR Compensator based voltage regulator has been
successfully studied and implemented in the Simulink. This section deploys the results obtained and steady state and
dynamic performance analysis of results obtained. For the efficient Voltage regulation the reference voltage is taken as
1.0 pu. The Waveforms of Fig. 6 illustrates the SVC voltage regulator Dynamic Response to System Voltage
variations.
In the figure 6 shows the waveform of a voltage Va and current Ia verses time across the three phase transmission line
subjected to the three phase to ground fault when the system is controlled by the conventional system. The fault is
introduced at time of 0.4 m sec and so voltage goes down the current is increased suddenly.

Fig.6: Voltage Va, Ia Vs Time

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Vol. 3, Issue 12, December 2014

Figure 7 shows the waveform of reactive power Vs time. The fig shows that at the time of fault introduced, the system
demanded reactive power from input supply.

Fig.7: Reactive power Vs Time

Figure 8 shows the waveform of measured voltage Vmeas, reference voltage Vref and time. The reference voltage is set
to 1.0 pu. In normal operating condition the measured voltage follows the reference voltage 1.05 pu, at the time of fault
between t = 0.4 m sec to 0.6 m sec the voltage goes down. After 1.2 sec the svc control system activated and return
back to the voltage caused overshoot from 1.12 pu to 1.0 pu at the time of 1.8 sec.

Fig.8: Vmeas, Vref Vs Time waveform

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International Journal of Advanced Research in Electrical,

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Vol. 3, Issue 12, December 2014

Figure 9 shows the variation in TCR angle α with respect to the time. At the time of fault The TCR start to trigger at
172° and finally reaches with 180° at no conduction state as all three TSCs are working.

Fig.9: TCR angle α Vs Time

As the fault occurs at 0.4 m sec the TCR start to trigger and generate a firing pulse to switched on the TSCs. After this
point the three TSCs are in service and the TCR absorbs approximately 40% of its nominal reactive power. Observe on
the last trace of the scope how the TSCs are sequentially switched on and off. Each time a TSC is switched on the TCR
alpha angle changes suddenly from 180 degrees (no conduction) to 90 degrees (full conduction). Finally, at t=0.63 m
sec the voltage is reached to 1.0 pu and the SVC reactive power is reduced to zero.

Fig. 10: No of TSCs Vs time

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V.CONCLUSION
In this paper steady state and dynamic response of the transmission line voltage is studied by making the Simulink
model in MATLAB platform. The usefulness of SVC has been studied in improving the voltage profile and voltage
regulation of the transmission lines. In current scenario the equipments are very much sensitive to supply voltage
fluctuation. Any kind of fluctuation either damage the costly equipment or may harm full for further used equipments.
As the fault occurs in the system voltage fluctuates and with the help of SVC, the voltage finally attains steady value.
The results obtained with the Static VAR Compensator shows that developed method is rigid against the random
voltage fluctuations in transmission line, and provides an efficient voltage regulation. But we see that after clearing the
fault high transients had appeared in transmission line voltage and power which affect the performance of connected
applications. This is not easily handled by simple SVC system; we require some supplementary control system which
handles this problem efficiently.

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