Research on steady state voltage stability of power
system with distributed static series compensator
Yi Tang, Yuqian Liu, Jingbo Zhao, Qun Li
Jianfeng Dai State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power
School of Electrical Engineering Company Research Institute
Southeast University State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power
Nanjing, China Company
liuyuqian001@126.co m Nanjing, China
Abstract—Distributed static series compensator (DSS C) is a
new type of distributed FACTS devices that can realize accurate
control of power flow and enhance voltage stability. Thus, it
could be installed in stability-limited transmission systems widely.
This paper presents a new capacity control model for DSS Cs and
deduces the corresponding power flow equations. To illustrate
the effect on system power voltage stability of DSSCs utilization,
a voltage stability index based on power flow of transmission line
is proposed. Numerical analysis on the standard IEEE test
system is conducted to examine the effect of DSSCs on the voltage
stability index. The results indicate the effectiveness of proposed
control model and reveal that appropriate location and
compensation mode of DS S Cs improve system voltage stability.
Keywords—distributed static series compensator; control model;
voltage stability index; steady state voltage stability
I. INT RODUCTION
With the construction of large-capacity ultra-high voltage
direct current (UHVDC), centralized integration of new energy
sources and sharp increment of loads, the operation of the
power system approaches the ultimate state, which reduces the
system static voltage stability inevitably. Therefore, voltage
stability is becoming one of the major factors limiting power
transmission. Thus, it is necessary to enhance the static voltage
stability of the power system.
Application of Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS)
is an important control method to improve the system voltage
stability in modern power system [1-2]. Unfortunately, it
usually costs a lot by using the large power converter [3]. To
overcome the disadvantage of FACTS devices, the concept of
distributed Flexib le AC Transmission System (D-FA CTS) was
proposed in [4] and design of distributed FACTS converters
was study in [5]. Researches indicate that the appropriate
access location of FACTS or D-FACTS device can not only
optimize distribution of power flow [6], imp rove the available
transfer capability [7], but also enhance the voltage stability of
power system [8]. As a new type of D-FACTS device,
distributed static series compensator (DSSC) is widely applied
in power system because of its simple structure. However, the
power system stability form becomes more co mplicate when
978-1-5090-5157-1/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 1731
Kequan Liu
Gansu Communication Center for
Power Dispatching
State Grid Gansu Electric Power
Company
Lanzhou, China
DSSCs are added to power system, which makes the analyze of
its impact on system stability necessary.
The steady state voltage stability of power system with
FACTS devices has been studied by many scholars. The
analytical methods mainly include continuation power flow
method and direct method. Co mpared with lumped FA CTS
devices, a few works have been published related to the
performance of D-FA CTS devices on system voltage stability.
In [9], impacts of static synchronous series compensator (SSSC)
on power system based on the singular value calculation
method. Reference [10] has investigated the effect of thyristor
controlled series compensator (TCSC) by calcu late voltage
collapse proximity index and line stability index. Researches
are mainly aimed at the voltage stability with traditional
lu mped FACTS devices, which makes the contribution to the
analysis of DSSCs to some extent. However, there are still
some limitation, main ly manifested in two aspects: (1) single
operation mode of traditional FA CTS device cannot reflect its
influence on the system voltage stability clearly; (2) location
and capacity of devices are usually neglected, which makes the
comprehensive assessment of system voltage stability with
DSSCs unavailable.
This paper focuses on the DSSCs performance with the aim
of enhancing the system steady state voltage stability. Thus, a
capacity control model of DSSCs is proposed and
corresponding power flo w equations are deduced. Secondly, a
static voltage stability evaluation method is proposed based on
power flo w calculat ion results. Finally, the influences on the
static voltage stability with different installation locations,
capacity and operation modes of DSSCs are analyzed.
II. M AT HMATICAL M ODEL OF DSSC
A. Basic Structure of DSSC
Distributed static series compensator (DSSC) is a new type
of distributed FACTS devices through transformation of SSSC.
The capacity of each module is small (10kVA), wh ich
overcomes the shortcomings of existing large-capacity lumped
FACTS devices. In order to meet the system operation
requirements instead of traditional FA CTS device, a large
U i ‘T i I D U j ‘T j U i ‘T i P  jQ Pjs  jQjs U j ‘T j
number of DSSCs are coordinated as a group. 
is is

The schematic representation of DSSC is shown in Fig.1,

which mainly consists of a single-phase inverter, a DC link bc r+jx bc bc r+jx bc
j j j j
2 2 2 2
capacitor, a single-turn transformer and a switch. By utilization
of sing-turn transformer that attached to the transmission
conductor, DSSC can be hang on existing transmission line Fig.3 T he power injection of DSSC equivalence mode
directly, wh ich makes it convenient for its installation. Thus,
DSSCs can be installed at the transmission line as needed [11], ID U D / ( r  jx ) (1)
whereas lumped FACTS devices should be oversized designed
to accommodate load growth. The equivalent injected power Pis , Qis , Pjs , and Qjs at buses i
and j are given by
Each DSSC module can receive the instruction from
control center through wireless or power line co mmunication ­ Pis =U iU D   b + bc 2  sin(G D  T i )  g cos(G D  T i ) 
techniques to realize dynamical capacitive or inductive °
compensation of transmission line. The DSSC can reduce the °°Qis =U iU D  g sin(G D  T i )   b + bc 2  cos(G D  T i ) 
transmission congestion effectively. With the increase of DSSC ® (2)
modules installed at the controlled line, the power flow control ° Pjs =U jU D  g cos(G D  T j )  b sin(G D  T j ) 
°
°̄Q js =-U jU D  b cos(G D  T j )  g sin(G D  T j ) 
becomes more flexib le. What’s more, the failure of each DSSC
module will not cause the failure of the entire power flow
control system, which enhances the power system reliability.
where g r (r 2  x 2 ) , b  x (r 2  x 2 ) , r and x represent
B. Equivalent Circuit of DSSC resistance and inductance of line respectively, -jb c/2 represents
ground admittance of the line, UD and G D are amp litude and
To facilitate the combination with the traditional power
flow calculat ion, all DSSCs deployed a line are equivalent to a phase of DSSC respectively.
power in the power flow calculation. DSSC can generate or The real and reactive power flow, Pij and Qij , along the
consume reactive power by injecting a voltage orthogonal to transmission line with DSSC are given by
the line. When DSSC operates in capacitive compensation
mode, the phase of injected voltage lags the line current by 900 , ­ Pij gU i2  U iU j ( g cos Tij  b sin Tij ) 
°
° U iU D > g cos(T i  G D )+(b  bc 2) sin(T i  G D ) @
which increases the amplitude of the line current and power of
the transmission line. On the contrary, DSSC provides a ® (3)
°Qij (b  bc 2)U i  U iU j ( g sin Tij  b cos Tij ) 
2
desired leading quadrature voltage when it operates in
inductive compensation mode, thereby the power of the °
transmission line can be reduced. Figure 2 shows the DSSC ¯ U iU D > g sin(T i  G D )  (b  bc 2) cos(T i  G D ) @
series injection voltage phasor diagram of three co mpensation
Outputs of DSSC are given by
modes.
Fig.3 shows DSSCs’ equivalent circuit d iagram changed ­ PD gU D2  U jU D ªg cos(G D  T j )  b sin(G D  T j ) º 
° ¬ ¼
fro m Norton's theorem and thus the current source can be
expressed as ° U iU D > g cos(G D  T i )  (b + bc 2) sin(G D  T i ) @
°°
Transmission line ®QD U jU D ª¬ b cos(G D  T j )  g sin(G D  T j ) º¼  (4)
°
° U iU D > (b + bc 2) cos(G D  Ti )  g sin(G D  T i ) @
°
°̄  (b + bc 2)U D
Draw-out power circuit Draw-out power circuit 2
K

Wireless
communication According to the relationship between in jected voltage and
transmission line current, the internal operating constraint
VSC
Controller equation of DSSC is given by
Fig.1 schematic representation of DSSC PD gU D2  U jU D ª¬ g cos(G D  T j )  b sin(G D  T j ) º¼ 
(5)
U iU D ¬ª g cos(G D  Ti )   b+ bc 2  sin(G D  Ti ) ¼º 0
Without U2 Capacitive U2 Inductive U2
compensation compensation compensation
U1 jXI
jXI jXI C. Power Equations with DSSC
δ
U1 δ
U1 δ U1
θ θ θ
UD The power equations of buses i and j with DSSC are g iven
I
I I
I by
Fig.2 Phasor diagram of injecting voltage of DSSC

1732
 ­ n Co mparing I L in (9) and (10), voltage equation can be
°'Pi Pi +Pis  U i ¦ U j (Gij cos Tij  Bij sin Tij ) written as
° j 1

° n
c1U 4j  (c2 P  c3Q  Ui2 )U 2j  c4 (P2  Q2 ) 0 (11)
°'Qi Qi  Qis  U i ¦ U j (Gij sin Tij  Bij cos Tij )
° j 1
® (6) where a 1 =(1-XBc/2), a 2 =RBc/2, b 1 =R, b 2 =X, c1 a12  a22 ,
n
°'P P +P  U
j ¦ U i (Gij cos T ij  Bij sin T ji )
c2 =2(a 1 b1 +a 2b 2 ), c3 =2(a 1 b2 -a2 b1 ), c4 b12  b22 . Set x U 2j , so
° j j js

°
i 1
(11) can be simplified as
°
n

°̄'Q j Q j  Q js  U j ¦ U i (Gij sin T ji  Bij cos Tij ) ax2  bx  c 0 (12)

i 1

where n is the total number of system buses, Gij and Bij are the
real and imaginary parts of the element Yij in the nodal
admittance matrix, respectively.
According the operating principle of DSSC, it has many
control models such as active power flow control model and
reactance control model. Considering the flexible expansion of
DSSC capacity and analyze the influence on system with
different DSSC capacity, this paper uses capacity control
model wh ich controls the DSSC capacity to a constant value.
The control function is described as
QD  Qref 0 (7)
where Qref is the specified capacity control reference of DSSC.
Two new variables, U D and G D are introduced when each
DSSC is connected to network and two more equations are
needed including internal operating constraint equation of
Equation (12) existing two real solutions means that the
voltage of bus j is stable. In the vicinity of voltage collapse,
two real solutions merge into one. Then the equation can be
described as
(c32  4c1c4 )Q2  2c2c3 PQ  (c22  4c1c4 ) P 2
(13)
 2c3Ui2Q  2c2U i2 P  U 4j 0
The critical power curve of the line power can be obtained
by solving the voltage of the end bus. As shown in Fig.5, these
P and Q values create the P-Q boundary curve of load flow
solution. Therefore, the minimal distance from init ial point
(Q0 ɾP0 ) to critical point (Qcr ɾPcr ) can be defined as the
voltage margin of the line. Vo ltage margin of the line is
calculated as
 Pcr  P0    Qcr  Q0 
2 2
DSSC and control function. d vc (14)
Therefore, a Newton-Raphson power flow algorith m with
DSSCs can be expressed as Since the power crit ical operating curve is derived fro m ( 13)
ª F ( X , X u )º ª J1 J 2 º ª 'X º with singular solution, the voltage stability index of the load
« » « »« » (8) bus j at the end of the line can be defined as
¬G ( X , X u ) ¼ ¬ J 3 J 4 ¼ ¬ 'X u ¼
where 'X is the mis match vector including amplitude and LVSIj = min(dvc1 , dvc 2 ,......, dvcN ) (15)
angle of the system bus voltage, 'X u is the mis match vector
where N is number of line end with bus j. Thus, the value of
including amp litude and angle of voltage in jected by DSSC, G voltage stability index reflects the stability of power system.
(X, Xu ) contains the internal operating constraint and control When LVSIj reduces to zero, it indicates that a line end with bus
objective. j is operating in the critical state. So if the power flow in this
line increases mild ly, voltage collapse will occur first at the bus
III. VOLT AGE ST ABILITY INDEX BASED ON POWER FLOW j. Therefore, the bus with the smallest value of LVSI is defined
OF TRANSMISSION LINE as the weakest bus of the system. The value of the LVSI in this
Simp lified line model in any complicated power s ystem can bus can reflect the static voltage stability of the system
be described as Fig 4. Where P and Q are the active power and effectively. So the static voltage stability index of the whole
reactive power flow of the line respectively. Therefore, the system is described as
voltage and current equations are given by
aVSI =min( LVSI 1 , LVSI 2 ,....., LVSIk ) (16)
Ui [(1  XBc 2)+j RBc 2]U j  ( R  jX ) I L (9)
P
IL ( P  jQ) U*j (10)
d vc
U i ‘T i U j ‘T j
 Q0 , P0 
R+jX IL  Qcr , Pcr 

j Bc 2 j Bc 2 P jQ Q

Fig.4 Simplified line model of a power transmission network Fig.5 Power critical operating curve

1733
where k is the total number of load buses in the system.
According to the value of a VSI, it is convenient to determine the
present steady state voltage stability of power system.
IV. CASE ST UDY
In order to validate the proposed model of DSSCs and their
influence on steady state voltage stability of power system,
IEEE 30-bus is examined based on the voltage stability index
proposed. This system contains 41 transmission lines; 24 loads;
six generators, where bus 1 is considered as the slack bus.
To testified the validity of index of steady state voltage
stability, values of the index in init ial state and critical state are
analyzed in this case. Vo ltage stability index of each load bus
is based on load flow calculation results. Load growth strategy
adopted in this paper is to increase the loads of the whole
network in equal proportion and keep its power factor
unchanged. The increment of generators is the same as the
increment of loads and the deviation of the power loss is
undertaken by the slack bus.
Fig.7 shows the calculation results of voltage stability index
of all buses in initial state and critical state. From Fig.7, it can
be observed that the lowest LVSI value appears in the load bus
24 (bus 30), and the value reduces to zero first in the critical
state. Therefore, it is reasonable to use this index of steady state
stability proposed above to evaluate the voltage stability of
power system.
The power flow d istribution can be optimized to eliminate
the transmission congestion and reduce the power loss after the
installation of DSSCs, which will affect the steady state voltage
stability of power system to some extent. Simu lation results
show that the installation of DSSCs at line 6-8 is the most
effective way to reduce the power loss. From Table I, it can be
observed that optimizing the DSSC installation location can not
only reduce the active power loss but also improve the system
static voltage stability.
Co mpared with the large capacity lumped FACTS devices,
DSSCs have advantage in flexibility and mobility of
installation. Table II presents the voltage stability index of
system with DSSC installed at different locations and tested for
two compensation modes. Table II indicates that different
operation modes and locations of DSSC have different
influences on the voltage stability of power system. Voltage
stability of system improves obviously when DSSC is installed
in the weakest branch and operates in inductive compensation
mode.
Further test has been carried to analyze the enhancement of
voltage stability, maximu m load scale factor and a VSI with
different DSSCs’ capacity located at line 27-30 are studied.
After the deployment of DSSCs, the loads and generators
gradually increase to the power transmission limit according to
the load growth strategy proposed in this section. Table III
indicates that with the increase of DSSCs’ capacity, the a VSI
and voltage margin of weakest load bus increase gradually,
which manifests that access of DSSCs in weakest load bus
makes contribution the ability to withstand more loads.
Therefore, in order to delay the investment of equipment and
enhance the economic operation of power grid, it is reasonable
to increase the capacity of DSSCs at the weakest bus to
effectively improve the steady s tate voltage stability of system.

     T ABLE I. CONTRAST OF NETWORK LOSS AND VOLTAGE STABILITY INDEX

BEFORE AND AFTER ACCESS OF DSSCS

  
Operation Mode Power Loss/MW aVSI

 Without DSSCs 5.3518 0.3110
 
  With DSSCs 5.3203 0.3137

   
 T ABLE II. VALUE OF VOLTAGE STABILITY I NDEX UNDER DIFFERENT DSSCS

 ACCESS MODES
 
   aVSI

  Capacity and Location of
Capacitive Inductive
DSSCs (bus-bus)
Compensation Compensation
Fig.6 IEEE 30-bus test system
90kVA in 3-4 0.3110 0.3110
90kVA in 2-6 0.3110 0.3110
3.5
Initial State 90kVA in 6-10 0.3108 0.3112
3 Critical State
90kVA in 6-28 0.3115 0.3100
2.5
90kVA in 27-30 0.3063 0.3171
2
LVSI

1.5 T ABLE III. LOAD SCALE FACTOR AND VOLTAGE STABILITY I NDEX WITH
DIFFERENT DSSCS’ CAP ACITY
1
Maximum Power
0.5 Capacity of aVSI in Initial Power
of Load Margin of
0 DSSCs State Loss/MW
0 5 10 15 20 25 Scale Factor Bus 30/MW
Number of Load Bus
0 2.95 20.67 0.3110 5.3518

Fig.7 Calculation results of voltage stability index of all buses in initial load 30kVar 3.06 21.83 0.3128 5.3530
condition and critical voltage point 90kVar 3.08 21.94 0.3171 5.3600

1734

0.35
Centralized Access
Distributed Access
0.3
0.25
aVSI
0.2
0.15
0.1
1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2 2.4
Load Scale Factor
Fig.8 Comparison of impact on voltage stability index between centralized
and distributed access modes when load scale factor varies
DSSCs have the characteristic of distributed access in the
actual engineering application. In order to co mpare their effects
on voltage stability in centralized and decentralized access
modes. In case 1, nine DSSCs are installed at the line 6-8
intensively while n ine DSSCs are installed at lines 2-6, 27-30
and 28-27 respectively in case 2. These results of two cases
under different load scale factors are presented in Fig.8.
It can be seen from Fig. 8 that the effects of DSSCs in
distributed access is more obvious than in centralized access in
initial state. However, the difference narrows between two
access modes with the increase of load scale factor. The reason
is that the performance of the same capacity of DSSC is weak
under heavy load, which weakens DSSC’s ability to maintain
the stability of steady state voltage. In the future, when a large
scale DSSCs are connected to power system, the DSSCs can be
decentralized to the relatively weak line, which could improve
the steady state voltage stability of power system effectively.
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a new constant capacity control model of
DSSC for power flow analysis is proposed. Furthermore, a
voltage stability index based on power flo w of transmission
line is proposed which could reflect the steady state voltage
stability of power system. Simulat ion cases are considered in
IEEE 30-bus in this study and the main conclusion are as
follows
(1) The voltage stability index proposed can reflect the
voltage stability of system effectively. Besides, power loss
decreases effectively and steady state voltage stability of
system improves when DSSCs are added.
(2) DSSCs installed in weakest line make contribution to
steady state voltage stability apparently when they operate in
inductive compensation mode.
1735
(3) Improvement of steady state voltage stability and the
ability to withstand loads become more significant when
capacity of DSSCs increase.
(4) Impacts of DSSCs in distributed access mode on voltage
stability is more evident compared to the centralized access
mode.
A CKNOWLEDGMENT
This research is supported by National Natural Science
Foundation of China (NO.51577030) and Project of State Grid
Jiangsu Electric Power Co mpany Research Institute (Name:
Research on flexible A C power flow control technology of
transmission network based on distributed power flow
controller, Grant No. 8516000700).
REFERENCES
[1] Y. Xu, Z. Y. Dong, C. Xiao, R. Zhang and K. P. Wong, "Optimal
placement of static compensators for multi-objective voltage stability
enhancement of power systems," IET Generation, Tran smission &
Distribution, vol. 9, no. 15, pp. 2144-2151, Nov 2015.
[2] F. Berrouk, B. Ali Rachedi, A. Lemzadmi, K. Bounaya and H. Zeghache,
"Applications of shunt FACT S controller for voltage stability
improvment," International Conference on Electrical Sciences and
T echnologies in Maghreb (CIST EM), Tunis, 2014, pp. 1-6.
[3] N. Hingorani, “Flexible AC transmission,” IEEE Spectr., vol. 30, no.4,
pp. 40–45, Apr. 1993.
[4] D. M. Divan, W. E. Brumsickle, R. S. Schneider, B. Kranz, R. W.
Gascoigne, D. T. Bradshaw, et al. "A Distributed Static Series
Compensator System for Realizing Active Power Flow Control on
Existing Power Lines," in IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, vol. 22,
no. 1, pp. 642-649, Jan. 2007.
[5] H. Johal and D. Divan, "Design Considerations for Series-Connected
Distributed FACT S Converters," IEEE Transactions on Industry
Applications, vol. 43, no. 6, pp. 1609-1618, Nov.-dec. 2007.
[6] A. Rathi, A. Sadda, L. Nebhnani and V. M. Maheshwari, "Loss
minimization with D-FACT S devices using sensitivity based technique,"
2012 IEEE 5th India International Conference on Power Electronics
(IICPE), Delhi, 2012, pp. 1-5.
[7] B. Sookananta, S. J. Galloway, G. M. Burt and J. R. McDonald,
‘Employment of power transfer distribution factor for the optimal
placement of FACT S devices’. IEEE Conf. Power Engineering, Dec.
2007, pp. 569–573.
[8] K. M. Rogers and T . J. Overbye, "Some applications of Distributed
Flexible AC T ransmission System (D-FACT S) devices in power
systems," 40th North American Power Symposium, Calgary, AB, 2008,
pp. 1-8.
[9] Wu Jiekang, Qin Lihan, Hu Wenxia. "Singular value calculation
methods for voltage stability and index calculation of power system with
static synchronous series compensators," Power System Technology,
2009, 33(5):6-10(in Chinese).
[10] M. Rani and A. Gupta, "Steady state voltage stability enhancement of
power system using facts devices," 6th IEEE Power India International
Conference (PIICON), Delhi, 2014, pp. 1-6.
[11] F. Kreikebaum, D. Das and D. Divan, "Reducing transmission
investment to meet Renewable Portfolio Standards using Controlled
Energy Flows," Innovative Smart Grid Technologies (ISGT),
Gaithersburg, MD, 2010, pp. 1-8.