Power Transfer

The basic equations for power transfer at a constant frequency f can be derived by
considering the transfer of power over a short transmission line from a supply point A
to a load point B as shown in Figure 1. Let the supply voltage phasor E lead the load
voltage phasor V by a phase angle (known as the load angle).


Figure 2 Phasor diagram of voltages and currents on a transmission line

The supply complex voltage E and the load complex voltage V can be expressed by

2
o
j
Ee = E (1)
2
o
j
Ve

= V (2)
Imaginary
E
ZI
A
I
A
/2

/2
V
Real

E V
I
A
I
B
S
B
S
A
Source Load
A B
Z
Figure 1 Fundamental transmission system

Short transmission lines have an impedance Z which we can be approximated as a
series resistance R and inductance L such that

u
e
j
Ze jX R L j R = + = + = Z (3)

where L X e = is the reactance of a pure inductance and . f t e 2 =

From electrical circuit theory the supply and load voltage phasors will then be related
by

A
= + E V ZI (4)

where I
A
is the transmission line current. Equation (4) can be represented by the
phasor diagram given in Figure 2.

The transfer of complex power at each line end (S=P+jQ) can be calculated from:

*
A A
EI S = (5)
*
B B
VI S = (6)

where I
A
and I
B
are the complex line currents at the source and load ends respectively
and the sign convention for the complex power and current is positive for a direction
into the transmission line as given in figure 1.

Substituting for I from equation (4) into equations (5) and (6) and using (1) and (2)
gives

u
o
u u
o o
o
u
o o
o
j
j
j j
j j
j
j
j j
j
Ze
EVe
Ze Ze
Ve Ee
Ee
Ze
Ve Ee
Ee


=
|
|
|
.
|

\
|

=
|
|
|
.
|

\
|

= |
.
|

\
|
=
2
2 2
2
*
2 2
2
*
E
Z
V E
E S
A
(7)

Similarly
u
o
u j
j
j
Ze
VEe
Ze

= |
.
|

\
|
=
2
*
V
Z
E V
V S
B
(8)

Taking the real and imaginary components separately we can write for the supply side

) cos( ) cos(
2
o u u + =
Z
EV
Z
E
P
A
(9)
) sin( ) sin(
2
o u u + =
Z
EV
Z
E
Q
A
(10)

and for the load

) cos( ) cos(
2
o u u =
Z
EV
Z
V
P
B
(11)
) sin( ) sin(
2
o u u =
Z
EV
Z
V
Q
B
(12)

Notice that maximum power is delivered to the load when = (i.e. when the supply
voltage phasor leads the load phasor by an angle equal to atan(L/R)). This is an
impractical situation as the line current would be excessive.

Example 1

A 3 phase 400 kV transmission line of length 100 km has a resistance per phase of
1.7 ohms and reactance 27 ohms. What is the load angle, the supply and load input
reactive power and the received power when the supply is providing the transmission
line rated load (620 MW) with rated voltages at both terminals?

Answer
The power per phase at maximum load is:
620
3
P = MW. The phase voltage is:
3
400 10
3
ph
V

= also we have
27
tan( )
1.7
X
R
u = = thus 86.4
o
u =

Thus from equation (9) for each phase we have
( )
( )
6 3 2
2
cos( ) cos( )
620 10 (400 10 )
3 1.7 27
3
j
u u o +

=
+
(13)
Notice that we could have expressed equation (9) in terms of total power and line
voltage as equation (13) reduces to:
( )
6 3 2
cos( ) cos( )
620 10 (400 10 )
1.7 27 j
u u o +
=
+

This then gives
2 2
6
3 2
1.7 27
cos(86.4 ) cos(86.4) 620 10 0.0628 0.105 0.0422
(400 10 )
o
+
+ = = =

86.4 92.4 o + =

Hence the load angle is 6
o


From equations (10, 11 and 12) we then have
( )
( )
2
3
2 2
400 10
sin(86.4) sin(92.4) 6.5 MVAr
1.7 27
A
Q

= =
+

( )
( )
2
3
2 2
400 10
cos(86.4) cos(80.4) 615 MW
1.7 27
B
P

= =
+

( )
( )
2
3
2 2
400 10
sin(86.4) sin(80.4) 71.2 MVAr
1.7 27
B
Q

= =
+


Notice that the sign convention is positive for into the transmission system so that the
load receives 615 MW real power and has to inject 71.2 MVAr reactive power.


Negligible resistance (R=0))

To a good approximation in power systems we can neglect the resistance as losses are
normally relatively small. The parameters given in example 1 are typical for overhead
lines which showed real power losses of less than 1%. Thus for the transmission lines
we can approximate their impedance as Z=jX thus =/2. The power transfer
equations (9-12) reduce to:
) sin(o
X
EV
P
A
= (14)
) cos(
2
o
X
EV
X
E
Q
A
= (15)
) sin(o
X
EV
P
B
= (16)
) cos(
2
o
X
EV
X
V
Q
B
= (17)

As is expected P
A
= -P
B
for a no loss system and it has a maximum at =/2. Also
notice both supply and load have to provide reactive power (Q
A
=0, Q
B
=0). For good
regulation both the supply and load voltages should be the same magnitude i.e. E=V
thus
) sin(
2
o
X
V
P P
B A
= = (18)

( ) ) cos( 1
2
o = =
X
V
Q Q
B A
(19)

The variation of P
A
and Q
A
with is given in figure 3. Notice that there is a
theoretical maximum power transfer of
max
P EV X = . In practice this theoretical
maximum is never reached as it would greatly exceed the transmission line rated load.
The load of a transmission line is limited by the I
2
R losses and the load angle is
typically only a few degrees.
P
Q


Figure 3 Variation of Real and Reactive Power input to a transmission line with
load angle

/2 load angle
P
max
=EV
X
Answer to example 1 neglecting transmission line resistance

If we neglect the resistance in the transmission line then the answers to example 1 are
provided by equations (18) and (19):
( )
( )
2
3
400 10
1 cos(6) 32.5 MVAr
27
A B
Q Q

= = =

( )
2
3
400 10
sin(6) 620 MW
27
B
P

= =

Thus the consequence of neglecting the losses is that received power is equal to the
supplied power as expected. However, although the overall reactive power required is
about the same, the supplied reactive power is equal at both terminals of a lossless
transmission line although it is wholly supplied by the load end for a lossy
transmission line. The distribution of the estimated reactive power is therefore very
different for a lossless system. What is happening perhaps can be conveyed by the
phasor diagram given in Figure 4 where the angles are exaggerated for clarity.

















Figure 4. Phasor diagram showing the variation in supply current on a
transmission line for two situations I
An
(
An
) is for no loss ( = /2) and
I
Al
(
Al
) is for a lossy transmission line ( < /2)

The condition where both supply and load are at rated voltage are shown in figure 4
and on this phasor diagram are mapped the supply current phasors for a lossy and
lossless transmission line. As = /2 for a lossless transmission line then I
An
phasor
lies exactly halfway between the E and V phasors (lagging E but leading V), the
power supplied equals the power received ( EI
A
cos = VI
B
cos ) and each supplies
the same reactive power (-EI
A
sin = -(-VI
B
sin)). For a lossy transmission line <
/2 thus I
Al
phasor leads both E and V phasors thus the supply becomes a net
importer of reactive power and the export of reactive power at the load end increases
(I
B
= - I
A
). The real power transferred also decreases due to losses ( EIcos >
VIcos).

Imaginary
E
ZI

I
An
/2 =
An
/2
V
Real
= /2
I
Al
< /2

Al

Real power transfer dependence on and voltage dependence on reactive power

From equation (14) we have

) sin(o
X
EV
P
A
=

Thus the transfer of power can be adjusted by adjusting the phase angle between the
supply and load voltages.

From equation (17) we have

) cos(
2
o
X
EV
X
V
Q
B
=

As for example 1, normally is small or cos() 1 thus (17) reduces to

X
E V
V Q
B

~ (20)

Hence
X
E V
dV
dQ
B

~
2
(21)

also for good regulation on a power system E V giving

X
V
dV
dQ
B
~ (22)
or
X
VdV
dQ
B
~ (23)

Equation (22) gives the variation of the load voltage with the injected reactive power
at the load and indicates that the load voltage level can be controlled through control
of the injected reactive power. The term V/X is also the short circuit current I
sc
at the
load point which is normally calculated for points around the power system by the
protection engineer for relay setting. Thus equation (22) is often expressed as:
B sc
dQ I dV ~ (24)

Example 2

A 3 phase 400 kV transmission line of length 100 km has a resistance per phase of
1.7 ohms and reactance 27 ohms. What is the load angle and the reactive power input
to the transmission system when the supply is providing the transmission line rated
load (620 MW) at rated voltage and the load voltage is 395 kV? What reactive power
is necessary at the load to provide make the load terminal to be at rated voltage?




Answer

The power per phase at maximum load is:
620
3
P = MW. The phase voltage is:
3
400 10
3
ph
V

= also we have
27
tan( )
1.7
X
R
u = = thus 86.4
o
u =

Thus from equations (9) for each phase we have

( )
3 2 3 3
6
(400 10 ) cos(86.4) (400 10 )(395 10 ) cos(86.4 )
620 10
3 31.7 27 j
o +

=
+
(25)

which gives
3 2 2
6
3 3 3
(400 10 ) 1.7 27
cos(86.4 ) cos(86.4) 620 10 0.0636 0.10616 0.0426
(395 10 ) (400 10 )(395 10 )
o
+
+ = = =


86.4 92.4 o + =
Hence the load angle is 6.0
o


From equations (10) and (11) we then have
( ) ( )( )
2
3 3 3
2 2 2 2
400 10 400 10 395 10
sin(86.4) sin(92.4) 67.8 MVAr
1.7 27 1.7 27
A
Q

= =
+ +


( ) ( )( )
2
3 3 3
2 2 2 2
395 10 395 10 400 10
sin(86.4) sin(80.4) 0.9 MVAr
1.7 27 1.7 27
B
Q

= =
+ +


From equation 23 we can put
3 3
2 2
(395 10 )5 10
73 MVAr
1.7 27
B
dQ

~ =
+


Notice that this is about the correct result to return the system to that described in
example 1.

Limit of Real power transfer

From equation (14) we have

) sin(o
X
EV
P
A
=

This implies that the maximum power transfer possible is EV/X, however in reality all
equipment is limited by the ohmic losses (I
2
R) so there will usually be current limit or
MVA limit to all equipment which supersedes the maximum given in (14). Figure 5
shows the real and reactive power transfer in quantities normalised to the MVA limit
(per unit values) for different line reactances compared with a constant MVA limit

The crossover point, where the thermal limit is not reached, appears to be at about
X>2 (normalised value to MVA limit or per unit value). For most lines this is of the
order of 100 km.



Figure 5. Diagram showing the relationship between normalised real and
reactive power for lossless transmission systems of different reactances
compared with a unity MVA limit.








0 0.5 1 1.5 2
0
1
2
3
4
Thermal Limit
X=1
X=2
X=sqrt(2)
X=0.5
Real Power
R
e
a
c
t
i
v
e

P
o
w
e
r

Conclusions

In this lecture we have looked at the relationship between real and reactive power
when transmitting real power over the transmission system given that the system
impedance can be approximated by a lossy inductance. The system is constrained by a
constant frequency and the need to maintain rated voltage everywhere. From this it
follows that reactive power is necessary to magnetise the inductance of the system. It
is also found that real power transfer is strongly dependent of the phase angle between
the sending and receiving end and reactive power depends on the voltage levels. This
then dictates how power flow and voltage levels can be controlled. In general the
power transfer is limited by the MVA rating of the equipment, however, for very long
transmission lines power transfer is limited by the line reactance and voltage level of
the system (i.e. P<V
2
/X).



















DWPT September 2011