2015 International Conference on Smart Grid and Clean Energy Technologies
Small Signal Stability Analysis of Renewable Source Connected Power System and
Identification of Oscillatory Modes Using Wavelet Transform
S. Choudhary and F. B. Sharma
The Govt. Mahila Engineering College
Ajmer 305002, India
e-mail: seemarocks91@gmail.com
Abstract-This paper analyzes the impact of integration of solar
PV and wind power generation on small signal stability of the
power system. Standard benchmark IEEE 09 bus system is used
for study. The impact has been analyzed by replacing the
conventional synchronous generator with solar photo-voltaic
generation (SPVG) and doubly fed induction generator (DFIG)
wind turbines separately. The effect of varying penetration level
of solar and wind power is also investigated. Eigenvalue analysis
is used to compute the frequency and damping factor of
oscillatory components that arise due to small disturbances. The
oscillatory modes are identified using discrete wavelet transform
(DWT), a spectral analysis technique. Power spectral density and
time frequency curves are used to extract hidden frequency
information from the signal. The different cases have simulated
in MATLAB based PSAT, wavelet, and time frequency signal
analysis toolboxes.
Keywords-small signal stability; solar photo-voltaic generator;
DFIG; discrete wavelet transform; time frequency analysis
I. INTRODUCTION
Climate change is a widely discussed topic all across the
globe. Climate change has foremost impact on melting of
snow, increase of global air and ocean temperatures, and rising
mean sea level. Thus, climate change has become a great
environmental, social, and economic threat. Also, as a result of
conventional energy sources consumption and increasing
environmental concern, great efforts have been done to
produce electricity from renewable sources, such as wind
energy sources and solar energy sources. Governments of
different countries have realized the importance of renewable
energy sources and developing favorable policies and offering
subsidies to expand the renewable energy market. It is
imperative that capacity utilization of renewable energy has
increased many folds worldwide in last couple of years [1]. It
shows the annual growth rate of renewable energy capacity for
the year 2011, and compared it with cumulative five year
period 2007-2011. Solar photo-voltaic generation (SPVG) and
wind power have witnessed remarkable growth mainly due to
price reduction, resulting from declining costs due to
technology advancement, economic growth, and favorable
government policies.
The integration of wind power with conventional power
system poses challenges for power system engineers due to its
random and intennittent nature. This necessitates studying of
the power system dynamics with wind penetration (Mendonca
and Lopes 2005).
978-1-4673-8734-7/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE
Small signal stability is defmed as the ability of the system
to withstand the small changes around the operating point.
These changes may result in electromechanical oscillations,
but most of them are damped out due to system damping.
Oscillations are inherent in the system due to various factors
like: generator rotor oscillations, power system configuration,
frequency dependent loads etc. These oscillations are known
as low frequency oscillations (LFO) in literature. The LFO can
be divided into two modes as local area and inter-area.
In case, sufficient damping is not present, the LFO may
lead to catastrophic blackouts. Recent prominent examples are
th th
Florida blackout on 26 Feb 2008 and USA blackout on 14
Aug 2003. The frequency of oscillations observed for both the
blackouts was 0.51 Hz and 0.17 Hz (Angammana 2006)
respectively.
The risk of blackouts/failures can be reduced by
monitoring the power system in real time and identifying the
commencement of poorly damped oscillations. Advanced
diagnosis tools based on WAMS can provide the awareness of
the power system in real time. The basic unit of WAMS is
PMU, which provides synchronized measurement at a
sampling rate of 30 or even 120 samples/so PMUs located
strategically provide the coherent picture of interconnected
power system in real time (Ree, Centeno, Thorp, and Phadke
2010).
The identification of low frequency oscillations from the
data obtained from PMUs in real time is currently a
challenging task. From the operator point of view, it is
important to see the relevant information with minimum state
variables, though provides coherent picture of the system. The
solution of this problem is the spectral analysis based on
wavelet transform.
As the different type of renewable energy penetration is
increasing in grid, their impact on power system dynamics has
to be analyzed. It should be ensured that integration of these
renewable energy sources will not be detrimental to small
signal stability. To the best of our knowledge, neither
significant work have been done in this area, nor been
documented. The author [4] has analyzed the power system
small signal stability with solar PV generation. The paper [5]
presented a mathematical model of grid-connected PV energy
source suitable for stability study. The author [6] has identified
the damaging as well as beneficial impacts of increased
Doubly Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) penetration both for
transient and small signal stability. The paper [7] addressed the
23
use of wavelet transfonn for investigation of power system
low frequency electromechanical oscillations.
In this paper, the system's small signal stability is analyzed
with the integration of solar PV and wind power, operating
under terminal voltage control by replacing the conventional
synchronous generator of standard IEEE 09 bus system.
Further, the impact of varying penetration level of solar and
wind power is investigated. Modal analysis is used to identify
critical damping modes. Further, the critical frequency
components have been identified using a new mathematical
tool discrete wavelet transform (DWT). Multi resolution DWT
is used to decompose the signal into many lower resolution
components. Power spectral density and time frequency curves
are used to obtain the frequency components. All cases are
simulated in MATLAB-based Power System Analysis
Toolbox (PSAT) [8], which is used for power system analysis
and control. Spectral analysis of signal is perfonned using
wavelet toolbox [9], and time frequency signal analysis
toolbox [lO].
The remainder of paper is as follows. Section II deals with
modeling of SPVG and DFIG type wind turbines, and the
basic concepts of small signal stability. Section III deals with
the overview of monitoring system based on WAMS. Section
IV contains the basic concepts of WT and identification of low
frequency oscillations. Section V demonstrates the test system
and results of different simulated cases. Finally in section VI,
conclusions are provided.
II. SYSTEM MODELING AND SMALL SIGNAL STABILITY
A. SP V G Modeling
The typical arrangement of SPVG unit connected to grid
consists of PV array, DCIDC converter, DC/AC converter,
battery storage system, and control system. The output of PV
array is connected to DC/DC converter to achieve maximum
power point tracking (MPPT). MPPT controls the voltage to
the desired value. MPPT values instantaneously obtained are
used for system stability studies, as static components are only
involved. The DC/AC converter changes the DC power into
required level of AC power and fed to grid. Inverter can be
represented by various transfer functions; however, first order
transfer function with unity steady state gain is considered in
this paper. Fig. 1 shows the block diagram of PV generator
converter in voltage control mode operation. In this model,
current set points can be measured based on the desired active
and reactive power, and current measurements of terminal
voltage in dq reference frame. The reactive power reference
value is obtained based on the set-point and actual voltage
values, after passing through a Proportional Integral (PI)
controller.
Figure L Schematic diagram of PY generator converter [13].
B. DFIG Modeling
The model of DFIG based wind turbine connected to ac
network is shown in Fig. 2. It mainly comprises of wound
rotor induction generator, ACIDC/AC converter, and control
circuit. The stator is directly connected to ac network. The
ACIDC/AC converter comprises of Voltage Source Converters
(VSCs); the rotor-side converter (COlOr) and the grid-side
converter (Cgnd). The converters use forced commutated
Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs) to obtain AC
voltage from DC source. The three phase rotor winding is
connected to Cra/or by slip rings and brushes.

Figure 2. DFIG based wind turbine model [14]

As converter dynamics is very fast in comparison to (2)

electromechanical transients, the converter is modeled as
ideal current source. Rotor speed and voltage control uses where id" and iqr are d and q axis rotor currents, (})m is the
state variables iqr and idr respectively. The converter rotor speed, Xm is the mutual reactance, Xs is the stator self
reactance, Te is the electromagnetic torque, K" is the voltage

: (Xs Vxm
differential equations can be written as:
controller gain, V is the actual voltage, and Vref is the desired

J
+ 1
/ -
- - P *()
OJ
m / m
OJ
.
-/ -
r;, (1) voltage.
qr
x m
II' 'II'

24
 The actual rotor speed is governed in a manner such that OJ' ­
-2-
optimal wind energy P'�(OJm) is captured. Rotor speed j, =

Xl[
(10)

control is effective for sub synchronous speeds only, as it is

Eigen value analysis can be used as a tool to obtain
assumed that p.� = 0 if OJm <0.5 pu and p.: = 1 if OJm >1 acceptable renewable energy penetration level before the
pu. Converter over current is avoided using anti-windup system loses its small signal stability. The impact of
limiters. Rotor current limits are calculated based on active integration of renewable energy sources can be studied with
and reactive power limits. The pitch angle control is effective increasing penetration level of real power from solar PV and
for super synchronous speeds only. Pitch angle sets to zero wind. The penetration level can be calculated as a function of
for sub synchronous speeds by anti- windup limiter. total renewable power generation (IPRc), over load demand
C. Small Signal Stability (IP[) [16]. Load demand considered here is the maximum
amount of load requirement of system.
Small signal stability is defined as the ability of the
system to withstand the small changes around the operating
point. These changes may result in electromechanical Penetration level (%) =
�PPRG X100 (11)
oscillations, but most of them are damped out due to system L. L
damping. It is the ability to return new stable operating point
after the occurrence of a disturbance that leads to an III. WAYELET TRANSFORM AND IDENTIFICATION OF
incremental change in one or more of the state variables of FREQUENCY OSCILLATIONS
the power system [15].
The WT is a new mathematical tool, which process the
The dynamics of power system is described as below:
data at various scales or resolutions, compressing or
dx stretching the mother wavelet, thereby provides multi­
I(x, A, p) (3)
dt
- = u,
resolution analysis in both frequency and time. Wavelet
y = g(x, u, A, p) (4) algorithm performs efficient, precise and thorough spectral
analysis without loss of any hidden information; since it
1-- n fust order non-linear differential equations allows the use of short time intervals for high-frequency
u -- r input variables information and long time intervals for low frequency
g -- m non-linear algebraic equations information [17] The Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT)
x -- n state variables
( t--a-b )
of a time domain signal f(t) can be written as:
y -- m output variables
A -- Uncontrolled parameter CWT(a, b) =
1
..fa
foo (J(t»)
-00 \Ii (12)
p -- Controllable parameter

(t : b)
The linearized model around an operating point is
required to study the system's response to small perturbation. 'I'(t): Mother wavelet function
Linearization is achieved by Taylor's series expansion of
\Ii : Daughter wavelet function
equation (3) and omitting the second and higher orders of the
partial derivatives of f to the state variables.
a: Dilatation or scale parameter
The linearized set of equations is as follows:
b: Translation parameter on time axis
d
-� Mx + Blm (5)
Calculating the wavelet coefficients at every possible
dt
=
scale and translation takes lot of time and generate huge
f1y = Cru. + Df1u (6) amount of data, rather if the scales and translations are
discretized by any factor like; dyadic factor, it becomes fast
The matrices A, B, C and D contain the partial and reduces computational overhead. This is called DWT.
derivatives of functions I and g to the state variables x and This isolates the high and low frequency components of a
the input variables u. Matrix A is the system matrix, and signal using a couple of filters.
eigenvalues are given as follows: A square integrable signal fit) can be decomposed into
various time-frequency scales; can be represented by a linear
det (sI A) 0
- = (7) combination of two parameter wavelet functions:
The z-th eigenvalue is represented by 00 r:fJ 00
j

fJi =
(1, + jOJi (8) L aio (k)rp(t - k) + L L d/k)i2 '¥(2i t - k) (13)
k= - 00

A pair of complex eigenvalues is called an oscillatory

mode. The damping factor of oscillatory mode is written as: The wavelet functions �(t) and '¥( t) are localized in time.
Parameters k and j perform translation and time scaling of
(9) the original functions. The functions �(t) and '¥( t) are
normally selected in such a manner that the functions of (13)
form an orthogonal basis. The alk) and d;(k) terms are
The frequency of oscillation is given by

25
referred as approximation and detail coefficients respectively,
and given as follows:
a(k) .j2S: qJCt) rp(2t - k)dt (14)
.j2S: 'I'(t) rp(2t
d(k) - k)dt (15)
They highlight hidden infonnation of the signal fit)
because their associated functions have different time­
frequency scales. Multi resolution analysis is a practical
implementation of DWT, and can be implemented by a set of
consecutive filter banks. The signal is passed through a high
pass filter (HPF) and a low pass filter (LPF), then the outputs
of both filters are decimated by 2 to obtain the detail and
approximation coefficients at level 1 (A1 and D1).
Successive approximations being decomposed further, so
that one signal can be divided into many lower resolution
components till desired level.
The time domain signal is transformed into quadratic
time-frequency distribution using bilinear transfonnations. In
this paper, wigner-ville distribution (WVD) is used to obtain
time frequency curves. Power spectral density (PSD) and
time-frequency curves give the complete information about
the signal.
IV. TE ST SYSTEM AND FINDINGS
The following four cases are investigated here:
Case A deals with standard benchmark IEEE 09 bus
system as shown in Fig. 3. It is used as base case. It consists
of three synchronous machines with IEEE type 2 exciters.
There are 03 loads in the system totaling 315 MW and 115
MYAR, represented using constant PQ load.
Case B replaces the 100 MVA synchronous generator
connected to bus 2 as in case A, by DFIG-based wind turbine
of corresponding size and operational limits, and functioning
under tenninal voltage control.
Case C replaces the 100 MVA synchronous generator
connected to bus 2 as in case A, by solar PV generator of
corresponding size and capacity, and operating under
terminal voltage control.
In all cases, renewable generators share the total loads of
the system.
Figure 3. IEEE 9-bus system [IS].
26
Eigen value analysis is performed for base case. All
eigen- values lies in the left half of complex s plane. The
critical mode with lowest damping is associated with
generator 1 q-axis internal voltage e1q(Syn1) and exciter
control voltage Vi (Exc1). The oscillation frequency and
damping factor associated with critical mode are 1.4192 Hz
and 0.0185 respectively. The critical mode is required to be
captured and investigated for small signal stability analysis
with wind and solar PV generation. Eigen values are
obtained in case B and case C. The values of critical mode in
both the cases are illustrated in Table I. The damping of
critical mode is improved with both wind and solar PV
integration, however more damping improvement is
observed with solar PV. The effect of varying penetration
level of wind and solar PV is investigated on the damping of
critical oscillatory mode. Fig. 4 shows the impact of
increased penetration of solar PV in case C on critical mode.
It shows the damping of critical mode improves with
increased penetration level, with 60% penetration level
compared to case damping of critical mode increase from
0.0185 to 0.0958.
The impact of increased wind power penetration level in
case B is investigated on the damping of critical mode, and is
shown in Fig. 5. This shows that as the wind power
penetration level increases, the damping factor of critical
mode improves only up to 50% penetration. Further increase
of penetration level has negative effect on damping.
TABLE I. COMPARISON OF MOST ASSOCIATED STATES FOR WIND
AND SOLAR PV CONNECTED WITH IEEE 09 Bus SYSTEM
Eigenvalue
Most Eigenvalue Eigenvalue
associated (Case A)
(Case B) (Case C)
states
Jl=O"± jco
Omega_syn_2
-0.IS64±j7.6324 -0.5 I56±jI 0.4 103
Delta_syn_2
El'Lsyn_l
-0.4434±j 1.211 I -0.4763±jO.9945
Vr2 exc 1
Omega_syn_l
0 -0.0024±j I.S962
Delta_syn_l
Figure 4. Effect of solar PV penetration level on critical mode.
The impact of increased penetration level of combined
wind and solar power in case D on critical mode is shown in
 20
Fig. 6. It shows that both wind and solar PV generator
18 dl
exhibit the ahnost similar improvement in the damping of 16
critical mode. 14
0.03

0.025

0.02

0.015

0.01

0 005
0.5 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4.5
Frequency (Hz)
o

2 3 4

Figure 5. Impact of wind power penetration level on critical mode.

To identify the low frequency oscillations in case D, a

small perturbation (by increasing the small active power load
at bus 4) is applied. Oscillations are observed throughout the
system. Fig. 7 shows the voltage oscillations at bus 14. The
oscillatory modes frequency and damping factor are shown
in Table II. Multi resolution DWT is used to decompose the
voltage signal. The sampling frequency of voltage signal is 3.5 4.5
selected 10 Hz. We selected db4 wavelet to decompose the
signal into approximation and detail coefficients at five
levels. The frequency range of the decomposed signal in
different decomposition levels is shown in Table III. The
decomposed components are transformed into time
frequency distribution. The frequency domain analysis is
performed using PSD. Fig. 8 shows the PSD and time
frequency distribution curves of different details (d1 to d5)
and approximation (a5). The frequencies obtain through time
frequency curves are in matching with eigenvalue analysis.

0.12 ,-----
3.5 4.5

0.1 +------

� 0.08 +-----­
.!"
� 0.06 +-----­
'0.
� 0.04 +------

0.02 +-----==----

o
Base Case 95% Wind 95% Wind & 80% Wind & 60% Wind &
lO%Solar 2S%Solar 4S%Solar

Wind & Solar penetration level

Figure 6. Impact of combined wind and solar power on critical mode. 4.5
3.5

0.999

0.998

0.997
..
'"

J!l
0
>

�
0.996 14
11
�
:J
co
0.995

0.994
1 � ll l l
0.993

0.992
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
3 -1 -4
Time
.,
,10

Figure 7. Voltage oscillations at bus 14.

27
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