1

Voltage Stability Analysis as Part of an Online

DSA System
C. O. Heyde1, Student Member, IEEE, Z.A. Styczynski1, Senior Member, IEEE

for example, are responsible for fast dynamic voltage collapse

Abstract – In this paper a voltage stability analysis is in the event of motor stalling.
described, which is coupled with an online dynamic security and
protection assessment system (DSA). The focus will lie on the
calculated indices and their algorithms using time domain
simulations. Because the online DSA collects information from
four different modules, the voltage stability module, small signal
stability module, the transient stability module and the protection
module, the required information exchange between these
modules is examined.

Index Terms— Power System Stability, Voltage Stability,

Stability Indices, Online DSA, Time Domain Simulations.

1. INTRODUCTION
Online dynamic security assessment systems are strongly
needed by network operators acting in a liberalized energy
market. On the one hand, the market itself urges for a cost
efficient operation of the networks, and on the other hand, the
rapid growth of decentralized generation is driving the power
systems close to the verge of instability.
In this paper an online dynamic security assessment system
(online-DSA) is described. Since power system instability is
caused by many different phenomena, which are also related
to different time scales [1], such an online-DSA is divided
into several parallel running sub-systems. In this case the
system has four sub-systems, voltage stability, transient
stability, small-signal stability and protection adequacy (see
Figure 1).
The focus in this paper will lie on the voltage stability
assessment in the first part, and on the coupling of the results
of the sub systems to be able to evaluate the overall stability
of the system in a given operation point.
2. VOLTAGE INSTABILITY MECHANISM
The main causes leading to voltage instability are either the
missing capability of the network to transfer the required
reactive power to remote load centers, or the loss of voltage
control of the main reactive power sources in the system [2].
In both cases the load behavior plays a major role. On the one
hand, the load recovery after voltage drops is responsible for
exaggerating the voltage decline, and on the other hand, the
voltage - reactive power characteristics of induction motors,
1
Chris O. Heyde, Zbigniew A. Styczynski are with the Otto-von-Guericke
University Magdeburg (chris.heyde@ovgu.de).
Figure 1 Overall structure of an online-DSA system.
Also very important is the behavior of the voltage regulating
devices in the power system. Here the dynamic ones such as
exciters of generators or synchronous condensers or SCVs as
well as the discrete ones such as tap-changer or switched
shunt compensators have to be considered.
Figure 2 and Figure 3 show a voltage stable case and an
instable case, respectively, of one contingency in one network.
The figures clarify the importance of the adequate modeling
of system components. The difference between both figures is
the excitation limiter, which is considered in Figure 3. The
simulated contingency leads to a voltage drop to nearly 0.85
p.u.. The voltage rapidly recovers to nearly 0.95 p.u. due to
fast excitation control of the generator in both cases. After a
certain amount of time the slow dynamics come in to play. In
this case the action of the tap changer of the transformer
regulates the voltage in such a way that the distribution side
voltage reaches its nominal value in Figure 2. At the same
time, the transmission side voltage declines because of the I²X
losses, due to the higher network impedance after the
contingency.
If an over excitation limiter (OEL) is considered, as in Figure
3, the same contingency will finally lead to a voltage collapse
due to a lack of voltage control. At about 30 seconds, the OEL
begins to limit the field voltage of the generator, which causes
both the primary and secondary voltages to decline rapidly. At
about 35 seconds this causes the motor to stall.

978-1-4244-4241-6/09/$25.00 ©2009 IEEE

 2

-2

-4 Tap Position 1,0

V Primary
Tap Position

V Secondary
-6

Voltage
-8

-10
0,9
-12

-14
0 10 20 30 40 50
Time
Figure 2 Contingency without consideration of OEL Figure 4 Test network.
(stable case).
0

1,0
-2

-4 0,9
Tap Position

-6
0,8
Voltage

-8
-10
Tap Position
-12 V Primary
V Secondary
-14
0 10 20 30 40
Time
Figure 3 Contingency as in figure 2 with consideration of
OEL (unstable case).
This example was to show the mechanism of voltage
instability. It should be noted, that the order of events are not
always the same as explained here. The voltage instability
incidents of the past show, however, that voltage problems
arise mainly in highly loaded networks and can develop
anytime from within a few seconds up to several tens of
minutes.
3. MODELLING
In this section a small test network is described, which was
used for the studies in this paper. Furthermore, the models for
the voltage stability related power system components are
discussed.
a. Network
The network is mainly a 3 bus, 1 generator system with a
slack node electrically far away from the load and generator.
The system is designed to easily simulate voltage drops and
reactive deficit in order to analyze the reaction of the load, the
tap-changer and the generator. The contingencies are
simulated by switching the breakers indicated in Figure 4 as
small rectangles on the lines. It should be noted, that
contingencies are only applied as outages without a fault.
0,7
0,6
0,5
50
Figure 5 Dynamic load model for voltage stability
simulations
This is feasible because the contingencies in form of network
faults are applied in the transient part of the proposed online-
DSA system.
In order to be able to only assess voltage problems, the
generators mechanical time constant is set to a very high value
in the order of several thousand seconds. This way frequency
and rotor angle problems are neglected.
b. Load Modeling
As also discussed in all recent publications on the topic of
voltage stability (for example [1][3][4]) load modeling is an
important issue. At the same time, load modeling is connected
with the most uncertainties present in the system. The reason
is that both the load demand and the load composition are
changing randomly with the time of the day and even with the
time in the year.
Therefore, a composite load model is used (see Figure 5) in
this paper, similar to the one proposed in [3]. Some
simplifications are made for better understanding of the
effects leading to voltage insecurity.
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The ZIP load model is realized by the exponential model with:

α
⎛U ⎞
PL (U L ) = PN ⎜⎜ L ⎟
⎟
(1)
⎝UN ⎠
β
⎛ UL ⎞
QL (U L ) = QN ⎜⎜ ⎟
⎟
(2)
⎝UN ⎠
Where: PL, QL are the active and reactive load powers
PN, QN, UN are the nominal values of power and
voltage
α, β are the characteristic exponents.
When α and β are equal to zero, constant power is being
modeled, a value of 1 indicates constant current and a value of
2 represents constant impedance load model.
An induction motor model serves as the dynamic load
component. The model used is a third order model. In [5] the
importance of the load torque – speed characteristic is pointed
out. Usually there are three such characteristics mentioned in Figure 6 Describtion of error depending time delay for
the literature; the constant torque, proportional to the speed tap-changer.
and proportional to the square of the speed. All these
characteristics represent different loads such as fans, pumps, 2,2

Time for slower voltage regulators

traction etc. For power system stability the constant torque
characteristic is the worst, because motor stalling is more 2,0
probable in the case of low voltage situations, while the Excitation level (pu)
squared characteristic is better for voltage stability. In this 1,8
paper, the constant load torque – speed characteristic is used
in order to easily simulate motor stalling. 1,6
The tap changing transformer regulates the voltage on the
load side. Because it is much faster than most of the self 1,4
restoring loads, like thermostatic loads, these kinds of loads
are neglected in this paper, even though the self-restoring is 1,2
restricted by the limited number of tap-changes (in this case
13x1.69% pu per step). 1,0
The tap-changers are usually modeled with a simple 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
algorithm, which uses a dead-band around the nominal time (s)
voltage. After first detecting a voltage deviation, a waiting
Figure 7 Excitation level short time capability [8].
time is applied, this is usually around 5 to 10 seconds.
Subsequent tap-changer actions usually have smaller The latter standard formulates a duration for each over-
waiting/reaction times (around 2 seconds) until the limit is excitation level in (3) that can be withstood by the generator.
reached. The waiting times are applied in order to avoid 33,75
frequently switching and to simulate the mechanical and time = 2 (3)
IFD − 1
information processing time. An alternative to the fixed first
Figure 7 represents equation (3) with a duration curve. The
waiting time would be to activate the first switching due to the
realization in OEL models is done in many different ways. A
voltage error magnitude as shown in Figure 6.
common simplification realized in [6] is to use a linear
Here, the error signal is being integrated and after a certain excitation limit, which ramps down the excitation level with a
area At is reached, the tap-changer is activated certain steepness.
instantaneously. This way the tap-changer reacts fast at high In [7] and [8] the different kinds of OELs are described in
voltage drops and slower when only small voltage deviations detail. Mainly there are two kinds of OELs; the takeover and
are present. This algorithm is used in this paper. the summing. The takeover limiters deactivate the actual
exciter and take over the control until the limit is reached. The
c. Excitation Limiter summing OELs recognize an excess of limits and change the
reference value of the actual excitation system by summing or
The impact of excitation limiters on voltage stability was
subtracting a control value VOEL. In this paper the summing
already shown in section II. Those limiters are often disabled
type of excitation limiter as explained in [6] and [7] is used.
in transient stability analysis. In voltage stability analysis it is
essential to consider the OELs. The action of OELs is defined
in several national standards like the IEEE Std C37.112 or US
standard ANSI C50.13.

4. INDICES AND ALGORITHMS
The main focus of this paper lies on the verification of
whether an operation condition is voltage stable or not. Many
different methods for this purpose are introduced in the
literature. Linear methods as bifurcation methods, eigenvalue,
singular value and sensitivity approaches as discussed among
others in [1] and [9], are able to assess information about a
certain system state (pre- or post contingency). The results are
in a structured form and one can easily determine problematic
areas in the network or sensitivities to certain parameter
changes. However, the results cannot consider discontinuities
such as reaching limits, discrete network changes as from tap-
changers, or switched compensation. In addition, these
analytically derived results are hard to communicate to a
potential user.
Static approaches like PV- or QV-Curves give useful
information about the system, which are also easy to interpret.
However, they cannot consider the dynamic transition
between different network states.
As stated among others in [10] time domain simulations give
the most detailed insight in system behavior. There is almost
no limitation in modeling and the results, even though they are
sometimes harder to interpret, are easier understood by users.
In many publications, for example [6] and [10], a combination
of linear, static and time domain simulation approaches are
used to determine voltage stability. In this paper, only results
from time domain simulations are used to determine the
secure operation limit as discussed in [11]. This limit
describes the pre-contingency power margin for which the
system remains stable when a contingency occurs. This is best
depicted with the help of PV-curves in Figure 8. Starting from
the pre-contingency point A, contingencies are applied and
simulated dynamically. The system is short term voltage
stable at contingencies 1 and 2 by reaching the new operation
points B or C. After long time dynamics have died out, only
contingency 1 is still stable at point B’. The point C’ is not
stable anymore, because it lies on the nose point of the PV-
curve. In this case, point A is not a secure operation point,
because contingencies 2, 3 and 4 will not result in a voltage
stable operation point. The aim of this limit is to find a point
in the pre-contingency power system that will survive all
credible contingencies. The binary search algorithm, also
proposed in [11], can be used to find this point.
For the application in an online-DSA system it is reasonable
to not only give the margin to voltage instability, but to also
analyse the network state considering certain operating
constraints given by grid codes. Therefore, the results from
time domain simulations are analyzed during the simulation
for four different constraints:
I Low voltages. Usually the network is operated in a certain
voltage band of mostly ±10%. This band can vary
depending on the voltage level and part of the network. It
can be defined by the network operator. If this band is
violated, it is reported by the simulation program. This is a
first indicator and will activate a warning.
4
Figure 8 Illustration of the voltage secure operation limit.
II Voltage violation durations. Here the duration of certain
voltage band violations is analyzed. These maximum
durations are defined, for example in the grid code of
E.ON company [12] for generator busses. They can also
be defined for any other bus. If such a defined value is
violated, the situation is assumed to be alert.
III Motor stalling or loss of load. This point analyses the load
busses and mainly the speed of motors, because stalling of
motors indicates the loss of this load on the one hand, and
the exaggerating of the voltage decline on the other hand if
the motors are not disconnected.
IV Voltage collapse. Here the voltage collapse is detected by
checking if the voltage at each node in the network falls
below a certain non acceptable value for a period of time.
This is not always the voltage collapse point in the
mathematical sense. However since this is only assessable
by analytical methods this approximation is feasible
because in such a case, protective devices would have
acted anyway long before because the power networks are
not designed for very low voltages.
These results now have to be interpreted for further
processing in an online-DSA. The binary search is conducted
for the constraint number IV and the margin from the current
operation point to the last secure operation point is taken as
an index to be included in the online-DSA system. If required,
the binary search can also be set to one of the other
constraints. The rest of the information, like the location or
the time until one of the above constraints no. I to III are
violated, can serve as additional information for the selection
of remedial measures or for visualization of the system
security.
5. RESULTS OF EXAMPLE NETWORK
In this small test network, four different contingencies were
simulated. As previously noted, the contingencies are
simulated only by an outage without a fault.

Figure 9 Additional information of the monitored
network constraints in time domain simulations.
The following network elements were removed after one
second of simulation (see Figure 4):
- L01-02a
- L02-03a
- Cap02
- Cap03
The load demand at the starting operation point is 780 MVA.
It is composed of 48% motor load and the rest is represented
by the ZIP load model with 1/3 of each load model. For the
rising of the load demand solely the ZIP load part was
increased, while the motor load remained the same.
The last secure operation point is at 981 MVA. The evaluated
margin is accordingly 25% or 201 MVA. Depending on the
requirements of the network operator, this margin can be
deemed sufficient or not. For the online-DSA the operator
should define minimal required margins which are usually
taken from the operating experience or the expected demands
or in-feeds from distributed generators. If the minimal margin
is below the calculated margin, the index, which is passed to
the overall online-DSA system, should be one. Otherwise, if
the calculated margin is below the minimal margin, the index
should be lower than one. This way an index between zero
and one is calculated were one means everything is alright and
0 means there is no margin and the operation point is not
voltage secure.
The additional information derived by the calculation of the
other network constraints, as explained above, in this small
test network is very little. It is depicted in Figure 9. In larger
networks though the information is much greater and it could
be used to extract weak areas, which is usually done by
eigenvalue analysis.
6. INFORMATION EXCHANGE OF DSA MODULES
As mentioned above, the overall online-DSA system has to
process the data of several different analysis modules, the
voltage stability, transient stability and the small-signal
stability module.
All the modules will generate indices like the secure operation
index from the voltage stability module. These indices are
then weighted concerning their overall impact on the system.
For example, if the secure operation index calculated above is
zero, then disregarding what the other indices are, the
situation is deemed to be unsecure. Such a procedure is
already proposed in [13] and [14]. The resulting stability
index now gives an overview of the whole system with an
5
easy to understand coloured scale with 3 to 5 colours. This
scale indicates to the control room staff whether there is a
need for action or not. If action is needed, the compressed
information can be decompressed again. Now information
such as shown in Figure 9 can give valuable insight in critical
operating points and remedial actions can be triggered.
7. CONCLUSION
The approach described here is a straightforward method
using only the results from time domain simulations. This way
there is no need to trigger linear analysis, which only gives
valuable information if performed at the right point of the
trajectory of the system. The disadvantage is that the
constraints, which are analyzed by the network simulator,
have to be defined for each node or area individually. On the
other hand the user is free to define any form of constraint.
In order to speed up the simulation time, algorithms will be
implemented, which allow for early abortion of the simulation
if the system reached steady state or collapse, and also
variable simulation time steps will be applied. The time steps
should be small during the first fast dynamic responses to the
contingency and can be increased when only small changes
occur such as tap changing or compensation switching.
8. REFERENCES
[1] P. Kundur, „Power System Stability and Control“, the McGraw-Hill
Companies, Inc, 1994.
[2] R.A. Schlueter, “A Voltage Stability Security Assessment Method”, IEEE
Transactions on Power Systems, Vol.13 No.4, 1998.
[3] R.J. Koessler, W. Qiu, M. Patel, H.K. Clark, “Voltage Stability Study of
the PJM System Following Extreme Disturbances”, IEEE Transactions on
Power Systems, Vol.22, No.1, 2007.
[4] Pterra Consulting, “South Island Grid Upgrade Project Dynamic Voltage
Stability Study – Final Report”, Technical Report R125-07, 2007
[5] D H Popovic, I A Hiskens, D J Hill, “Stability Analysis of Induction
Motor Networks”, Electrical Power & Energy Systems, Vol.20, No.7,
Elsevier, 1998.
[6] E. G. Potamianakis, C. D. Vournas, „Short-Term Voltage Instability:
Effects on Synchronous and Induction Machines”, IEEE Transactions on
Power Systems, Vol.21, No.2, 2006.
[7] IEEE Task Force on Excitation Limiters, “Recommended Models for
Overexcitation Limiting Devices”, IEEE Transactions on Energy
Conversion, Vol.10, No. 4, 1995.
[8] IEEE Std 421.5-2005.
[9] V. Ajjarapu, “Computational Techniques for Voltage Stability Assessment
and Control”, Springer Science+Business Media, 2006.
[10] G.K. Morison, B. Gao, P. Kundur, “Voltage Stability Analysis Using
Static and Dynamic Approaches”, IEEE Transactions on Power Systems,
Vol.8, No.3, 1993.
[11] T.Van Cutsem, “A Comprehensive Voltage Security Assessment”, IEEE
PES Winter Meeting, Tampa, USA, 1998.
[12] E.ON Grid Code for high and extra high voltage, 2006.
[13] J.M. Gimenez, P.E. Mercado, “Online Inference of the Dynamic Level of
Power Systems Using Fuzzy Techniques”, IEEE Transactions on Powre
Systems, Vol.22, No.2, 2007.
[14] E. Lerch, O. Ruhle, U. Kerin, “DSA-Visualisation Monitoring and
Ranking of System Dynamic Behaviour”, Proceedings of the 17th IFAC
World Congress, Seoul, Korea, 2008.
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9. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chris O. Heyde studied electrical engineering at the Otto-
von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany. He graduated
in 2005 at the same University with the degree Dipl.-Ing. He
joint the Chair of Electric Power Networks and Renewable
Energy Sources at the Otto-von-Guericke University
Magdeburg, Germany as a research engineer in 2005. His
primary field of interest is network security.

Zbigniew Antoni Styczynski (SM ‘01) served from 1973

until 1991 at the Technical University of Wroclaw. From
1991 until 1999 he worked at the Technical University of
Stuttgart, Germany. In 1999 he became the Professor and the
Chair of Electric Power Networks and Renewable Energy
Sources at the Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg,
Germany. From 2002 until 2006 he was the dean of the EE
Faculty and since 2006 he is the president of the Centre of the
Renewable Energy Saxonia Anhalt, Germany. He is author of
more than 150 scientific papers, senior member of IEEE PES,
member of CIGRE SC C6, VDE ETG und IBN and fellow of
the Conrad Adenauer Foundation.