Study of FACTS Device Applications
for the 500kV Vietnams Power System
Quyen LE-CAO, Tuan TRAN-QUOC, Senior Member, IEEE, Anh NGUYEN-HONG
Abstract This paper presents a study of FACTS devices
applications, in particularly choice of adequate shunt
compensators (type of FACTS devices, location) in order to
improve voltage and transient angle stability. The study is
carried out for the 500kV Southern Vietnam power system in
2015 with a high load scenario. The load flow calculation, P-V
curve analysis and transient stability study are examined by
using the PSS/E-30 software. The obtained results show that with
the application of FACTS devices, voltage stability and transient
angle stability of this power system are considerably improved.
Keywords Voltage stability, Transient stability, reactive
power allocation, FACTS, PSS/E
I. INTRODUCTION
P ower system plays an important role as the major
infrastructure in any country. However, with the increases
in economic and environment pressure, the power system now
become large-scales, more complex and operating closer to
their stability limit. Some power system blackouts that
occurred throughout the world in recent years are
consequence of that situation. Generally, network blackouts
related to voltage collapse caused by lack of reactive power
support in heavy conditions, or by faults.
Flexible Alternative Current Transmission System
(FACTS) controllers have been proposed to enhance the
transient or dynamic stability of power systems. The recent
development and use of FACTS controllers in power
transmission system have led to many applications not only to
improve the voltage and transient angle stability of the
existing power networks but also to provide operation
flexibility of power systems as presented by J. Paserba in [12,
13]. Especially, due to the fast response to provide reactive
powers, the shunt dynamic VAR compensators such as Static
VAR Compensators (SVC) and Static Synchronous
Compensators (STATCOM) have become feasible alternatives
of reactive compensation, and therefore they have received
intensive interests. Reactive power planning analysis or Var
planning category is considered to find optimal allocation to
cover normal as well as contingency conditions. It is
necessary to use dynamic analysis in time domain simulations
to determine the type of Var source such as dynamic Var
source or static
Var source and the response of these devices in fault
conditions [1].
LE CAO Quyen is with the Power Engineering Consulting Company 4
(PECC4), Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), (email: lecaoquyen@gmail.com)
TRAN-QUOC Tuan is with IDEA, G2ELab, BP 46, 38402 Saint Martin
dHres, France (e-mail: Tuan.Tran-Quoc@g2elab.grenoble-inp.fr)
NGUYEN HONG Anh is with Quinhon University, Vietnam
978-1-4244-6547-7/10/$26.00 2010 IEEE
The Vietnam power system is separated into three regions:
the Northern, the Southern and the Central regions. In 2015,
outside of existing lines, several new circuits of 500 kV
transmission lines will be constructed. In this period, the peak
load demands in Vietnam will be about 37500 MW. The risk
of voltage instability and transient angle stability is evident
due to the sizable length of the Southern-Northern
transmission lines (about 1500 km), the resulting considerable
amount of power transmitted through these lines, the fast
increase of load demands and the specific configuration of the
Vietnam power system (500 kV system).
In order to improve voltage collapse on the Vietnam power
system, FACTS device applications are studied by using
several indices for voltage collapse such as P-V curve analysis
and dynamic voltage stability analysis. In order to demonstrate
the advantages of FACTS applications to improve transient
angle stability in this power system, the time domain
simulation with the help of the PSS/E program is carried out.
After the study, an adequate location and type of FACTS
devices are determined.
II. VOLTAGE STABILITY ANALYSIS
In [2], voltage instability is mainly associated with the lack
of reactive power. The loadability of a bus in the power
system depends on the reactive power support that the bus can
receive from the system. When the system approaches the
maximum loading point or voltage collapse point, both real
and reactive power losses increase rapidly. Therefore, the
reactive power supports are necessary to avoid voltage
collapse.
There are two types of voltage stability studies: static and
dynamic analysis. Static analysis involves only the solution of
algebraic equations and therefore it is computationally less
extensive than dynamic analysis. Static voltage stability is
used to determine voltage stability limit for many
contingencies.
Voltage collapse makes the system voltage decay to a level
from which they are unable to recover. This phenomenon can
be seen by the plot of the transferred power versus the voltage
at receiving end. The plots are popularly referred to as P-V
curve or Nose curve. In normal condition, when the power
transfer increases, the voltage at the receiving end decreases.
Eventually, for an operation state near to the critical (nose)
point, the increase in active power transfer will lead to very
rapid decrease in voltage magnitude. Before reaching the
critical point, the large voltage drop due to heavy reactive
power losses can be observed. One way to save the system
from voltage collapse is to reduce the reactive power load or
add additional reactive power.
1
 Usually, an effective solution to increase voltage stability
margins is to place adequate reactive power support at the
weakest bus. The weakest bus is defined as the bus, which
is nearest to experiencing a voltage collapse.
The most effective way for utilities to improve voltage
stability of the system is to introduce the sources of reactive
power, such as shunt capacitors and/or FACTS controllers at
the appropriate location.
Many analytical methodologies have been proposed for
studying this problem such as P-V and V-Q curve analysis,
Continuation Power Flow (CPF), optimization methods
(OPF), modal analysis, saddle node bifurcation analysis (for
static analysis) and Hopf bifurcation analysis, time-domain
simulation (for dynamic analysis) [4]-[8].
In this part of the paper, an algorithm for choosing
adequate placement and the type of FACTS devices is
proposed. This approach is based on the Continuation Power
Flow (CPF). A dynamic simulation is carried out in order to
validate the choice of type of FACTS device. The algorithm is
described as below (Fig. 1):
STAR
Base case
Solve load flow
Predictor step in CPF method
Corrector step in CPF method
NO
Complete PV
curve
YES
Optimal placement of FACTS device
Comparison between STATCOM and SVC by using
a time domain simulation program
Optimal type of Var source
EN
Fig. 1. Algorithm for choosing placement and type of FACTS devices
III. FACTS DEVICE MODELLING
This section explains briefly the modelling of SVC and
STATCOM [10, 11]:
Static Var Compensator (SVC): A shunt-connected static var
generator or absorber whose output is adjusted to exchange
capacitive or inductive current so as to maintain or control
2
specific parameters of the electrical power system (typically
bus voltage).
Figs. 2 and 3 show schematic diagram and V-I characteristic
of a static var compensator. The compensator normally
includes a thyristor controlled reactor (TR), thyristor-switched
capacitors (TSCs) and harmonic filters. It might also include
mechanically switched shunt capacitors (MSCs), and then the
term static var system is used. The harmonic filters (for the
TCR-produced harmonics) are capacitive at fundamental
frequency. The TCR is typically larger than the TSC blocks so
that continuous control is realized. Other possibilities are
fixed capacitors (FCs), and thyristor switched reactors (TSRs).
Usually a dedicated transformer is used, with the compensator
equipment at medium voltage. The transmission side voltage
is controlled, and the Mvar ratings are referred to the
transmission side.
Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of an SVC
UT
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
IC I Cm ax I Lm ax IL
Capacity Inductive
Fig. 3. V-I characteristic of the SVC
STATCOM: A static synchronous generator operated as a
shunt-connected static var compensator whose capacitive or
inductive output current can be controlled independently from
the AC system voltage. STATCOM is as if a controlled
reactive-power source. It provides voltage support by
generating or absorbing reactive power at the point of
common coupling without the need of large external reactors
or capacitor banks. The basic voltage-source converter scheme
and V-I characteristic of the STATCOM are shown in Figs. 4
and 5.
 The ability of the STATCOM to maintain full capacitive
output current at low system voltage also makes it more
effective than the SVC in improving the transient stability.

UT

1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of a basic STATCOM
0.6

In the linear operating range the V-I characteristics (Figs. 3, 0.5

5) and functional compensation capability of the STATCOM 0.4

and the SVC are similar. Concerning the non-linear operating 0.3

range, the STATCOM is able to control its output current over 0.2

the rated maximum capacitive or inductive range 0.1

independently of AC system voltage, whereas the maximum IC I Cm ax I Lm ax IL
attainable compensating current of the SVC decreases linearly Capacity Inductive
with AC voltage. Theoretically, the STATCOM is more
Fig. 5. V-I characteristic of the STATCOM
effective than the SVC in providing voltage support under
large system disturbances during which the voltage excursions
would be well outside of the linear operating range of the
compensator.
To Da Nang 228.3kV Dai Ninh 2x(600+j98.5
PLeiku Bac Binh Vinh Tan
282+j113

364+j158 SeSan 3, 3A, 4

Doc Soi 880+j352

514.1kV 522.2kV
223.4kV 235.1kV
-171.6-j52.6
330+j99
225.3kV
114.9+j200.1 519.8kV
Di Linh
-458.5+j101.2

2079+j361
-886.5-j40 -473.5-j115.5 438.2+j305.1 511.0kV 747.6-j6.8
719+j171

516.0kV
Thanh My
416.8+j20.2 493.5kV 486.5kV
Son My
215.4kV 1245+j834.8 516.5kV
227.1kV 523.6kV 669.7+j241.2 2x(600+j149.1
1120+j375

Xekaman 3 Tan Dinh

64.6-j7.4

DakMi 1,4 4x(180+j64.0

163.6+j350.4
1241+j855 494.7kV

-31+j29.2
216.2kV
Song Buong 2,4
855+j592

Yaly Th.Duc Bac

Song May

498.9-j10
DakNong
509.3kV 27.3+j278.5 226.1kV
230.3kV 229.1kV
493.0kV
556.2+j232.4 Cau Bong 227.5kV
861+j730

1141+j520 3x(100+j100.0
641+j142.1
614.4+j32 Nha Be 6x(100+j153.8
212.7kV
Dong Nai 3,4,5 490.8kV
497.3kV 821.8+j839.8 508.7kV
Dak Tik 421.7+j86
1193+j793

384.1+j326.7
407.4+j44

My Phuoc
217.9kV Phu My
227.7kV
Duc Hoa 1213.1+j536.8
428.2+j117.8 Tra Vinh
124+j10.5
634.2+j274.6 1123.8+j171.4
992.4+j318
212.1kV 493.8kV
832.7+j440 502.5kV 516.8kV 230.8kV
1425+j1031

497.0kV Phu Lam My Tho 3x( 400+j412.3

1000+j244.8
651+j349
218.1kV
2424.8+j515.4

1476.6+j91.2 523.3kV 2x(600+j45.6

225.8kV
517.9kV
277+j116

Soc Trang
190+j36

Kien Luong 512.8kV 645.4+j209.4 O Mon

1252.8+j478.6 228.3kV
2x(600+j129.8 1199.8+j183.6 369+j602

229.9kV 234.0kV
523.9kV
Thot Not 1605.6+j746

Placement of SVC or STATCOM

Fig. 6. Load flow analysis for the 500 kV Southern Vietnam power system in 2015.

3
 IV. IMPROVING VOLTAGE STABILITY In order to verify this choice, P-V curves are calculated with
Configurations of the 500 kV Vietnam power system in four shunt reactive power compensation devices placed at
2015 are used to analysis. This system consists of 114 buses 220kV buses of Cau Bong, Duc Hoa, Tan Dinh and Phu Lam.
(29 load busses and 85 generation buses), 82 500kV The SM for this application is increased to 1850MW (Fig. 8).
transmission lines and 71 500/220 kV transformers.
The purpose of this part is to find optimal placements of V. TRANSIENT STABILITY ASSESSMENT
shunt compensator for the 500kV Southern Vietnam power Transient stability assessment of the system with shunt
system with the high load scenario. compensation devices including SVC and STATCOM is
The result of load flow analysis of the 500kV Southern studied and compared in the Southern power system.
Vietnam power system is given in Fig. 6 with the peak load Program Power System Simulation Engineering (PSS/E) [9]
demands.
is employed for transient stability analysis with block diagram
The active and reactive load at all load buses in this power
of SVC (CSVGN1) and STATCOM (CSTCNT) in PSS/E
system is increased in step by step and the sources in this
library.
power system are mobilized to supply for these increase.
A three-phase fault is applied at near bus 500kV Tan Dinh
1.02
Bus Voltage (kV) and Di Linh-Tan Dinh line is tripped at 0.7sec after fault by
1.00 Stability area protection relays. Without FACTS installation, the power
0.98
SM=1550MW system is instable as shown as in Fig. 9.
0.96 All cases of simulation are carried out with the range for
0.94 the SVCs or STATCOMs from -300 MVAr to 300 MVAr.
0.92
These FACTS devices are placed at four indicated buses.
Instability area

CauBong
0.90 120
PhuLam
0.88
DucHoa
0.86 TanDinh SVC case
0.84

Relative Angle (Degree)

Incremental transfer (x103MW)
0.82
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7

Fig. 7. PV curves of 4 selected load buses where voltages are the lowest

The increasing of loads provides an incremental active

power transferred on 500kV Pleiku-Di Linh and Pleiku-Dak STATCOM case
Nong transmission lines (Fig. 5).
Fig. 7 shows that a voltage collapse occurs when the
transferred power reaches to 1550MW (SM=1550MW: Static Without FACTS
voltage stability Margin). The critical case corresponds to this
SM factor. -180

Based on the P-V curve analysis, the best location for shunt 0 3.0 6.0 9.0 12 15 18 21 24 27 30
TIME (SECONDS)
reactive power compensation in order to improve the voltage
Fig. 9. Rotor angle at Tra Vinh machine with three phases fault
stability margin is chosen at buses where voltages are the
lowest. These buses correspond to the weakest buses of the 120
system. By introducing shunt compensation devices at these
buses, this permits to improve the voltage stability (or to
increase SM). Relative Angle (Degree)

1.04
Bus Voltage (kV)
1.02 Stability area
1.00

0.98 SM=1850MW
0.96

0.94 CauBong
STATCOM case
0.92 PhuLam
Instability area

0.90 DucHoa

0.88 TanDinh SVC case

0.86
Incremental transfer (x103MW) -180
0.84
0 3.0 6.0 9.0 12 15 18 21 24 27 30
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2 TIME (SECONDS)

Fig. 8. PV curves of 4 selected load buses where voltages are the lowest Fig. 10. Rotor angle at O Mon machine with three phases fault

4
 5
120
STATCOM at Tan Dinh

Rotor angle of Tra Vinh

machine
(STATCOM case)

Relative Angle (Degree)

VAR (pu)
STATCOM at Duc Hoa

Rotor angle of OMon machine

(STATCOM case)

Rotor angle of Tra Vinh and OMon machine

(SVC case)

-200 -5

0 3.0 6.0 9.0 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10 12 14 16 18 20

TIME (SECONDS) TIME (SECONDS)

Fig. 11. Rotor angle at Tra Vinh and OMon machines with three phases fault Fig. 14. VAR output of STATCOM (Sbase =100MVA).
(SVC and STATCOM cases)
1.1 Fig. 9 and Fig. 10 show the angle variation of Tra Vinh and
O Mon machines with SVC or STACOM placed at 220kV
buses of Cau Bong, Duc Hoa, Tan Dinh and Phu Lam (the
same as the preceding part). It shows that the magnitude of
rotor angles variation of Tra Vinh machine (P=1000MW) and
STATCOM case O Mon machine (P=330MW) with SVC case is higher than in
Bus Voltage (pu)

comparison with STATCOM case.

SVC case
Fig. 11 shows the variation of angle at Tra Vinh and O
Mon when the fault is cleared about 0.8sec after fault (the
fault time is at t=1sec). With SVC case, the power system is
instable. Fig. 12 shows the variation of voltage at 500 kV Tan
Dinh.
With SVC case, the maximum transient capacitive current
is determined by the size of the capacitor and the magnitude
of the AC system voltage. The reactive power support
0 provided by the SVC is dependent on the AC system voltage
0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10 12 14 16 18 20 and hence its capability is de-rated at lower voltages (Fig.13).
5 120
TIME (SECONDS)
STATCOM: 300MVAr (a)
Fig. 12. Voltage at 500kV Tan Dinh with SVC and STATCOM cases. STATCOM: 200MVAr (b)

Relative Angle (Degree)

SVC at Duc Hoa VAR (pu)

Rotor angle of Tra Vinh machine

( case a)
VAR (pu)

Rotor angle of Tra Vinh machine

( case b)

SVC at Tan Dinh

-5 -200

0 3.0 6.0 9.0 12 15 18 21 24 27 30

TIME (SECONDS)

-4
Fig. 15. Rotor angle at Tra Vinh machines and VAR output of STATCOM at
0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10 12 14 16 18 20 Tan Dinh with two case: (a) STATCOM: 300MVAr ; (b) STATCOM:
TIME (SECONDS)
200MVAr.
Fig. 13. VAR output of SVC (Sbase =100MVA).

5
 The obtained results show that STATCOM application is
better in order to improve the transient angle stability and
voltage stability in comparison with SVC application.
In contrast, STATCOMs compensating current is not
dependent on the voltage level at the connection point which
means that the compensating current is not lowered when the
voltage drops.
With STATCOM case, when the reactive power of
STATCOM is reduced from 300 to 200MVAr, the obtained
result shows that the power system is also stable (Fig. 15).
Whereas with SVC case, the reactive power support provided
by the SVC is increased from 300 to 450MVAr to keep
transient angle stability (Fig.16).
120
Voltage at 500kV Tan Dinh Relative Angle (Degree)
Rotor angle of Tra Vinh machine
SVC: +450MVAr
-200
0 3.0 6.0 9.0 12 15 18 21 24 27 30
TIME (SECONDS)
Fig. 16. Rotor angle at Tra Vinh machines, VAR output of SVC at Tan Dinh
and Voltage at 500kV Tan Dinh with three phases fault.
. 1993.
The obtained results show that with the same reactive power
rating or lower, STATCOMs are more effective than SVCs for
a same situation.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
The P-V curve method for choosing optimal placement of
shunt compensation device have been used for this study.
One of the most important advantages of STATCOM in
comparison with SVC is that its compensating current is not
dependent on the voltage level at the connection point. This
means that the compensating current is not lower when the
voltage drops.
The maximum compensating current of the SVC decreases
linearly with the AC system voltage and the maximum VAR
output decreases with the square of the voltage. This implies
that for obtaining the same dynamic performance, a higher
rating SVC is required in comparison with a STATCOM.
An application of FACTS devices for the 500kV Vietnam
power system in 2015 was studied to improve voltage stability
and transient angle stability of this power system.
The obtained results show that with the application of
FACTS devices, voltage stability and transient angle stability
of this power system are considerably improved.
The transient angle stability simulations have shown that
STATCOM gives a better solution to improve the stability in
comparison with SVC devices.
VII. BIOGRAPHIES
Quyen LE CAO was born in Vietnam. He received his engineer degree and
his MSc degree in Electrical Engineering from the Ho Chi Minh city
University of Technology in 1999 and 2005, respectively. He is now working
toward a PhD degree in the Danang University. Since 2005 he has been
working as Deputy-in-Chief of Substation Design Department in the Power
Engineering Consulting Company - PECC4.
Tuan TRAN-QUOC (M' 93, SM' 99) received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical
1.1 5 Engineering and Habilitation Diriger des Recherches degree from the
Grenoble - Institut National Polytechnique (Grenoble-INP) in 1993 and 2000,
respectively. He works now with IDEA. His research interests are in the fields
of power system analysis, operations, electromagnetic transients and load
management.
Anh NGUYEN-HONG was born in Vietnam. He received his degree in
Bus Voltage (pu) Electrical Engineering from the Danang University of Technology (Vietnam)
in 1980. He received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering in 1990 in
Czech Republic. Since 1999 he has been professor at the Danang University
VAR (pu)
of Technology. He is presently President of Qui Nhon University.
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