PMU-Based Multi-Input SVC Supplementary

Controller for Damping Inter-area Oscillation

M. Aghazadeh Tabrizi, Student Member, IEEE, and G. Radman, Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract--Low frequency inter-area oscillation is a major

problem in power system operation. If not damped, these
oscillations prolong, grow, and decrease transmission capacity of
the tie-lines, causing interruption in energy supply. Several
methods for damping of these oscillations are reported in
literature. The damping may be provided by appropriate control
of different components in power system such as generator
excitation systems and various FACTS devices including SVC.
The main objective of SVCs is to support reactive power and
maintain bus voltages. However, supplementary controllers may
be added to SVCs to provide the needed damping for inter-area
oscillations. The supplementary controllers reported in literature
use only local measurements. This paper proposes a SVC
supplementary control scheme that uses both remote and local
signals (provided by PMUs). A two-area four-machine test
system was used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed
controller. Results show that the proposed controller provides
better damping than other types of controllers.
Index TermsInter-area oscillation, phasor measurement
unit, static var compensator (SVC).

I. INTRODUCTION

ith the development of power systems, the construction

of extensive interconnection lines among different
power system areas has been considerably increased. The
large interconnected systems are advantageous since they
improve the reliability of power supply and minimize the total
required generation capacity of the system. They allow the cooperation among the interconnected systems in case of faults
and guarantee the power supply in contingency periods [1].
However, the increasing number of large interconnected
areas has led to different types of stability problems, such as
the presence of poorly damped or unstable low frequency (0.11 Hz) inter-area oscillations [2]. These oscillations can be
observed, for example, as tie-line active power flow
oscillations among interconnected areas. The characteristics of
low frequency oscillations depend on system topology and
parameters. If an appropriate damping mechanism is not
available, the inter-area oscillations decrease the transmission
lines capacity and may be prolonged and grow, causing the
interruption in the energy supply [3].
Low frequency inter-area oscillations consist of local
modes and inter-area modes, which are associated with local
generators and remote generators in other areas. Inter-area
modes are more difficult to study, since they require detailed
M. Aghazadeh and G. Radman are with the Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, TN,
USA. (e-mail: maghazade42@tntech.edu), (e-mail: GRadman@tntech.edu)

representation of the entire interconnected system and are

influenced by global states of system [4].
The traditional approach to damp out inter-area oscillations
is to install local or global Power System Stabilizers (PSS)
that provide supplementary control action through the
generator excitation systems. In recent years, supplementary
controllers have been added to FACTS devices to damp the
inter-area oscillations [5]. FACTS devices affect active power
flow by modulating the voltage and transmission line
reactance.
One of the FACTS devices which are used to damp these
oscillations is Static Var Compensator [6]. SVCs are mainly
used to perform voltage or reactive power regulation. Due to
the rapid response feature of SVC, there has been a growing
trend to use SVCs to aid system stability. In general, a SVC
with only voltage or reactive power control loop is not
effective in damping the inter-area oscillations. To damp interarea oscillations, a supplementary controller should be
superimposed over its voltage regulator loop. The SVCs
capability for providing damping control depends on their
locations, the design of the supplementary controller and the
signals used as input to the damping controller [7].
Locating of SVCs, to get the most effective damping of
system inter-area modes, is a complex problem that requires
consideration of both static and dynamic criterion [8], [9]. In
[10], authors claimed SVC damping is most effective when it
is located near the electrical midpoint of the intertie.
Over the past few years, several control techniques have
been employed for designing the SVC supplementary
controller including pole placement method, damping torque
analysis, linear quadratic Gaussian, adaptive control, bangbang control strategy, hierarchical control methodology, local
sliding control and robust control based methods [7], [11].
Selection of appropriate feedback signal for SVC
supplementary controllers is another important consideration.
Input signals which have been selected for the SVC
supplementary controller in literature include tie-line current
magnitude [7], voltage across the SVC [10], angular speed of
generator, estimated angular speed at the tie-line midpoint
[11] and locally measured active power flow [12]. However,
as the first characteristic of a desirable input signal, inter-area
oscillation modes should be observable in the input signal
[10]. Local controllers lack global observation of inter-area
modes. It has been proved that under certain operating
conditions an inter-area mode may be controllable from one
area and be observable from another [5]. In addition, interarea modes have higher controllability and observability for

the remote signals [4]. As a result, to effectively damp the

inter-area oscillation, we have to use both local and remote
signals even from other areas as the controller input signals. In
this case, key information must be exchanged between the
areas of the network.
Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) is a device for
synchronized measurement of AC voltages and currents with
time reference provided by the GPS signal which has accuracy
better than 1s. The measurement precision of the voltage and
current phasors can well meet the need of power system
analysis and control. Using PMUs, remote signals such as
voltage and angle deviations can be measured and transferred
across the whole power system [13], [14].
In this paper, a PMU-based multi-input supplementary
controller is designed for a SVC installed at one end of the tie
line in a two-area system as shown in Fig. 1. The objective is
to more effectively damp the inter-area oscillation observable
through tie-line active power flow.

where BTCR is the equivalent susceptance of TCR.

Fig. 2. Representation of one-phase SVC comprising capacitor and TCR

A supplementary controller is required to guarantee that in

addition to regulating the bus voltage, the SVC supplies
additional damping to the power system inter-area
oscillations. The block diagram for small-signal dynamic
model of a SVC including the supplementary control signal
(usc) is shown in Fig. 3.
DBmax

DVref

DVsvc
DBSVC

u sc
Fig. 1. Two-area power system with a SVC installed at the tie line. The SVC
has a PMU based multi-signal supplementary controller.

The controller inputs include both local and remote signals.

This paper is first of its kind that consider both local and
remote signal to improve the damping. Both local and remote
signals are synchronized and measured by local and remote
PMUs. Although different areas usually do not exchange
information, it is beneficial to all areas to exchange the tie-line
key information to more effectively damp the inter-area
oscillations.
This paper is structured as follows: section II presents the
system modeling, including the adopted SVC model; section
III presents the design methodology; section IV gives a
numerical example to verify and compare the controller
performance and section V concludes the paper.
II. SYSTEM MODELING
This section gives a brief description on how to model a
multi-machine power system including Static Var
Compensators.
A. Static Var Compensator Model
Static Var Compensator consists of a shunt capacitor bank
with fixed value and a Thyristor-Controlled Reactor (TCR), as
is shown in Fig. 2 [15].
SVC is installed directly in the transmission system and its
equivalent susceptance can be varied by adjusting the fire
angle of the thyristors, .
=

( )

(1)

DBmin

Fig. 3. Block diagram of SVC including the proposed supplementary control

signal

In Fig. 3, BSVC is the deviation of SVC equivalent

susceptance. The block diagram of the supplementary
controller is shown in Fig. 4.

1
1 + sTm

sT w
1 + sT w

usc

Fig. 4. Block diagram of proposed supplementary controller

In Fig. 4, Tm is the time constant involved with the

measurement hardware. The local signals consist of deviations
in tie-line active power flow and SVC bus angle. Remote
signal is angle deviation at the other end of the tie line. KL and
KR are the gain vectors with the same dimension as local
signals vectors and remote signals vectors, respectively. A
washout block is included in the supplementary controller to
guarantee that the controller only works in dynamic state and
does not interfere with steady state voltage regulation.
Thyristor susceptance control block has a first order transfer
function with a gain of one [16].
B. Multi Machine Power System Model
The power system model includes the synchronous
generators, their excitation systems and transmission network.

The two axis model has been used for modeling of

synchronous generators. Field, damper and motion equations
for the synchronous generators are as follow:

; i = 1 m

; i = 1 m

; i = 1 m

(2)

(3)

(4)

; i = 1 m

The transmission network is modeled by power balance

equations at generator buses and non-generator buses. Power
balance equations for generator buses are given by:
sin(
cos(

) ; i = 1 m

+(

; i = 1 m

; i = 1 m

(6)

(7)

= 0 ; i = 1 m
= 0 ; i = 1 m

where Vi , i and Rsi are the magnitude and angle of the bus
voltage and stator resistance, respectively.

)=0

(13)

sin(

)=0

(14)

i = m+1 m+l

where l is the number of uncontrolled buses.

For the load buses which have SVC (controlled buses), the
active power balance equation is the same as (13). However,
the reactive power balance equation for these buses is given
by:

sin(

i = m+l+1 n

)=0

(15)

In the above model, Edi , Eqi, Efdi, VRi, RFi, i and i are
dynamics variables and Vi, i, Idi, Iqi and Bsvc,i are algebraic
variables. It should be noted that in this paper, the
aforementioned multi machine model is used for simulation
purposes and not for controller designing.
III. DESIGN METHODOLOGY
In order to design the supplementary controller, the pole
placement method has been used [18]. To design the
controller, this paper considers the classical model of the
synchronous generators [17]. The equations for the classical
model are as follow:

(9)
(10)

cos(

i = m+1 m+l

(8)

Detailed information regarding the excitation system model

and their respective parameters can be obtained in [17]. Stator
algebraic equations at the generator buses are as follow:
sin(

(12)

(5)

where the state variables Efdi, VRi and RFi are field voltage,
exciter input and rate feedback for i-th synchronous generator.

sin( ) +

) = 0 ; i = 1 m

(11)

For the load buses which do not have SVC (uncontrolled

buses), active and reactive power balance equations are:

Equation (2) and (3) are for the field and q axis damper
windings, respectively. The state variables i and i are,
respectively, the generator rotor angle and angular speed for ith synchronous machine and the state variables E'di and E'qi are
the direct and quadrature axis transient internal voltages for ith synchronous machine. TMi is the mechanical input of the
machine. Algebraic variables, Idi and Iqi, are d and q axis
current, respectively. Detailed information regarding this two
axis model and their respective parameters can be obtained in
[17]. Generators excitation systems are described by IEEE
type 1 excitation system model.
(

)
sin(

cos( ) +

) = 0 ; i = 1 m

where n is the number of buses, and Yij and ij are relevant to

system admittance matrix.

where m is the number of synchronous generators and

Mi =2Hi/s.

)+
cos(

; i = 1 m

; i = 1 m

(16)
(17)

where, Tei and TFWi are electrical output and frictional torques
for i-th machine, respectively. Tei and TFWi are given by:

) ; i = 1 m

) ; i = 1 m

(18)
(19)

The measured data, including deviations in tie-line active

power flow, voltage angle and magnitude at both ends of the
tie-line, can be written as function of the states of the system
and control signal, Bsvc, as follows:

where YGi=Gi +jBi=|YGi|e ji and Di are the internal admittance

and damping coefficient of i-th machine, respectively. Ei 0 is
the internal voltage and is considered as constant.
Using classical model, we have only two dynamic variables
for each generator: i and i; and two algebraic variables: Vi,
i. Considering the classical model for generators, the power
flow equations at the generator buses have to be modified:
| |cos (

cos(

)
) = 0 ; i = 1 m

| |cos (

sin(

)
) = 0 ; i = 1 m

(21)

A. Power System Linearized Model

In the pole placement method, the eigenvalues related to
inter-area oscillation are shifted to the desired locations in
complex plane so that the damping of the inter-area modes
will increase. In order to calculate the eigenvalues of the
system and small signal stability analysis, all the dynamic and
algebraic equations have to be linearized around the
equilibrium point.
The linearized form of (16) and (17) for all generators
buses are given by:

(22)

= [

= [

(23)

Linearized form of the power balance equations for all

buses, i.e. (20), (21), (13), (14) and (15), are as follow:
0(
0(

0(

(24)

( )

( )

.
=

(26)

.
,

= [

= [

= +

(29)

B. Supplementary Controller Linearized Model

The output feedback control method is used. In this
method, the output of the system to be controlled and the local
and remote measured data are the inputs for the supplementary
controller and the output of the supplementary controller is:
=

= . ;

=[

(30)

Using (29)-(30), the closed loop matrix of the system is:

,

(31)

Using (31), if the desired location of the closed-loop

eigenvalues related to inter-area oscillation is known, vector K
will be calculated.
IV. CASE STUDY
The performance of proposed supplementary controller has
been verified on a two-area four-machine test system, and the
results, obtained by means of the modal analysis and nonlinear
simulations, are presented in this section. Modal analysis and
nonlinear simulations were carried out using simulation
package which has been developed by the authors in
MATLAB environment. The single-line diagram of the test
system is shown in Fig. 5. The transmission lines and power
flow data can be obtained from [19]. Generators and
excitations sysems dynamic data are given in appendix. The
base values for this system are 900 MW and 230 KV.
5

(25)

where c is the number of controlled buses; VC and VL and

Bsvc are given by:

It should be noted that y includes both local measurements

and remote measurements.

The power balance equations for other buses are the same
as (13), (14) and (15). The controller design procedure is
described in this section.

(28)

Eliminating Vg, Vl and Vc from (22)-(26) and using

(28), the state space model of the power system is:

(20)

where Ei0 is the generator internal voltage which is calculated

by power flow solution and is assumed as constant.

= +

= +

SVC
1

Tie line

PMU

10

PMU
3

SC
Area one

(27)
Fig. 5. Two-area four-machine test system

Area two

|. |

|. |

0.55
base case
case 1

0.5
0.45
0.4
0.35
0

10
Time (Sec)

15

20

Fig. 6. Tie-line active power flow for the base case and case one.

(32)

where vki and wki are the kth element of the right and left
eigenvectors associated with ith eigenvalue, respectievly.
In Table I, only the participation factors greater that 0.1
are considered. The zero eigenvalue in Table I always presents
since angles are computed as differencies with a reference
value [17]. Modes 1 and 4 are inter-area modes, however
mode 1 has a less damping coefficient (0.0144).

TABLE I
TEST SYSTEM EIGENVALUES FOR THE BASE CASE
NO

Eigenvalues

Participation

-0.146010.1539i

G2, G1, G3, G4

-0.151710.4481i

G3, G4

-0.14873.9992i

G1,G2

0, -0.2978

G4, G3, G2, G1

Following, four different cases are considered to

investigate the impact of proposed supplementary controller
and different input signals on inter-area oscillations damping.
In all these cases a disturbance is assumed at generator one at
t=1 sec., and it lasts for one second.
For the base case, we assume the SVC does not have interarea oscillation supplementary controller. Nonlinear
simulation, using the two-axis model described in Section II,
shows that the disturbance causes a poorly damped inter-area
oscillation at the tie line of the system as plotted in Fig. 6.
For the case one, we use the proposed supplementary
controller for the SVC installed at Bus 7. The supplementary
controller in this case has a single input which is the locally
measured tie-line active power flow deviation, so the K in (30)
has one component. K is calculated such that the damping
coefficient of the inter-area mode 1 increases to 0.05. Since
we have one degree of freedom, we can control only one
parameter associated with the system inter-area modes. The
best damping is achieved when K is equal to -6.2. Tie-line
active power flow for case one is shown in Fig. 6.

In case two, the difference between voltage angles at Bus 7

and 8 is selected as input signal for the supplementary
controller. This input signal is a remote signal provided by
PMUs at Buses 7 and 8. Therefore, in this case, the
supplementary signal to the SVC block will be:
=

(33)

In this case, again we can control only one parameter

associated with the system inter-area oscillation. The best
result in this case is obtained by Kr = -15.2. Fig. 7, indicates
the tie-line active power oscillation in case 2 has more
damping compared to those of base case and case one.
However, the resulting damping is not yet acceptable.
0.55
Tie line active power flow (pu)

Tie line active power flow (pu)

One SVC is included at one end of the tie line. The

weakness in the tie line limits the power transfer between the
two areas and therefore characterizes the inter-area oscillation
presented in this system. The value of the SVC susceptance at
Bus 7 in steady state conditions is 0.22 pu.
Eigenvalues of the system related to normal operation
(base case) are given in Table I. Using participation factor
calculation, Generators with more participation in a given
eigenvalue are specified in Table I. Participation factor of kth
state into ith eigenvalue can be calculated as follow [17]:

Base case
Case 2

0.5
0.45
0.4
0.35

10
Time (Sec)

15

20

Fig. 7. Tie-line active power flow for the base case and case two.

For the third case, the supplementary controller has two

input signals, the difference between voltage angles at Bus 7
and 8 as a remote signal and tie-line active power deviation as
a local signal are selected as input signals for the
supplementary controller. The remote input signal is provided
by PMUs at Buses 7 and 8. Therefore, the supplementary
signal to the SVC block will be:
=

(34)

where Ptie is the tie-line active power flow deviation.

Since, two parameters are adjustable, we can control two
parameters associated with the system inter-area modes. The
best result in this case is obtained by Kl = -6.75 and Kr = -5.1.
Fig. 8, shows the tie-line active power oscillation in case 3 has

more damping compared to those of base case and the first

two cases.

Tie line active power flow (pu)

0.55

[7]

Base case
Case 3

0.5

[6]

[8]

0.45
0.4

[9]

0.35

10

15

20

Time (Sec)

[10]

Fig. 8. Tie-line active power flow for the base case and case three.

V. CONCLUSION
A PMU-based supplementary controller for Static Var
Compensator to damp the inter-area oscillations was
proposed. The supplementary controller uses both local and
remote signals. The local signal is tie-line active power flow
deviation and the remote signal is the difference between
voltage angles at the tie-line buses. Considering the input
signals, this controller is the first of its kind.
The proposed idea was simulated on two-area fourmachine test system using simulation package which
developed by the authors in MATLAB environment. The
results show that the proposed controller with both local and
remote signals dramatically increases the inter-area oscillation
damping compared to controllers use only locally measured
signals.

[11]

[12]
[13]
[14]

[15]
[16]

[17]

VI. APPENDIX
Generators dynamics data are given below. All the
parameters are in per unit in basis of 900 MW and 230 KV.
= 0.013;
= 0.0022;
= 0.012;
= 0.004;
= 8;
= 0.4; = 0.01;
= 0.314;
= 1;
= 0.35;
= 0.063;
= 0.2;
= 20; = 0
); = 6.175 (
= 6.5 (
)

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VIII. BIOGRAPHIES
Mehriar Aghazadeh Tabrizi obtained his B.Sc. and
M.Sc. in Electrical Power Systems Engineering from
Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran, in
2004 and 2008, respectively. He is currently a Ph.D.
student in Electrical Power Systems Engineering at
Tennessee Technological University, TN, USA. His
research interests include power system dynamics
and control, FACTS, renewable energy systems and
electricity markets.

Ghadir Radman obtained his PhD in Electrical

Engineering
from
Tennessee
Technological
University, USA. He is currently a professor of
Electrical Engineering at Tennessee Technological
University. His research interests include power
system dynamics, power flow control, FACTS,
distributed generations, and large-scale systems.
Ghadir Radman is a senior member of IEEE/Power
Engineering Society.