Applied Energy 96 (2012) 235–244

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Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

Damping performance analysis of battery energy storage system, ultracapacitor

and shunt capacitor with large-scale photovoltaic plants
Rakibuzzaman Shah ⇑, N. Mithulananthan, R.C. Bansal
School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD-4072, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: As large-scale photovoltaic (PV) generation reaches higher penetration levels, there is a greater need to
Received 15 July 2011 meet the certain grid code requirements for interconnection. Ultracapacitor, battery energy storage sys-
Received in revised form 6 September 2011 tem (BESS) or shunt capacitor have recently been used as auxiliary devices for large-scale PV generator
Accepted 22 September 2011
system to meet the grid code requirements for interconnection. Although the individual auxiliary devices
Available online 1 November 2011
are well documented, a comparative study of these devices impact on the damping of electromechanical
(EM) modes and oscillatory instability problem has not been reported so far. This paper aims to fill in the
Keywords:
gap, and provides a comparative analysis of these auxiliary devices performance along with PV plant on
BESS
Electromechanical mode
the damping of EM modes. The oscillation problem is analyzed by considering different types of synchro-
Inter-area mode nous generator (e.g. hydro, thermal) as the non-electrical components of hydro and thermal units have
PV generator major influences on system dynamics. The comparisons are based on the results obtained from two-area
Ultracapacitor test system and New England–New York test system (16 machine 68 bus system), which are the bench-
Trajectory sensitivity mark systems for angular stability analysis.
Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction system stability impact of large-scale PV has not been covered

Grid connected large-scale PV plants are currently being
widely installed in many of the developed and developing coun-
tries around the world. In addition to their environmental bene-
fits, they have a number of technical concerns such as power
system stability, reliability and power quality. Recently, the
increasing penetration level of PV systems is raising the concerns
of utilities due to the possible negative impacts on power system
stability [1]. Low frequency oscillation problems have been ob-
served in many power systems worldwide [2,3]. Thus, prior to
grid connection of large-scale PV, low frequency oscillatory insta-
bility should be addressed. In order to make sure that the integra-
tion of large-scale PV plant does not endanger system security and
reliability, a comprehensive simulation studies are needed based
on appropriate and credible approximation of PV plant and its
auxiliary devices.
A grid connected PV generation system includes photovoltaic
array, DC/AC converter and the associated controllers. The
dynamics of the PV system are completely different from that
of the conventional generator, though both of them have almost
identical P–Q characteristics. In the last couple of years, a num-
ber of publications have been devoted to study the power elec-
tronic converters for PV grid interface. However, the power
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 (0)7 3365 1654.
E-mail address: md.shah@uq.edu.au (R. Shah).
in details. Due to the given dynamics of PV, higher PV penetra-
tion levels could cause possible instability problems when a large
percentage of the system load is supplied by PV, as highlighted in
the case studies [4–12].
Low frequency oscillatory stability studies of power systems
with large-scale PV advocate that depending on penetration levels,
positions and the control approaches, large-scale PV systems could
have adverse effect on the critical EM modes [11,12]. However, due
to slow response of PV generator controller and intermittent input
to the PV, it is recommended to have some auxiliary devices in PV
system such as BESS, ultracapacitor or shunt capacitor to meet the
certain grid code requirements for interconnection [13]. But, none
of the aforementioned studies have considered these auxiliary de-
vices impact on low frequency oscillation damping. In this respect
in our previous work [14], we have analyzed the impact of PV and
ultracapacitor on the damping of inter-area mode. It is shown that
the PV plant tends to increase the damping of the inter-area mode
in presence of ultracapacitor at PV.
Conversely, BESS has been recognized as a useful and powerful
device for smoothing output power fluctuations of variable gener-
ator like PV. During the past few years, a number of studies focused
on analyzing the different aspects of integrating BESS systems with
PV systems, especially standalone PV systems [15,16]. Other stud-
ies focused on using BESS systems with small grid connected PV
systems [17,18]. Recently, few studies investigated the use of BESS
to bridge power fluctuations and fault ride-through capabilities of

0306-2619/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2011.09.035
236 R. Shah et al. / Applied Energy 96 (2012) 235–244

Nomenclature

A system matrix ni number of converter connected on ith branch

Bi shunt susceptance of the ith branch (Siemens) Ns number of series modules in PV
Cdc DC-link capacitor value (lF) Np number of parallel modules in PV
Ce ultracapacitor value (lF) p vector of system parameter
Cb overvoltage capacitance (lF) q electron charge (C)
Cbp battery capacitance (lF) Qc shunt capacitor reactive power (MVAr)
d duty cycle ratio Rs array series resistance (X)
f vector of differential equations Re ultracapacitor series resistance (X)
g vector of algebraic equations rbt connecting resistance (X)
G solar radiation (W/m2) rbs internal resistance (X)
H inertia constant (MW s/MV A) rb overall voltage resistance (X)
IPV array current (A) rbp self discharge resistance (X)
I0 reverse saturation current (A) Sn overall sensitivity norm
ISCA array short circuit current (A) T ambient temperature (Kelvin)
Id, Iq d–q current components of voltage source converter VA array voltage (V)
(VSC) (A) Vdc DC-link voltage (V)
IB DC current flowing to the battery (A) Vs PV generator bus voltage (medium voltage bus) (V)
J1 Jacobian of system differential equations w.r.t. state Ve ultracapacitor voltage (V)
variables V ref
dc
reference DC voltage (V)
J2 Jacobian of system differential equations w.r.t. algebraic Vboc battery open circuit voltage (V)
variables Vb battery over voltage (V)
J3 Jacobian of system algebraic equations w.r.t. state vari- Vr BESS converter terminal voltage (V)
ables V terminal voltage (V)
J4 Jacobian of system algebraic equations w.r.t. algebraic Vt AC side terminal voltage of VSC (V)
variables XL coupling inductor and transformer leakage reactance of
K constant; for sinusoidal pulse-width modulation BESS (X)
(SPWM) the value is 0.5 Xt impedance between VSC and medium voltage grid bus
k Boltzmann’s constant (J/K) (X)
kp, kp2 proportional gain of proportional-integral (PI) controller Xc reactance of the shunt capacitor (X)
(p.u.) x state vector
ki, ki2 integral gain of proportional-integral (PI) controller y algebraic vector
(p.u.) Zi impedance of the ith branch (X)
l total number of branches in the collector a phase angle
Mi angular momentum of ith machine (MW s/MVA) d rotor angle (rad)
m modulation index g overall system stability margin
N total number of inverter in the system xr rotor speed (rad/s)
n ideal factor x angular frequency (Hz)

large-scale PV systems [19,20]. However, the interaction of large- 2. Mathematical modeling

scale PV and BESS on oscillatory stability is yet to be covered.
On the other hand, according to Renewable Energy Modeling In this section of the paper, mathematical model of large-scale
Task Force, an appropriate size shunt capacitor should be con- PV plant and its auxiliary devices are briefly explained.
nected at the medium voltage (MV) bus of the large-scale PV plant
to improve the reactive power controllability of the plant [21]. 2.1. PV generator model
Thus, this paper investigates the damping performance of PV
with ultracapacitor, BESS and shunt capacitor on power system PV generator consists of three major components, namely, PV
EM modes. The novel feature of this work is that low frequency array, power electronics interface and the associated controllers.
oscillatory stability analysis has been conducted by considering Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram of single-stage PV generator.
hydro and thermal generator together with large-scale PV plants, The PV array output current equation can be derived from the basic
and the associated auxiliary devices, as the non-electrical compo- solar cell output current equation which is expressed as follows
nents of hydro and thermal units have major influences on system [8,22]:
dynamics. The assessment has been performed in well known two-
area test system and New England–New York test system by using
modal analysis. Further insight of the system dynamic behavior is
computed by using trajectory sensitivity (TS) analysis. The rest of
the paper is organized as follows: Section 2 briefly explains the
mathematical modeling of different components. Section 3, illus-
trates the concepts and techniques for the assessment of oscilla-
tory stability. Section 4 introduces the test systems. Section 5
gives the simulation results based on two-area test system fol-
lowed by Section 6, which gives the simulation results on New
England–New York test system. Finally, Section 7 gives the conclu-
sions and the contribution of this work. Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of single-stage PV generator.
 R. Shah et al. / Applied Energy 96 (2012) 235–244 237

 
ðV A þ IPV Rs Þq
IPV ¼ ISCA ðGÞ  Np  I0 exp 1 ð1Þ
nN s kT
Differential equation related to PV generator DC-link can be ex-
pressed as

C dc V_ dc ¼ IPV ðV dc ; G; TÞ  mKðId cos a þ Iq sin aÞ ð2Þ Converter real power control.

For large-scale application, N number of single-stage PV gener-
ators are aggregated together to form the PV plant. Generally,
power system stability analyses with large-scale PV are performed
by considering single-generator equivalent model of N single-stage
PV generators as shown in Fig. 2. NREL equivalencing method has
been used in this paper to form the single-generator equivalent
model of large-scale PV plant. The NREL method for PV generator
collector system aggregation yields: Converter voltage control.

P
l Fig. 3. Real and reactive power controller.
Z i n2i
Z eq ¼ i¼1 2 ð3Þ VtVs V2
N Qs ¼ cos a  s ð6Þ
Xt Xt
X
l In this paper, VSC with sinusoidal pulse-width modulation
Beq ¼ Bi ð4Þ (SPWM) strategy has been considered for the analysis where the
i¼1 AC side terminal voltage of VSC, i.e. Vt is related to Vdc as
In this paper, NREL 22 MVA single-generator equivalent PV V t ¼ mV2 dc . Shunt ac filter and phase locked loop (PLL) are not consid-
plant has been used for the analysis. Equivalent collector feeder ered in the PV model since their effects are more relevant for elec-
data of this PV plant are shown in Table 1. To form a 22 MVA sin- tromagnetic transients [26].
gle-generator equivalent PV plant, 20 VSCs each of 1.1 MVA rating
have been used [23,24]. An appropriate number of single-generator 2.2. Ultracapacitor model
equivalent PV plants have been used to make the total PV penetra-
tion levels for different test cases. Short term fluctuations of PV output can be reduced by fast re-
DC power generated from PV array is considered to be the real sponse energy storage device like ultracapacitor which can also be
power injected into the network. However, PV can generate and used to enhance the dynamic performance of the power systems
absorb reactive power. Reactive power control of PV can be [27,28]. In this paper, ultracapacitor energy storage system consist-
achieved by the following two control modes on converter side: ing of a ultracapacitor bank, a series resistance to the ultracapaci-
tor bank and a two-quadrant DC/DC converter, is connected to the
 Power factor (PF) control mode. DC-link of the voltage source converter of PV. The dynamics related
 Voltage control (VC) mode. to ultracapacitor can be expressed by:
  
Ce _ 1 1d
In this paper, VC control mode of PV is considered. Fig. 3 depicts V ¼ V dc  V e ð7Þ
x e Re d
the control block for real and reactive power (voltage control) con-
trol of VSC. For VC mode, anti-windup limit for m is in the range of Duty cycle for charging and discharging can be implemented by
[0, 1] and a is in the range of [0, p/2] [25]. proportional-integral (PI) controller and the equation for ultraca-
Now, the active (Ps) and reactive (Qs) power exchange between pacitor duty cycle can be expressed as
PV and MV bus can be expressed by:    Z  
1
d¼  kp V dc  V ref þ k i V dc  V ref
VtVs 2 dc dc
Ps ¼ sin a ð5Þ    Z  
Xt
þ kp2 V e  V ref
dc þ ki2 V e  V ref
dc ð8Þ

2.3. Battery energy storage system (BESS) model

In recent years, BESS has gained more importance for

maintaining smooth power production profiles from stochastic
generator like PV. BESS comprises of battery, controller and power
conditioning unit as shown in Fig. 4. Controller and power

Fig. 2. Single-generator equivalent model of large-scale PV plants.

Table 1
Equivalent collector feeder data of single-generator equivalent PV plant.

R (pu) X (pu) B (pu)

0.021494 0.015344 0.00001
Fig. 4. Structural diagram of BESS connected to PV generator bus.
238 R. Shah et al. / Applied Energy 96 (2012) 235–244

conditioning unit form a vital part of BESS. It interfaces the batter-
ies to the utility, regulates the battery charging/discharging. Differ-
ent battery models have been proposed in literatures [29]. In this
paper, battery model proposed in [30] has been used. From the
equivalent circuit model of the battery following equations for
BESS can be drawn:
V dc  V boc  V b
IB ¼
r bt þ r bs
@V boc V boc
C bp þ ¼ IB
@t r bp
@V b V b
Cb þ ¼ IB
@t rb
The exchange of real (P) and reactive (Q) power between BESS
and PV system bus can be expressed by:
V sV r
P¼ sin u
XL
Vr
Q¼ ðV r  V s cos uÞ
XL
The controller of BESS provides active and reactive power com-
mand to achieve the desired system response. The controller con-
verts the commanded powers into PWM switching commands for
BESS to regulate the modulation gain and angle. Since the synchro-
nizing scheme ensures that the d-axis of the dq frame is aligned
with the grid voltage vector, i.e. d-axis voltage (vd) is equal to
rms value of the grid voltage and q-axis voltage (vq) is equal to zero
[31]. Thus the d-axis current (Id) becomes the active current com-
ponent and the q-axis current (Iq) becomes the reactive current
component. A decoupled PI controller is proposed which can pro-
duce desired switching commands from independent real and
reactive power commands for BESS as shown in Fig. 5.
Due to strong linear relationship between P and Id and between
Q and Iq, reference d-axis current (Idref) and q-axis current (Iqref) can
directly be calculated by using nominal grid voltage and reference
active (Pref) and reactive (Qref) power [31]. In this simulation, the
average real power from PV plant is used as a Pref. On the other
hand, Qref depends on system bus voltage (V) and the constant
bus voltage (Vref) to be maintained. PI compensator processes the
error (Vref –V) and determines Qref.
2.4. Shunt capacitor
As the converters of the PV systems have limited reactive power
capacity, large-scale PV plants are equipped with shunt capacitor.
There are no dynamics in shunt capacitor. Reactive power (Qc)
and voltage (V) relation of shunt capacitor can be expressed as
Q c ¼ Xc V 2 ð14Þ
3. Oscillatory stability analysis
ð9Þ
In modern power systems, widely dispersed conventional and
non-conventional generators are connected by high tension trans-
mission lines. The dynamics of power transfer in such a grid can be
ð10Þ
categorized by low frequency oscillatory behaviors of the conven-
tional, non-conventional generators and their controllers. Low fre-
quency oscillation of power system is mainly of two types, local
ð11Þ mode (frequency range 1.0–2.0 Hz) and inter-area mode oscillation
(frequency range 0.1–1.0 Hz) [2,3]. The oscillations in power sys-
tem occur in a stressed network condition and the main contribut-
ing factors for oscillations are [2,32]:
ð12Þ  Weak transmission link (network topology).
 Inadequate reserve margin for power plants.
 Imbalance power generation and demands.
ð13Þ  Loading of the system (load uncertainties).
Due to the given nature of PV, power system operation-control
and modulation of real-reactive power on PV-grid interconnection
are the main challenges for power system operators and can create
undamped oscillations to the EM modes and other lightly damped
modes in the system.
3.1. Modal analysis
By using well known modal analysis technique low frequency
oscillatory stability of the power system has been assessed in this
paper. The modal analysis is based on the linearization of power
system non-linear differential–algebraic equations (DAE) around
the certain operating point. The linearization of power system
DAE around the equilibrium point can be expressed as
    
Dx_ J1 J2 Dx
¼ ð15Þ
0 J 3 J4 Dy
@f @f
where J 1 ¼ @x ; J2 ¼ @y ; J3 ¼ @g
@x
; J 4 ¼ @g
@y
From Eq. (15) reduced system matrix of the following form can
be obtained:
 
Dx_ ¼ J1  J2 J1
4 J 3 Dx ¼ A Dx ð16Þ
Oscillatory stability of the power system can be analyzed by
looking at the eigenvalue of the system matrix A. In order for the
system to be satisfactorily oscillatory stable, all the eigenvalues of
the system should be located in the specific region of the open left
half plane with sufficient damping. Given an eigenvalue in complex
a ffi
format, a + jb, the damping ratio (f) can be calculated as f ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2 2
.
a þb
Different utilities have their own pre-specified damping margin
for EM and other weakly damped modes for the satisfactory low
frequency stable operation. Table 2 shows the CIGRE recom-
mended damping categories for low frequency oscillations [33].

Table 2
CIGRE recommended damping category.

Damping category Damping (%) Rating

I P6 Satisfactory
II P3 Just tolerable damping category
III >0 System in endangering stability
IV <0 Unstable system
Fig. 5. Overall PQ controller of BESS.
 R. Shah et al. / Applied Energy 96 (2012) 235–244 239

From Table 2 it is noticeable that the EM and other lightly damped The sensitivity norm of ith machine at any instant time t can be
modes should have 6% and more damping for satisfactory low fre- defined as
quency stable operation. In this paper, 6% damping ratio is consid- vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
u" 2  2 #
ered as the low frequency stability margin for the system. u @dij @ Dx r
Si ðtÞ ¼ t þ ð24Þ
@p @p
3.2. Trajectory sensitivity analysis
Now, the overall sensitivity norm (Sn(t)) and the stability mar-
Trajectory sensitivity (TS) gives us information about the effect gin (g) of the m machine system can be expressed as
of change of system parameter on individual state variables and X
m
hence on the generators of the system [34]. So, in this paper, TS Sn ðtÞ ¼ Si ðtÞ ð25Þ
has been used to identify the damping contributions of BESS and i¼1
ultracapacitor by computing individual machine rotor angle devia-
tions, which will apparently give us the insight into these devices 1
g¼ ð26Þ
impact on different types of synchronous generator. This section maxðSn Þ
briefly explains the trajectory sensitivity approach of multi-ma-
As the system moves towards the instability, oscillation of TS will
chine power system. Suppose a multi-machine power system is
be more resulting larger values of Sn. This will result in the smaller
represented by the set of DAE as given below:
values of g. To evaluate the angle stability information of power sys-
x_ ¼ f ðx; y; pÞ tem with respect to ultracapacitor and BESS, TS to the parameter
ð17Þ variation of ultracapacitor and BESS has been used in this paper.
0 ¼ gðx; y; pÞ
Then the sensitivity of state trajectories with respect to system 4. Test systems
parameter can be found by perturbing p from the nominal value of
p0. The equitation of TS can be found as Two-area test system and New England–New York test system
h i h i h i are used in this paper for simulation studies. The brief explanation
@f @f @f
_ ¼
w w1 þ w2 þ
@x @y @p of these test systems are given next.
@g
h i h i ð18Þ
0¼ @x
w1 þ @g
@y
w2 þ @g
@p
4.1. Two-area test system
Solving Eqs. (17) and (18) simultaneously, we can get x, y and
the sensitivities. Single-line diagram of two-area test system is depicted in Fig. 6.
This system consists of four synchronous generators associated
@x @y with four 20/230 kV step up transformers. All the four generators
where w1 ¼ ; w2 ¼ :
@p @p are identical. The aggregated PV plants are connected to the grid
However, TS can also be found numerically, which is a simpler at area-1. The total MVA rating of the PV plants are assumed to
way of finding TS. Let us choose one scalar parameter p and com- be 25% of the area-1 exporting power. There are two load buses
pute the sensitivities with respect to it. Two values of p are chosen in the system; load 1 consists of 1767 MW and 100 MVAr whereas
(p1 and p2) and the corresponding state variables are x1 and x2, load 2 consists of 967 MW and 100 MVAr. System loads are consid-
respectively. Now the sensitivity at p1 can be computed as [35] ered as PQ load. System parameters are taken from [2].

x2  x1 Dx 4.2. New England–New York (NE–NY) test system

Sens ¼ ¼ ð19Þ
p2  p1 Dp
Sensitivity of generator rotor angle (d) and rotor speed (xr) with This system comprises of 16 synchronous generators and 68
respect to any parameter can be computed as (19). For angular buses. Single-line diagram of NE–NY test system is shown in
stability studies, relative rotor angles are considered instead of Fig. 7. This is a reduced order model of New England and New York
individual rotor angles. Normally, a generator with large inertia test system. All the generators of the system are modeled as a 6th
(say, the jth generator of the system) is considered as a reference order synchronous generator model except generator 1, for which
and the relative rotor angle of the ith machine can be found as 4th order synchronous generator model is considered. The aggre-
gated PV plants of 200 MVA rating are connected to the external
dij ¼ di  dj ð20Þ system of the grid for simulation studies. There are 29 load buses
The sensitivity of dij with respect to parameter change is in the system totaling 18233.93 MW and 2188.4 MVAr demand.
computed as System loads are considered as PQ load. System parameters are
taken from [36].
@dij @di @dj
¼  ð21Þ
@p @p @p
However, individual speed deviation is considered instead of
reference speed deviation because of non-zero damping. The cen-
ter of inertia (COI) can also be used as reference instead of large
machine inertia. The COI angle and speed are given by:

1 X m
dCOI ¼ M i di ð22Þ
MT i¼1

1 X m
xrCOI ¼ M i xri ð23Þ
MT i¼1
Pm
where MT ¼ i¼1 M i ; Mi ¼ 2H
xs .
i
Fig. 6. Single-line diagram of two-area test system.
240 R. Shah et al. / Applied Energy 96 (2012) 235–244

Fig. 7. Single-line diagram of New England–New York test system.

5. Simulation results in two-area test system
PV and its auxiliary devices impact on power system EM modes
in two-area test system are examined in this section. The analysis
has been carried out by considering following two cases.
Case-1: Area-1 generators are modeled as hydro generator
referred as hydro dominant system.
Case-2: All the generators are modeled as classical two-area test
system thermal generator model referred as thermal dominant
system.
Table 3 illustrates the effect of PV and its auxiliary devices on
two-area test system local and inter-area modes for case-1. The re-
sponse has been shown by the difference of damping correspond-
ing to base case (without PV). The analysis has been carried out by
considering PV integration at bus 6 in the system. The analysis re-
veals that integration of ultracapacitor and shunt capacitor at PV
system provide positive damping to the inter-area mode. However,
the damping improvement due to shunt capacitor is very small as
compared to ultracapacitor (Ddamp. = 0.8% > 0.1%).
From the analysis it is also noticeable that for local mode-1 only
ultracapacitor integration improves the damping of the mode
(Ddamp. = 0.03%). However, the damping of local mode-2 deterio-
rates for all auxiliary devices.
Table 4 illustrates the effect of PV and its auxiliary devices on
two-area system local and inter-area modes for case-2. As like pre-
vious section, the response has been shown by considering the dif-
ference of damping corresponding to base case (without PV). It is
obvious from Table 4 that all the auxiliary devices of PV have posi-
tive impact on the damping of inter-area mode. However, the per-
formance of BESS is better among all (Ddamp. = 3.11%). In case of
local mode-2, integration of ultracapacitor and shunt capacitor
provides positive damping to the mode; however, the integration
of ultracapacitor provides slightly better damping than the shunt
capacitor (Ddamp. = 0.8% > 0.7%). On the other hand, BESS integra-
tion improves the damping of the local mode-1 (Ddamp. = 0.7%),
whereas, ultracapacitor integration has a negative impact on the
damping of the mode.
To verify the trends of the aforementioned observations, further
analysis has been carried out by considering the following system
topologies:
Scenario-1: 3% increase of real and reactive power at each load
bus.
Scenario-2: 4% increase of real and reactive power at each load
bus.
Scenario-3: 5% increase of real and reactive power at each load
bus.
Fig. 8 shows the variations of inter-area mode damping with PV
plant auxiliary devices at different scenarios for case-1. From Fig. 8
it can be observed that in all scenarios PV-ultracapacitor provides
better damping to the inter-area mode. Similarly, Fig. 9 shows the
variations of inter-area mode damping with PV plant auxiliary de-
vices at different scenarios for case-2. From Fig. 9 it can be seen
that in all scenarios PV-BESS provides better damping to the in-
ter-area mode. The time domain simulation results of rotor angle

Table 3
Effect of PV and its auxiliary devices on the damping of EM modes (case-1).

System conf. Local mode-1 Local mode-2 Inter-area mode

% of damp. D of damp. % of damp. D of damp. % of damp. D of damp.
Without PV 1.53 0.00 1.31 0.00 3.6 0.00
With PV 1.45 0.08 1.25 0.06 1.7 1.9
PV + ultra capacitor 1.56 0.03 1.27 0.04 4.4 0.8
PV + BESS 1.47 0.06 1.25 0.06 3.5 0.1
PV + shunt cap. 1.48 0.05 1.23 0.08 3.7 0.1
 R. Shah et al. / Applied Energy 96 (2012) 235–244 241

Table 4
Effect of PV and its auxiliary devices on the damping of EM modes (case-2).

System conf. Local mode-1 Local mode-2 Inter-area mode

% of damp. D of damp. % of damp. D of damp. % of damp. D of damp.
Without PV 13.8 0.0 13.5 0.00 6.06 0.00
With PV 13.6 0.2 14.0 0.5 5.70 0.36
PV + ultra
capacitor 13.5 0.3 14.3 0.8 6.74 0.68
PV + BESS 14.5 0.7 13.5 0.0 9.17 3.11
PV + shunt cap. 13.8 0.0 14.2 0.7 6.81 0.75

Fig. 8. Effect of PV auxiliary devices on inter-area mode at different scenarios

(case-1).

Fig. 10. Time domain simulation results for case-1 in two-area test system.

Fig. 9. Effect of PV auxiliary devices on inter-area mode at different scenarios

(case-2).

Fig. 11. Time domain simulation results for case-2 in two-area test system.
for inter-area mode in case-1 and 2 are presented in Figs. 10
and 11, respectively. For both cases, the mode is excited by apply-
ing three phase fault in bus 8 of the system at 0.23 s and cleared at Table 5
0.25 s. From Fig. 10 it can be seen that PV–ultracapacitor provides Trajectory sensitivity with respect to ultracapacitor parameter variation (two-area
test system).
better damping to the mode than the other system configurations
for case-1. Conversely, Fig. 11 shows that PV–BESS provides better Generator Type @dij
@p ðkp2 Þ Sn g
damping to the mode than the other system configurations for
Generator 1 Hydro 0.0006 0.0019 506
case-2. Generator 2 0.0008
Generator 1 Thermal 0.0045 0.0053 188
5.1. Effect of ultracapacitor parameter variation on stability condition Generator 2 0.0025

This section explains the effect of ultracapacitor parameter var-

iation on rotor angle of area-1 generators by TS. Duty cycle propor-
tional gain (kp2) variation has been considered for TS evaluation.
Very small (61%) perturbation of Kp2 has been considered for both
cases. Overall sensitivity norm (Sn) and stability margin (g) of the
system are also illustrated in this section. The analysis has been
carried out for a fault clearing time of 0.10 s with the variation of
Kp2. TS of rotor angles, Sn and g of the system are given in Table 5.
It is obvious from Table 5 that the TS of area-1 generator rotor
angles are high if the generators of area-1 are thermal units. It is
242 R. Shah et al. / Applied Energy 96 (2012) 235–244

Table 6 Table 7
Trajectory sensitivity with respect to BESS parameter variation (two-area test Critical modes of NE–NY test system.
system).
Mode Case-1 Case-2
Generator Type @dij
ðkd Þ Sn g
@p % Damping f (Hz) % Damping f (Hz)
Generator 1 Hydro 0.0017 0.0058 200 1 3.15 0.35 4.3 0.35
Generator 2 0.0053 2 0.63 0.46 0.70 0.46
Generator 1 Thermal 0.00013 0.0025 458 3 2.43 0.64 2.61 0.64
Generator 2 0.00012 4 3.815 0.71 3.82 0.71

also noticeable that the g of the system is low (g = 188 < 506) for
Table 8
this case. The results presented in Table 5 reveal that ultracapacitor Effect of PV and its auxiliary devices on the damping of EM modes (case-1).
at PV more negatively interacts with area-1 generators rotor angle
System conf. Mode-1 Mode-2
for thermal units.
% of damp. D of damp. % of damp. D of damp.
5.2. Effect of BESS parameter variation on stability condition Without PV 3.15 0.00 0.63 0.00
With PV 3.09 0.06 0.50 0.13
PV + ultra capacitor 2.71 0.44 0.98 0.26
BESS real power controller proportional gain (Kd) variation has
PV + BESS 3.07 0.08 0.77 0.14
been considered for TS evaluation. As like previous section, analy- PV + shunt cap. 3.18 0.03 0.45 0.18
sis has been performed by considering very small (61%) perturba-
tion of Kd for both cases. The analysis has been carried out for a
fault clearing time of 0.10 s with the variation of Kd. TS of rotor an-
Table 9
gles, overall sensitivity norm (Sn) and stability margin (g) of the Effect of PV and its auxiliary devices on the damping of EM modes (case-2).
system are given in Table 6.
From Table 6 it can be seen that the TS of area-1 generator rotor System conf. Mode-1 Mode-2

angles are high if the generators of area-1 are hydro units. Form the % of damp. D of damp. % of damp. D of damp.
above table it is also observed that the g of the system is low Without PV 4.3 0.00 0.70 0.00
(g = 200 < 458) for this case. From the above responses, it is obvi- With PV 4.3 0.00 0.57 0.13
ous that BESS at PV more negatively interacts with the rotor angles PV + ultra capacitor 4.3 0.00 0.85 0.15
PV + BESS 4.3 0.00 1.05 0.35
of the area-1 generator for hydro units.
PV + shunt cap. 4.3 0.00 0.49 0.21

6. Simulation results in NE–NY test system

PV and its auxiliary devices impact on power system EM modes

in NE–NY test system are analyzed in this section. The analysis has
been carried out by considering following two cases.

Case-1: All the generators of the external system are modeled as

hydro generator; hydro dominant system.
Case-2: All the generators are modeled as classical NE–NY test
system; thermal dominant system.

Table 7 shows the damping of critical EM modes in case-1 and

2, respectively. In the following discussion, these critical EM
modes are referred as mode-1, mode-2, mode-3, and mode-4,
respectively. Participation factor analysis reveals that among this
critical low frequency modes, mode-1 and 2 are the inter-area
mode.
Table 8 shows the impact of PV and the auxiliary devices on
NE–NY test system inter-area modes for case-1. From the table it
can be seen that the integration of ultracapacitor at PV has in-
creased the damping of mode-2 (Ddamp. = 0.26%) whereas the
damping of mode-1 has decreased by some percentage (Ddamp. =
Fig. 12. Effect of PV auxiliary devices on inter-area modes at post fault condition
0.44%). However, it is obvious from the table that the damping of (case-1).
both modes is still well below the utility acceptable small signal
stability margin even after the integration of ultracapacitor at PV
plant. To verify the trends of the aforementioned results, further anal-
Table 9 shows the impact of PV and the auxiliary devices on ysis has been carried out in different system topology. System
NE–NY test system critical inter-area modes for case-2. From Table topology has been changed by considering line outage in the exter-
9 it can be seen that the integration of BESS at PV has improved the nal system (lines 25–26). Fig. 12 shows the PV auxiliary devices
mode-2 damping better than the PV–ultracapacitor integration impact on the damping of inter-area modes for case-1 at contin-
(Ddamp. = 0.35% > 0.15%). On the other hand, it is also noticeable gency condition. From Fig. 12 it can be observed that even in differ-
from the table that the damping of mode-1 is unaffected by the ent system topology integration of PV–ultracapacitor provides
integration of PV and its auxiliary devices. However, as like case- better damping to mode-2 than the other PV system configura-
1 damping of both modes is well below the acceptable small signal tions. Fig. 13 shows the effect of PV together with the auxiliary de-
stability margin. vices on the damping of inter-area modes for case-2 at contingency
 R. Shah et al. / Applied Energy 96 (2012) 235–244 243

system configurations for case-1. On the other hand, Fig. 15 shows

that PV–BESS provides better damping to the tie-line power
oscillation than the other system configurations for case-2.

6.1. Effect of ultracapacitor parameter variation on stability condition

Ultracapacitor duty cycle proportional gain (Kp2) variation has

Fig. 13. Effect of PV auxiliary devices on inter-area modes at post fault condition
(case-2).
been considered here for TS evaluation. The analysis has been car-
ried out with very small (61%) perturbation of Kp2 for both cases.
TS evaluation has been done for a fault clearing time of 0.10 s with
the variation of Kp2. TS of rotor angles, overall sensitivity norm (Sn)
and stability margin (g) of the system are given in Table 10.
From Table 10 it can be observed that the TS of the external
system generator rotor angles are high if the generators of the
external system are thermal units. From the above table it is also
noticeable that the g of the system is low (g = 1.93 < 7.70) for this
case. The aforementioned analysis reveals that ultracapacitor at PV
more negatively interacts with the rotor angles of the external
system generator for thermal units.
6.2. Effect of BESS parameter variation on stability condition

condition. From Fig. 13 it can be seen that even in different system

BESS real power controller proportional gain (Kd) variation has
topology, PV–BESS provides better damping to mode-2 than the
been considered for TS evaluation. The analysis has been performed
others.
with very small (61%) perturbation of the parameter for both cases.
The time domain simulation results of tie-line power oscilla-
TS has been evaluated for a fault clearing time of 0.10 s with the
tions in case-1 and 2 are presented in Figs. 14 and 15, respectively.
variation of Kd. TS of rotor angles, overall sensitivity norm (Sn)
For both cases, analysis has been carried out by applying three
and stability margin (g) of the system are given in Table 11.
phase fault in bus 15 of the system at 1.00 s and cleared at
From Table 11 it can be observed that the TS of the external
1.05 s. From Fig. 14 it can be seen that PV–ultracapacitor provides
system generator rotor angles are high if the generators of the
better damping to the tie-line power oscillation than the other
external system are hydro units. Form the above table it is also
noticeable that the g of the system is low (g = 1.73 < 2.1) for this
case. From the responses, it is clear that BESS at PV more negatively
interacts with the rotor angles of the external system generator for
hydro units.

Table 10
Trajectory sensitivity with respect to ultracapacitor parameter variation (NE–NY test
system).

Generator Type @dij

ðkp2 Þ Sn g
@p

Generator 2 Hydro 0.005 0.1298 7.70

Generator 3 0.005
Generator 5 0.0025
Generator 7 0.0075
Generator 9 0.0075
Generator 2 Thermal 0.03206 0.518 1.93
Generator 3 0.02601
Fig. 14. Time domain simulation results for case-1 in NE–NY test system. Generator 5 0.0105
Generator 7 0.0315
Generator 9 0.019

Table 11
Trajectory sensitivity with respect to BESS parameter change (NE–NY test system).

Generator Type @dij

ðkd Þ Sn g
@p

Generator 2 Hydro 0.075 0.6867 1.703

Generator 3 0.046
Generator 5 0.057
Generator 7 0.078
Generator 9 0.0131
Generator 2 Thermal 0.008 0.4767 2.1
Generator 3 0.0064
Generator 5 0.004
Generator 7 0.0081
Generator 9 0.0064
Fig. 15. Time domain simulation results for case-2 in NE–NY test system.
244 R. Shah et al. / Applied Energy 96 (2012) 235–244
7. Discussion and conclusions
The paper has presented a comprehensive analysis of the effect
of large scale PV generator and auxiliary devices such as ultraca-
pacitor, shunt capacitor and battery energy storage system on elec-
tromechanical (EM) modes and the low frequency oscillatory
stability of power systems. Two typical power generating systems,
namely hydro dominated and completely thermal, have been con-
sidered. Modal and Trajectory sensitivity analyses have been used
to assess the stability of the systems. In Trajectory sensitivity anal-
ysis, sensitivity norm of the generator rotor angles with respect to
auxiliary devices parameter variation has been used to confirm the
influence of the auxiliary devices in power systems with different
generation system.
The influence of ultracapacitor and battery energy storage sys-
tem used with large-scale PV system on EM mode damping is
found to be dependent on the type of generator system. If ultraca-
pacitor is used in the PV plants in a hydro dominant system, it is
more effective in improving the damping of the least damped EM
modes. On the other hand, if the battery energy storage system is
used in the PV plants in a thermal dominant system, it is more
effective in improving the damping of the least damped EM modes.
These results have been corroborated by trajectory sensitivity of
generator rotor angles with respect to parameter variation of the
auxiliary devices.
However, from the simulation studies it is noticeable that de-
spite the integration of ultracapacitor and BESS, still the damping
ratio of the least damped EM modes are well below the utility
acceptable level except for case-2 in two-area test system. Multi-
parameter tuning of the PV generator controller may help to im-
prove the damping of the system in such cases.
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