Journal of Power and Energy Engineering, 2014, 2, 624-631
Published Online April 2014 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/jpee
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jpee.2014.24084
How to cite this paper: An, Z., et al. (2014) Influencing Factors of the Power Fluctuation on the Ultra High Voltage Trans-
mission Line Caused by Faults at the Remote Ends of the Interconnected Grid. Journal of Power and Energy Engineering, 2,
624-631. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jpee.2014.24084
Influencing Factors of the Power Fluctuation
on the Ultra High Voltage Transmission Line
Caused by Faults at the Remote Ends of the
Interconnected Grid
Zhi An, Ansi Wang, Huadong Sun, Yong Tang
China Electric Power Research Institute, Beijing, China
Received January 2014
Abstract
After the North China grid and the Central China grid get into connection with the UHVAC demon-
stration, a new phenomenon is discovered according to some simulations. That is, the faults at the
remote end of the UHV interconnected grid will result in significant power fluctuation and voltage
drop on the UHV transmission line and even system splitting. But the faults near the UHV line only
have marginal effects. Further, the simulation r esults also indicate that the short-circuit current of
the buses near the UHV line is lar ge r than that of the buses far away from the UHV line. This phe-
nomenon is divergent from the traditional view. In this paper, the detail will be introduced, and
the factors influencing the system stability after faults are presented and analyzed. The results in-
dicate that transmission power of the UHV line and of the lines between the remote end and the
major grid influence the fluctuation on UHV line. The load model and the grid structure of the re-
mote end also have effect on it. Finally, corresponding control scheme is presented to improve the
operation conditions of the UHV interconnected grid and ensure its security and stability.
Keywords
Ultra High V ol t age ; UHV Interconnected Grid; Faults at Remote End; Power Fluctuation
1. Introduction
Along with the operation of Changzhi-Nanyang-Jingmen UHVAC (Ultra high voltage alternating current) dem-
onstration project, the North China grid and the Central China grid got linked by a UHV transmission line and
became a typical long chain system with weak ties [1]-[5]. Traditionally, it was considered that there would be
greater impact when there was larger short-circuit current and it was closer to the fault bus [6]. However, oppo-
site results were showed in recent simulation. Under certain modes of operation, it would result in significant
power fluctuation and voltage drop on the Changzhi-Nanyang UHV line when three-phase instantaneous short
circuit faults occurred at Bus Jianshan and its near buses in Sichuan grid which is located at the remote end of
UHV Interconnected Grid, while the same faults occurring at Bus Jiangling in Hubei grid would not cause ob-

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625
vious effect. Considering that Bus Jiangling has larger short-circuit current and it is closer to the UHV line, this
phenomenon is divergent with traditional view and is a new problem after the two large regional grids intercon-
nected. It limits the capacity of UHV transmission line and threatens the security and stability of the UHV in-
terconnected grid as well.
This paper analyzed the factors affecting the power fluctuation and voltage drop on the UHV transmission
line in four aspects and presented corresponding control scheme to improve the operation conditions of the UHV
interconnected grid and ensure its security and stability.
2. The Phenomenon of the Fluctuation
Figure 1 shows the schematic of the UHV interconnected grid. The Central China grid includes five parts: Si-
chuan, Chongqing, Hunan, Jiangxi and Henan. Each part is connected with 500 kV AC transmission lines, ex-
cept that there is another Nanyang (in Henan)-Jingmen (in Hubei) UHV line connecting Henan and Hubei. The
North China grid and the Central China grid are connected with the Changzhi (in Shanxi)-Nanyang UHV line.
Under some modes of operation, significant power fluctuation and voltage drop could be observed when short
circuit faults occurred at 500 kV Bus Jianshan in Sichuan grid which is located at the remote end of UHV inter-
connected grid. On the contrary, the same faults occurring at 500 kV Bus Jiangling in Hubei grid caused much
smaller effects though it has larger short-circuit current with shorter distance from UHV transmission line. Fig-
ures 2 and 3 show the power and voltage curve respectively while 0.1 s three-phase short circuit faults occurred
at main buses in different regions. The typical mode of operation: 2200 MW from Central China to North China
on Nanyang-Changzhi UHV line, 2440 MW from Sichuan to Hubei.
It can be observed that the power fluctuation and voltage drop are significant while the fault occurs at Bus
Jianshan, while they are slight in other situations. To ensure security and stability of UHV interconnected grid,
it’s necessary to figure out the factors which affect this phenomenon.
3. Analysis on Factors Which Affects the Fluctuation
3.1. Transmission Power on UHV Line
In this section, the influence of transmission power on UHV line will be studied through simulation. The initial
华北
河南
湖北
重庆
湖南
江西
四川
SichuanChong-
qing Hubei
Hunan
Jiang-
xi
Henan
North
C hina
Figure 1. The schematic of UHV interconnected grid.

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Figure 2. The transmission power of UHV Changzhi-Nanyang line.
Figure 3 . The voltage of 1000 kV bus Changzhi.
transmission power will be modified by change unit commitment, i.e., to shutdown generators in Hubei and turn
on generators in Shanxi. Setting different levels of initial transmission power and simulating 0.1 s three-phase
short circuit fault at Bus Jianshan respectively, power curves are showed in Figure 4.
It can be concluded that the system will keep stable when initial transmission power is lower than 1650 MW.
By reducing transmission power on UHV line, there will be larger stability margin, thus the UHV line will not
oscillate significantly.
3.2. Transmission Power from Sichuan Grid to Major Central China Grid
The concerned issue in this paper manifests as impacting disturbance occurring at remote ends of system causes
power fluctuation and even angle instability on UHV line. Thus changes of transmission power from Sichuan
(the remote end) to major Central China grid would have effects on the fluctuation.
Changing power transmitted from Sichuan grid, the effects on system stability will be analyzed. Figure 5
shows the power curve of UHV line at different level of initial power transmitted from Sichuan. This mode of
operation is 5800 MW from Nanyang to Changzhi and 4000 MW from Sichuan to Hubei.
Jianshan in Sichuan
Songshan in HenanMengshan in Jiangxi Heling in HunanJiangling in Hubei
510 0
Power (MW)
0
-3,000
-2,000
-1,000
1,000
2,000
3,000
Time (s)
121086420
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
Jianshan in Sichuan
Songshan in HenanMengshan in Jiangxi Heling in HunanJiangling in Hubei
Voltage (p.u.)
Time (s)

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Figure 4 . The power of UHV line at different initial power.
0246810
3500
4000
4500
5000
5500
6000
6500
7000
Initial transmission power from Sichuan: 4023MW
Initial transmission power from Sichuan: 3440MW
Initial transmission power from Sichuan: 2556MW
Initial transmission power from Sichuan: 2964MW
Time (s)
Power From Nanyang to Changzhi (MW)
Figure 5 . The power of UHV line at different initial power transmitted from Sichuan.
It can be concluded that the fluctuation on UHV line significantly becomes slight along with Sichuan-Hubei
initial power reducing, thus the stability of interconnected grid improves. In situations of the same fault (0.1s
three-phase short circuit fault on 500 kV Bus Jianshan), the impact on the system will significantly decrease by
reducing the initial power transmitted from the remote end Sichuan.
After the fault at Bus Jianshan, unbalanced power transfers outward from Sichuan grid, the angle difference
of Sichuan and Hubei increases. Along with initial power reducing, the initial angle difference decreases, and
unbalanced power doesn’t impact so strong as before, thus the stability level of system keeps relatively high.
02468 10
3000
Time(s)
Power From Nanyang to Changzhi(MW)
Initial transimission power: 2165 MW
Initial transimission power: 2000 MW
Initial transimission power: 1850 MW
Initial transimission power: 1650 MW
Initial transimission power: 1450 MW
Initial transimission power: 1250 MW
4000
2000
0
1000
-1000
-2000
-3000

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3.3. The Load Model
Load is one of the most important components of power system. Its characteristics have important influence on
security and stability features of the system [7]-[9]. Generally power system load is divided into 2 categories:
static load and dynamic load. The static load mainly refers to load without rotating equipment, and dynamic load
refers to load with them [10] [11]. As there are differences in characteristics among various types of load models,
simulation results will be affected when using different models.
Aiming at the impact caused by faults at Bus Jianshan, the load model of Sichuan grid will be selectively
analyzed. The load model is 60% Z (constant impedance) + 40% M (electromotor) in synthesis load model at
present [12]. Table 1 shows the stability result when using different types of load model.
When 100% Z or 100% I (constant current) load model is used in Sichuan grid, the system keeps stable after
faults. However, the stability features totally change after the load model becomes 100% P (constant power).
The fluctuation center transfers from UHV line to neighborhood of Chongqing, as Figure 6 shows.
In this situation, though there isn’t the secondary impact of load releasing unbalanced power, the 100% P load
has terrible disadvantage for voltage recovery. The voltage of Sichuan grid which transmits power to other re-
gions will remain low along with continuous power transfer. Therefore, the Sichuan grid is finally out of syn-
chronism with major Central China grid.
60% Z + 40% M load model is used at present. When the ratio of electromotor increases to 60%, the stability
level will significantly decrease. Figure 7 compares the voltage curves of 1000 kV Bus Nanyang using the two
types of load model.
With the ratio of electromotor of the power sending end (Sichuan grid) increasing, the dynamic voltage sup-
port becomes worse and the voltage gets lower. The spreading of the low voltage weakens the stability of system.
The transfer of impacting power intensifies the effect and makes the system even worse.
In conclusion, load model affects the system stability in two aspects. One is the stability limit, the other is the
secondary impact of unbalanced power released by load. The influence on stability limit is mainly reflected in
the voltage drop after faults caused by constant power load. The secondary impact mainly refers to that the un-
balanced power released by model along with the voltage drop increasing transmission pressure of the sending
end. The two aspects interact and are not easy to separate, however, one will play a leading role in certain situa-
tions.
10.80.60.40.20
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
Voltage (p.u.)
Time (s)
1000 kV Bus Nanyang
500 kV Bus Zhangjiaba(in Chongqing)
500 kV Bus Wanxian(in Chongqing
Figure 6 . Voltage curves (100% P load in Sichuan).
Table 1. Stability results using different load models in Sichuan.
Load model 100% Z 100% I 100% P 60% Z + 40% P 40% Z +60% M
Stability resu lt St a ble Stab le Unstable Unstable Unstable

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Figure 7 . Voltage curves of bus Nanyang with different load models.
3.4. The Grid Structure
At present, Bus Jianshan is connected to Bus Taoxiang with four circuits, which results in a large short-circuit
capacity of Bus Jianshan and large impact during the fault. By cutting off two-circuit line, the same fault in
Jianshan would not have so serious effects to the system stability as before [13]. Figure 8 shows voltage curve
of 1000 kV Bus Changzhi before and after the structure changing.
Cutting off two-circuit line puts longer electrical distance between Jianshan and Taoxiang and decreases the
short-circuit capacity, thus it weakens the impact to the system stability.
4. The Control Measures
According to the analysis above, there are two sorts of measures to keep the system stable: one is to reduce ef-
fects of faults to weaken its impact to the UHV line, and the other is to improve stability of the UHV line to en-
hance its ability to resist heavier impact.
4.1. Reducing Effects of Faults
To r educe effects of faults, three species of methods can be adopted.
1) Adjustment of the unit commitment
Widening of Angle difference is closely related to unbalanced power in system after faults. Advantages exist
for reducing the effects to increase the rotational inertia of generators in the sending end of grid, thus it benefits
the system stability.
Increasing output of generators with larger inertia and decreasing output of those with smaller inertia in the
meantime was one feasible method to increase the rotational inertia of Sichuan grid, by which the flow of sec-
tions remained unchanged. Figure 9 shows the power curves of the UHV line before and after the adjustment of
the unit commitment. It can be seen that the amplitude of power fluctuation significantly decreases, thus the
system stability improves.
2) Reducing the short-circuit capacity
In Section 3.4, relative methods have been discussed. The short-circuit capacity can be reduced by cutting of
two-circuit line from Jianshan to Taoxiang, through which the system stability improves.
Similar methods like cutting off one circuit of Jishan-Dongpo or shutting down generators nearby Jianshan
are also effective to improve the situation.
3) Enhancing dynamic reactive power support
By adding SVC or other dynamic reactive power compensations, voltages of the area near the fault bus re-
cover sooner. Therefore unbalanced power is released while system voltage drop decreases, thus the impact to
the system reduces.
Figure 10 shows the power curves of the UHV line that the SVC capacity of Bus Taoxiang is 180 MVar, 270
MVar and 360 MVar.
6420
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
Voltage (p.u.)
Time (s)
60%Z+40%M
40%Z+60%M

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4-circuit line
Time (s) 86420
Voltage (p.u.)
0.95
0.9
0.85
0.8
0.75
0.7
0.65
0.6 2-circuit line
Figure 8. Voltage curves of bus Changzhi with different gridstructures.
Figure 9. Powerof the UHV line with different unit commitment.
Figure 10. Powerof the UHV line with different SVC capacity.
-3000
-2000
0
1000
3000
Power (p.u.)
Time (s)
Before ajustment
After ajustment
0 2 46 810
2000
-1000
-3000
-2000
0
1000
3000
Power (p.u.)
Time (s)
Before ajustment
After ajustment
0 2 46810
2000
-1000

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When the SVC capacity increases to 270 MVar, the amplitude of power fluctuation has become small. So the
system stability may be improved by adding more SVCs.
4.2. Enhancing the UHV Line
Reducing the original transmission power or adding SVCs at UHV buses can enhance the ability of UHV line to
resist impact by increasing stability margin and improve the ability of voltage recovery in transient process of
the UHV line, though the feasibility of these methods is smaller than methods in Section 4.1.
5. Conclusion
This paper described the new phenomeno n that faults at remote ends of the UHV interconnected grid would
cause significant power fluctuation and voltage drop on the UHV transmission line while faults at buses near the
UHV line with larger short-circuit current only have marginal effects. Then factors affecting the phenomenon
were analyzed through simulation, which include the transmission power on the UHV line, the power transmit-
ted from Sichuan to major Central China grid, the load model and the grid structure. Finally corresponding me-
thods to improve the system stability were presented and the effectiveness of those methods was verified.
Acknowledgem ents
This paper is supported by Major Projects on Planning and Operation Control of Large Scale Grid (SGCC-
MPLG001-2012) of State Grid Corporation of China.
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