Computer Applications in Power Systems 6/7/2022

JIGJIGA UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
Course Outline
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER
ENGINEERING

Course Title:
Computer Applications in Power Systems (ECEg5252 )

By
Shimekit Kifle

Computer Applications in Power Systems

Contents
Load flow Analysis:
 Introduction
 Load flow Analysis: Fault Studies:
 Fault Studies:
 SCADA system SCADA system
Optimization and
security:

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Introduction
 Electricity is the most preferred used form of energy used
in industry, homes, businesses and transportation.
 It can be easily and efficiently transported from the
CHAPTER ONE production centers to the point of use.
 It is highly flexible in use as it can be converted to any
Introduction to desired form like mechanical, thermal, light, chemical etc.
 An electrical power system is made up of many
Computers in Power Systems components connected together to form a large, complex
system that is capable of generating, transmitting and
distributing electrical energy over large areas.

6 Computer Applications in Power Systems

The structure of electrical power system

The structure of electrical power system
A power system is usually divided into three parts: generation, transmission
and distribution system.

Generation

 Electricity is produced by converting the mechanical energy into electrical

energy. In majority of cases, the mechanical energy is either obtained from
thermal energy or provided by the flowing water.

 The main sources of thermal energy sources are coal, natural gas, nuclear
fuel and oil. The use of non-fossil fuels such as wind, solar, tidal, and
geothermal and biogas in electricity generation is also increasing.

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 Hydro-power is the main non-thermal source of mechanical energy used

in electricity generation.  Since the power loss in a transmission line is proportional to the square of
 The conversion of mechanical to electrical energy is done using line current, the transmission lines operate at the highest voltage levels,
usually 220 KV and upwards.
synchronous generators in majority of power plants. Few wind generation
systems use induction generators.
 Usually the transmission network has a meshed structure in order to
 The power is usually generated at low voltage, between 11 and 35 kV, and provide many alternate routes for the power to flow from the generators
then fed into the transmission system using a step up transformer. to the load points.This improves the reliability of the system.

 High voltage transmission lines are terminated at substations.

 Transmission system
 Very large industrial customers may be provided power directly from
 The electricity is generated in bulk in the generating stations and then
transmitted over long distances to the load points. these substations. At these substations, the voltage is stepped down to a
lower level and fed into the sub-transmission system.
 The transmission system interconnects all the generating stations and
 This part of the transmission system connects the high voltage substation
major load centers in the system. It forms the back bone of the power
system. through step down transformers to distribution substation.

• Typically the sub-transmission voltage levels are from 66 kV to 132 kV. Economy:
Some large industrial consumers may be served directly from the sub- In interconnected systems, it is possible to reduce the total set of
transmission system.
generating plants required to maintain the desired level of generation
reserve.
• The transmission lines connect the neighbour power systems at
transmission levels, thus forming a grid.  This results in reduction of operational and investment costs.
 Also, operational (including plant start-ups and shut down) and
• The grid is the network of multiple generating resources and several generation scheduling of units can be more economically
layers of transmission network. coordinated.

• The interconnections of power systems offer the following advantages. Security:

Quality: In case of emergency, power can be made available from the
• The voltage profile of the transmission network improves as more neighbouring systems and each system can benefit even when individual
generators contribute to the system, resulting in an increased total spinning reserves may not be sufficient for isolated operation.
system capability.
• This also improves the frequency behavior of the system following
any load perturbation due to increased inertia of the system.

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Normal Power System Operating Condition

Distribution system  Generally, most of the time, power systems operates in
normal operating condition.
• The distribution represents the final stage of power transfer to
the individual consumer.  A power system is said to be in a normal state, if the following
• The distribution network is generally connected in a radial conditions are satisfied:
structure. The bus voltages are within the prescribed limits.
• The primary distribution voltage is typically between 15 KV and The system frequency is within the specified limits.
33 KV. The active and reactive power balance exists in the
• Small industrial customers are supplied by primary feeders at system.
this voltage level. However, the system load varies continuously and hence, in
• The secondary distribution feeders supply residential and order to ensure satisfactory system operation, proper controls
commercial at 380/220V. have to be provided in a power system.
• Small generating plants located near the load centers are usually
connected to sub-transmission or distribution system directly.

Power system control structure

The various elements of power system operation and control are
shown in Table 1.1 along with the time-scale of operation.
Table 1.1: Various elements of power system operation and control
Operation and control action Time period

1 Relaying execution control, system voltage Milli seconds

control

2 System frequency control and tie-line power Few seconds to few minutes
control

3 Economic dispatch Few minutes to few hours

4 System security analysis Few minutes to few hours
5 Unit commitment Few hours to few weeks
6 Maintenance scheduling One month to one year
7 System planning One year to 10 years  Figure 1.2: Controls in a Power System

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Generating unit controls • As the time constant of excitation system is much smaller than that of
• The controls provided in generating units consist of prime mover control prime mover system, the coupling between LFC and AVC loop is
and excitation controls as shown in Fig. 1.3. negligible and hence they are considered independently.
• The controls are also called as load frequency control (LFC) and automatic
voltage control (AVC).

• These controllers are set for a particular operating condition and maintain
the frequency and voltage magnitude within the specified limits following
small changes in load demand.

• If the input to the prime mover is constant, then an increase in the

active power of load at the generator terminals results in a drop in the
prime mover speed.
• This then, causes a reduction in the frequency, on the other hand, an Figure 1.3: Generator controls
increase in reactive power demand at the generator results in the reduction
of terminal voltage, if the excitation (generation field current) is kept
constant.

Load frequency control Automatic voltage control

 In LFC, two feedback loops namely, primary and secondary loops are  In AVC, the bus voltage is measured and compared to a reference. The
provided. Both the loops help in maintaining the real power balance by resulting error voltage is then amplified and applied to the excitation control
system.The output of the exciter controls the generator field current.
adjusting the turbine input power.
 An increase in the reactive power load of the generator causes the terminal
voltage to decrease and this results in generation of voltage error signal. The
 The primary LFC loop senses the generator speed and accordingly amplified error signal then increases the exciter field current which in turn
controls the turbine input. This is a faster loop and operates in the increases the exciter terminal voltage. This increases the generator field
order of seconds. But this loop provides only a coarse frequency current, which results in an increase in the generated emf.
control.  The reactive power generation of the generator is thus increased and the
terminal voltage is brought back to its nominal value.
 The secondary LFC loop which senses the system frequency and tie-  The generation control maintains the active power balance in the system. It
line power, fine tunes the frequency back to the nominal value. This is also controls the division of load active power between the generators in the
system to ensure economic operation.
a slower loop and may take minutes to eliminate frequency error.

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Economic dispatch
 Economic operation and planning of electric energy generating system has
been accorded due importance by the power system operators to make  The economic dispatch and minimum loss problems can be solved by means of
electrical energy cost-effective to the consumer and profitable for the optimal power flow (OPF) method.
operator.  The OPF calculations involve a sequence of load flow solutions in which certain
 The operational economics that deals with power generation and delivery can controllable parameters are automatically adjusted to satisfy the network
be divided into two sub-problems. constraints while minimizing a specified objective function.
 One dealing with minimum cost of power generation and other dealing with  The power system control objectives are dependent on the operating state of the
delivery of power with minimum power loss. system.
 The problem of minimum production cost is solved using economic dispatch.  Under normal operating conditions, the controller tries to operate the system as
economically as possible with voltages and frequency maintained close to
 The main aim of economic dispatch problem is to minimize the total cost of
nominal values.
generating real power at different plants in the system while maintaining the
real power balance in the system.  But abnormal conditions like outage of a larger generator, of a major
transmission line or sudden increase or reduction of system load can cause havoc
 For system having hydro-plants, a coordinated dispatch of hydro-thermal
in the system, if not properly controlled.
units is carried out.
 Different operating objectives have to be met in order to restore the system to
normal operation after the occurrence of such contingencies.

Security analysis and contingency evaluation

 For the analysis of power system security and development of approximate
control systems, the system operating conditions are classified into five  Normal state: In this state, all the system variables are within the normal range
states: normal, alert, emergency, in extremis and restorative. The state and with no equipment being overloaded. The system is in a secure state with both
the transitions between them are shown in Fig. 1.4. ‘equality’ (total system generation eqauls total system load) and ‘inequality’(bus
voltages and equipment currents within the limits) constraints being satisfied. In
this state, a single contingency cannot disrupt the system security and cannot
cause any variable to violate the limit.The system has adequate spinning reserve.
 Alert state: If the security level of the system falls below some specified
threshold, the system then enters the alert state and is termed as ‘insecure’. The
system variables are still within limits.
 This state may be brought about by a single contingency, large increase in system
load or adverse weather conditions.
 Preventive control steps taken to restore generation or to eliminate disturbance
can help in restoring the system to the normal state. If these restorative steps do
Figure 1.4: Power system state transition diagram not succeed, the system remains in the alert state.

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 Occurrence of a contingency with the system already in alert state, may cause
overloading of equipments and the system may enter emergency state. If the  It is most urgent that the system be restored to normal or alert state by
disturbance is very severe, the system may enter into extremis state directly from means of these actions.
alert state.  In-extremis state:
 Emergency state:  If the emergency control actions fail when the system is in emergency state,
 If the preventive controls fail or if a severe disturbance occurs, the system enters then the system enters into in-extremis state. The system starts to disintegrate
emergency state. The transition to this state can occur either from normal state or into sections or islands.
alert state.  Some of these islands may still have sufficient generation to meet the load.
 In this state the balance between generation and load is still maintained (equality  The components are overloaded and the active power balance is also
constraints still satisfied) and the system remains in synchronism. Some disrupted.
components are however overloaded (some inequality constraints violated). Failure  Overloaded generators start tripping leading to cascade outages and possible
of these components results in system disintegration. ‘blackout’.
 Emergency control actions like disconnection of faulted section, re-routing of  Control actions, such as load shedding and controlled system operation are
power excitation control, fast valving, and load curtailment have to be taken. taken to save as much of the system as possible from a widespread blackout.

Unit Commitment

 Restorative state:  The total load in the power system varies throughout a day and its
 The restorative state represents a condition in which control action is being
value also changes with the day of the week and season. Hence, it is
taken to restart the tripped generators and restore the interconnections. The not economical to run all the units available all the time.
system transition can be either to normal or alert state depending on system
conditions.  Thus, the problem of unit commitment is to determine in advance, the
 The sequence of events that result in system transition from normal to in- start and the shut down sequence of the available generators such that
extremis state may take from few seconds to several minutes. the load demand is met and the cost of generation is minimum.
 Bringing the system back to normal through the restorative state is an
extremely time consuming process and may last for hours or may be days. A
large generator may require many hours from restart to synchronization.
 The switched off loads can be picked up gradually and resynchronization of
operating islands to the grids is also a time consuming process.
 The control actions may be initiated from the central energy control centre
either through operators or automatically.

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Maintenance scheduling System planning

 Preventive maintenance has to be carried out on power system  To meet ever increasing load demand, either new power systems have
components to ensure that they continue to operate efficiently and to be built or the existing power systems are expanded by adding new
reliably. generators and transmission lines.
 Generators are usually put on maintenance once every year. Their  Many analyses must be performed to design and study the performance
maintenance has to be so scheduled such that the available generation of the system and plan expansion.
is sufficient to meet the system load demand.  To study the system feasibility and performance, the following analyses
 The problem of maintenance scheduling deals with the sequencing of need to be carried out:
generator maintenance such that sufficient generation is always  (a) Load flow analysis
available to meet the load demand and the cost of maintenances and  (b) Fault analysis/short circuit studies
cost of lost generation is minimum.
 (c) Stability studies
 (d) Contingency analysis

Load flow analysis Fault studies

 The load flow analysis involves the steady state solution of the power  In these studies the line currents and bus voltages of a system are
system network to determine power flows and bus voltages of a calculated during various types of faults.
transmission network for specified generation and loading conditions.  Faults on power system are divided into balanced and unbalanced
 These calculations are required for the study of steady state and faults.
dynamic performance of the system.  Three phase symmetrical faults are balanced faults in which the system
 The system is assumed to be balanced and hence, single phase retains its balanced nature.
representation is used.  The unbalanced faults are single line to ground fault, line to line fault
 These studies are important in planning and designing future and double line to ground fault.
expansion of power system and also in determining the best operation  The fault currents values are useful in relay setting and co-ordination
of the existing systems. as well as for selecting the proper rating of the circuit breakers.

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Stability studies  Transient stability study deals with the response of a power system
 The stability studies ascertain the impact of disturbances on the subjected to a large disturbance such a short circuit, line tripping or
electrochemical dynamic behavior of the power system. loss of large generation.
 These studies are of two types; small signal stability study and
transient stability study.  In this study the equations describing system dynamics are solved using
 The small signal stability studies deal with the behavior of a system numerical techniques.
following any small disturbances like small change in load, small
change in AVR gain etc.  The power system transient stability problem is then defined as that of
 As the disturbance is small, the equations that describe the dynamics of assessing whether or not the system will reach an acceptable steady
the power system are linearized for the purpose of analysis. state operating point following a large disturbance.
 The system is small signal stable for a particular operating point, if
following a small disturbance it returns to essentially the same steady
state operating condition.

Power system planning, design and operations require Impact of computers in Power system
careful studies in order to evaluate the system More efficient and economic means of performing routine
performance, safety, efficiency, reliability and engineering
economics. calculations required in the planning, design , and operation of a
power system
The modern interconnected power systems are A better utilization of engineering talent by relieving the
complex, with several thousand buses and components. engineer
from tedious hand calculations and permitting him to spend more
The manual calculation of the performance indices is time on technical work
time consuming. The ability to perform more effective engineering studies by
applying calculating procedures to obtain a number of alternate
The computational efforts are very much simplified solutions for a particular problem to provide a broad base for
due to the availability of efficient programs and engineering decisions
powerful microcomputers. The capability of performing studies which heretofore were not
possible because of the volume of calculations involved.
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Power system automation Supervisory control and data acquisition

 The global electricity demand is growing at a rapid pace, making
(SCADA) systems
the requirements for more reliable, environment friendly, and  Automation is used worldwide in a variety of applications
efficient transmission and distribution systems inevitable. ranging from the gas and petroleum industry, power system
 The traditional grids and substations are no longer acceptable for
automation, building automation, to small manufacturing unit
sustainable development and environment-friendly power automation.
delivery.  SCADA is generally used when the process to be controlled is
 In today’s world with limited resources and increasing energy spread over a wide geographic area, like power systems.
needs, optimization of the available resources is absolutely essential.  SCADA systems are defined as a collection of equipment
 Automation of power systems is a solution toward this goal, and that will
every sector of the power system, from generation, to the customer is provide an operator at a remote location with
being automated to achieve optimal use of energy and resources. sufficient information to determine the status of particular
 Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems are widely equipment or a process and cause actions to take place
used for automation of the power sector and represent an evolving field, regarding that equipment or process without being physically
with new products and services added on a daily basis. present.

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Supervisory control and data acquisition In Automating the monitoring

(SCADA) systems  Collect the data from the field.
SCADA implementation thus involves two major activities:  Convert the data into transmittable form.
I. Data acquisition (monitoring) of a process or
 Bundle the data into packets.
equipment
II. The supervisory control of the process, thus leading to  Transmit the packets of data over the communication
complete automation. media.
 The complete automation of a process can be achieved by  Receive the data at the control center.
automating the monitoring and the control actions.  Decode the data.
 Automating the monitoring part translates into an operator in a
control room, being able to “see” the remote process on the  Display the data at the appropriate points on the display
operator console, complete with all the information required screens of the operator.
displayed and updated at the appropriate time intervals.
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Automating the control process The monitoring and controlling process.

 Automating the control process will ensure that the
control command issued by the system operator gets
translated into the appropriate action in the field
Involve the steps
 The operator initiates the control command.
 Bundle the control command as a data packet.
 Transmit the packet over the communication media.
 The field device receives and decodes the control command.
 Control action is initiated in the field using the appropriate
device actuation.

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 Components of SCADA systems  Communication System: This refers to the communication

channels employed between the field equipment and the
 RTU: RTU serves as the eyes, ears, and hands of a SCADA
master station.
system.
The RTU acquires all the field data from different field  Master Station: This is a collection of computers,
devices, process the data and transmit the relevant data to the peripherals, and appropriate input and output (I/O) systems
master station. that enable the operators to monitor the state of the power
system (or a process) and control it.
 At the same time, it distributes the control signals received
from the master station to the field devices.  Human-Machine Interface (HMI): HMI refers to the
interface required for the interaction between the master
station and the operators or users of the SCADA system.

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 SCADA in power systems

 SCADA in power systems
 SCADA systems are in use in all spheres of power system operations
starting from generation, to transmission, to distribution, and to
utilization of electrical energy.
 The basic SCADA functions include data acquisition, remote control,
human machine interface, historical data analysis, and report writing
 Data acquisition is the function by which all kinds of data(analog,
digital, and pulse) are acquired from the power system.
 This is accomplished by the use of sensors, transducers, and status point
information acquired from the field.

 The control is mostly of switch positions; hence, digital control output

points are abundant, such as circuit breaker and isolator positions and
equipment on and off positions.

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Use of SCADA in power systems.
Computer Applications in Power Systems

 Generation SCADA application functions  Transmission SCADA application functions

 Automatic Generation Control (AGC): a collection of equipment  Network Configuration/Topology Processor: analyzes the status of
and computer programs implementing closed-loop feedback circuit breakers as well as measurements to automatically determine the
control of frequency and net interchange current model of the power system
 Economic Dispatch Calculation (EDC): the scheduling of power  State Estimation: provides a means of processing a set of redundant
from all available sources in such a way to minimize cost within information to obtain an estimate of the state variables of the system
some security limit
 Contingency Analysis: simulates outages of generating units and
 Interchange Transaction Scheduling (ITS): ensures that transmission facilities to study their effect on bus voltages, power flows,
sufficient energy and capacity are available to satisfy load energy and the transient stability of the power system as a whole.
and capacity requirements.
 Unit Commitment (UC): produces the hourly start-up and loading  Three-Phase Balanced Power Flow: obtains complete voltage angle and
schedule which minimizes the production cost for up to one week magnitude information for each bus in a power system for specified load
in the future. and generator real power and voltage conditions
 Short-Term Load Forecasting (STLF): produces the hourly  Optimal Power Flow: optimize some system objective function, such as
system load for up to one week into the future and is used as input production cost, losses, and so on, subject to physical constraints on
to the unit commitment program facilities and the observation of the network laws
 Hydrothermal coordination: the scheduling of power from all
available hydro generation in such a way to minimize cost within
constraints (e.g., reservoir levels) Computer Applications in Power Systems Computer Applications in Power Systems
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 Distribution automation application functions

 Distribution automation/distribution management systems (DA/DMS)
Advantages of SCADA in power systems
 Increased reliability, as the system can be operated with less severe contingencies and
include substation automation, feeder automation, and customer the outages are addressed quickly
automation.  Lower operating costs, as there is less personnel involvement due to automation
 The additional features incorporated in distribution automation  Faster restoration of power in case of a breakdown, as the faults can be detected faster
will be and action taken
 Fault identification, isolation, and service restoration  Better active and reactive power management, as the values are accurately
captured in the automation system and appropriate action can be taken.
 Network reconfiguration
 Reduced maintenance cost, as the maintenance can be more effectively done
 Load management/demand response (transition from time-based to condition-based maintenance) with continuous monitoring
 Active and reactive power control of the equipment.
 Reduced human influence and errors, as the values are accessed automatically, and the
 Power factor control
meter reading and related errors are avoided
 Short-term load forecasting  Faster decision making, as a wealth of information is made available to the operator
 Three-phase unbalanced power flow about the system conditions to assist the operator in making accurate and appropriate
decisions
 Interface to customer information systems (CISs)
 Optimized system operation, as optimization algorithms can be run and appropriate
 Interface to geographical information systems (GISs) performance parameters chosen
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