Application of REI Equivalent in Reactive Power

Optimization Control in Regional Power Grid

Zhi Li, Honggeng Yang

School of Electrical Engineering & Information
Sichuan University
Chengdu, China
lizhi5saisen@126.com

Abstract—Aiming at regional power grid whose power supply is a
substation that connects the upper and lower grid, REI (Radial
Equivalent Independent) equivalent is applied to voltage and
reactive power optimization control, and varying-intercept linear
regression method is proposed to obtain equivalent parameters
according to local data taking into account the difficulty of
getting the upper grid operating parameters. Without the
information of the upper grid, this model can reflect the
characteristics of voltage and reactive power of the boundary
bus; enable the lower grid to regulate the voltage of the boundary
bus; and make the calculated voltage of the whole grid more
accurate. Compared with conventional model, this model only
adds one node in optimization calculation, so it’s simple and
practical.
Keywords-REI equivalent; varying-intercept linear regression;
reactive power optimization; voltage control
efficiency is low as a result of repeated iteration in each flow
calculation, and it failed to provide an accurate method to get
the sensitivity coefficient.
This paper carries on equivalence and simplification to the
upper external grid of regional power grid according to REI
equivalent, and proposes varying-intercept linear regression
method to obtain equivalent parameters only according to local
data. Using this model for regional power grid voltage and
reactive power optimization, it can reflect the characteristics of
voltage and reactive power of the boundary bus, and not only
does not acquire the information of the upper grid [2-3] but
also avoids the repeated iteration in flow calculation [4], so it is
very practical.
II. REI EQUIVALENT FOR THE UPPER EXTERNAL GRID

A. REI Equivalent
I. INTRODUCTION
Reactive power optimization of regional power grid can
achieve voltage and reactive power optimization control by
regulating OLTC transformer taps and reactive compensation
equipments [1]. A typical feature of regional power grid is
radial and without actual power point, so 220kV bus (called the
boundary bus here) is considered as slack node in optimization
calculation. This conventional model can not reflect that the
voltage of the boundary bus is influenced by the reactive power
change of lower grid, and the area reactive power Figure 1. External network after the access of REI network
compensation capacity is large, so we can not ignore the
problems as follow: first, considering the boundary bus as slack
node directly will make its calculated voltage constant in
optimization calculation, resulting in the lower grid unable to
regulate the voltage of the boundary bus; second, ignoring the
effect will cause the calculated voltage of all buses inaccurate
when the optimization calculation result contains capacitor
switching. References [2-3] based on the extended Ward
equivalent approach make the regional power grid energy
management system (EMS) calculations more accurate, but in Figure 2. REI equivalent network after eliminating nodes
the software side they need adding model transformation
interface and real-time data interface at both provincial side The basic idea of REI equivalent is [5-6]: replacing the
and regional side, and in the hardware side they need power injection of the nodes to be eliminated with the power
establishing a special communication channel, therefore it injection of a virtual node (REI node), and connecting them
exists the problem of high complexity and cost. Reference [4] through a network of non-fiction loss, as shown in Fig.1. After
can reflect the characteristics of voltage and reactive power of the access of REI network, the original active nodes become
the boundary bus by sensitivity method, but its computational passive nodes, and then all of the passive nodes can be

978-1-4244-6255-1/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE

eliminated by conventional Gaussian elimination method, ⎛
2
P R + QB X R ⎞ ⎛ PB X R − QB RR ⎞
2

eventually simplified network shown in Fig.2 can be gotten. In VR = ⎜ VB + B R ⎟ +⎜ ⎟ (1)

⎝ VB ⎠ ⎝ VB ⎠
.
order to calculate more accurately, improved REI equivalent
methods [7-8] divide the external nodes into two or more Ignoring the horizontal component and the resistance,
groups each of which corresponds to a REI node according to equation (1) can be simplified as:
the relevant properties, and then the equivalent network QB X R Q
contains a number of REI nodes. VR = VB + = VB + X R B (2)
VB VB .
B. External Grid REI Equivalent Model of Regional Power According to the physical significance of voltage drop,
Grid define:
A typical feature of regional power grid is radial and QB
without actual power point and the power is often supplied IB = (3)
VB .
through a 220kV substation. Taking 220kV buses as boundary
nodes, there is only one boundary node because 220kV buses And then equation (2) can be expressed as:
are analyzed to one node in topology analysis, so external grid VB = − X R I B + V R . (4)
REI equivalent model of regional power grid can be shown as
Fig.3. In Equation (4), VB and IB are real time operating
parameters, which can be obtained through SCADA system or
simple calculation; VR can be expressed as the voltage of the
system side, which is unknown; XR can be expressed as the
reactance of the system side, which is also unknown but can be
considered constant under the condition of the operation mode
of the system side doesn’t change obviously. In real time
operation, because reactance XR is small and voltage VR
changes in nonstationarity random, VB and IB show a varying-
Figure 3. REI equivalent model of external grid of regional power grid
intercept linear relationship, where the slope is XR and the
intercept is VR.
Taking REI node R as slack node and 220kV bus as PQ
node whose power injection is 0, this model is used for
regional power grid voltage and reactive power optimization. B. Varying-intercept Linear Regression
Compared with conventional model, this model can enable the
lower grid to regulate the voltage of 220kV bus and avoid
errors of calculated voltage of the whole grid because of the
existence of equivalent branch impedance yR which enables
voltage VB to change along with power SB.

III. VARYING-INTERCEPT LINEAR REGRESSION

The conventional REI equivalent method needs node power
and branch parameter of the external system when calculating
the equivalent parameters, but in normal condition regional
power grid can not obtain them, unless increase corresponding
hardware and software. Reference [9-10] obtained harmonic
impedance of the system side through linear regression
analysis, but the slope and intercept of the regression equation
were constants. Reference [11] proposed a harmonic
impedance computation method based on the covariance
characteristic of independent random vector, but it was
essentially the same as linear regression method in complex
field through mathematics inferential reasoning. Starting from
the characteristics of voltage and reactive power of the
boundary bus, this paper proposes varying-intercept linear
regression method to obtain equivalent reactance XR, and then
voltage VR can be obtained according to XR and voltage VB.
Figure 4. distribution of all sample points of linear regression
For the linear equation (4), all the sample points distribute
in a linear way when the intercept VR is changeless, as shown
in Fig.4 (a); the equation graph is a group of parallel straight
lines when the intercept VR is not constant, the distribution of
all the sample points can not reflect the original linear
relationship, as shown in Fig.4 (b). Therefore, for Varying-
intercept linear regression, the key problem is to find a set of
sample points in which any two sample points can reflect the
original linear relationship.
1) Fluctuation filter

A. Characteristics of Voltage and Reactive Power of the

Boundary Bus
According to Fig.3, VB and VR satisfy the following
relations:
Figure 5. distribution of two sample points of Varying-intercept linear
regression
 For sample point P1(IBt1, VBt1) at time t1 and P2(IBt2, VBt2) at
time t2, if the distribution of them can reflect original linear
relationship depends on the relationship between VRt1 and VRt2,
that is not all the sample points is valid. Fluctuation filter is
designed to determine if the fluctuation of VB at time t2 relative
to t1 is caused mainly by fluctuation of IB and achieve the
identification of selected sample points. The judgment
condition of fluctuation filter is shown as Formula (5).
Thereinto, condition 1 expresses that the interval between t1
and t2 should be short to avoid the uncertainty of the intercept
VR; condition 2 expresses that the fluctuation of IB at time t2
relative to t1 should be large enough; conditions 3 expresses
that the fluctuation of VB caused by the fluctuation of IB should
be in a predetermined range. XRmin and XRmax are determined
according to Formula (6) in standard per unit, where Smin and
Smax are the minimum and maximum short-circuit capacity; α
and β are range coefficients. Finally, after the filtration by
fluctuation filter, a set of matched pair sample points whose
distribution is shown in fig.6 can be obtained.
⎧1. t2 = t1+Δt
⎪ linear regression equation completely eliminate the interference
⎨2. IBt 2 − IBt1 ≥ΔIBmin
⎪3. X ⋅ (I − I ) ≤V −V ≤ X ⋅ (I − I )
⎩ Rmin Bt 2 Bt1 Bt 2 Bt1 Rmax Bt 2 Bt1
1 1
X R min = α ⋅ ， X R max = β ⋅
S max S min
VB
0
IB
Figure 6. distribution of sample points obtained by Fluctuation Filter
The sample points obtained by fluctuation filter still
distribute around different lines, so the interference of the
varying intercept is eliminated only to a certain extent and
linear regression analysis method is still not fit. Vector
translation transformation which is a congruent transformation
and will not change the graphic shape, size and orientation,
refers to shifting all points on graph F by the same vector and
finally getting graph F’. For the two matched
G points P1(IBt1,
VBt1) and P2(IBt2, VBt2) and the vector a from their midpoint
P0((IBt1+IBt2)/2, (VBt1+VBt2)/2) to the origin, linear relationship
between GP1 and P2 remains the same after shifting them by
vector a according to the invariance of translation
transformations, as shown in fig.7. This transformation is
equivalent to shifting the matched pair points from around the
line through their midpoint to around the line through the
origin. After shifting all the matched pair points by their
corresponding vector from their midpoint to the origin,
normalized valid sample points can be obtained, which
distribute around the line through the origin as shown in fig.8.
Normalized valid sample points consistent with the original
(5) of the varying intercept, and the system reactance XR can be
obtained by linear regression analysis in accordance with the
regression equation VB =- XRIB.
(6)
IV. APPLICATION
This model is used in the voltage and reactive power
optimization control system of an actual regional power grid,
and closed-loop real-time control participants contain one
220kV substation, three 110kV substations and three 35kV
substations. Total reactive power compensation rated capacity
in 220kV Substation and in the rest of substations is 64Mvar
and 33Mvar respectively. The minimum and maximum short-
circuit capacity of 220kV bus is 6264MVA 和 12658MVA
respectively. In calculation, reference power is taken as
100MVA and reference voltage is taken as 220kV, 110kV,
35kV and 10kV respectively according to the voltage level.
B

2) Vector translation transformation

B

Initial Filtered by fluctuation filter

V

1.05 1.05

1.045 1.045

1.04 1.04

1.035 1.035

1.03 1.03

1.025 1.025
0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 IB 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 IB
V '
B

Normalized by translation transformation

0.001

0.0005

Figure 7. shifting sample points through vector translation transformation 0

0

-0.0005

-0.001
-0.06 -0.04 -0.02 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 IB'

Figure 9. distribution of sample points in Various stages of varying-intercept

linear regression(standard per unit)

Calculating the system equivalent reactance by varying-

Figure 8. distribution of normalized valid sample points after shifting intercept linear regression analysis method according to the
sample points of recent 48-hour real-time data, the distribution
of the sample points in each stage of the calculation is shown in
Fig.9. Finally the obtained slope that is the system equivalent
reactance equals 0.01541pu.
In power system operation, voltage and substation power
factor are required to limit in a given range. Table 1 shows the
relevant calculated data in the case of all the 8 capacitors in
220kV substation are disconnected in the valley period and the
case of 4 capacitors are input when turning into the abundance
period. From Table 1 we can see: first, after 4 capacitors input,
the calculated voltage by conventional model remains
227.92kV, while the calculated voltage by this model is
228.914kV whose variation accounts for 16.57% of its given
range; second, after 4 capacitors input, because of the
difference of calculated voltage of 220kV bus, all the
calculated voltage of 10kV bus are different between
conventional model and this model, and the difference of 10kV
bus in Jinshan substation is the biggest(47.2% - 36.0% =
11.2%); third, because the calculated system voltage level by
this model is higher than conventional model, the calculated
power factor of 220kVsubstation is a little higher too. Overall,
this model not only enables regional power grid to regulate the
voltage of 220kV bus, but also makes the calculated voltage
and substation power factor more accurate than conventional
model.

TABLE I. CALCULATED RESULT BY THIS MODEL COMPARED WITH CONVENTIONAL MODEL

Calculated Result in Calculated Result When Turning into
Limit Range
Valley Period the Abundance Period
Parameter Name
Abundance Conventional This Conventional
Valley period This model
period model model model
Voltage of REI node —— —— —— 229.509 —— 229.509
Power factor of 220kV Wanan Under 0.95 Above 0.95 0.9213 0.9213 0.9883 0.9891
substation
Voltage of 220kV bus of Wanan 225-231 226-232 227.92 227.92 227.92(+0%) 228.914(+16.57%)
substation
Voltage of 10kV bus of Yuying 10-10.5 10.2-10.7 10.188 10.188 10.354(+33.2%) 10.405(+43.4%)
substation
Voltage of 10kV bus of Nanta 10-10.5 10.2-10.7 10.174 10.174 10.337(+32.6%) 10.387(+42.6%)
substation
Voltage of 10kV bus of Banzhu 10-10.5 10.2-10.7 10.071 10.071 10.235(+32.8%) 10.286(+43.0%)
substation
Voltage of 10kV bus of Yanjia 10-10.5 10.2-10.7 10.189 10.189 10.368(+35.8%) 10.423(+46.8%)
substation
Voltage of 10kV bus of Lveping 10-10.5 10.2-10.7 10.146 10.146 10.322(+35.2%) 10.376(+46.0%)
substation
Voltage of 10kV bus of Jinshan 10-10.5 10.2-10.7 10.122 10.122 10.302(+36.0%) 10.358(+47.2%)
substation
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