EUROPEAN TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL POWER Euro. Trans. Electr.

Power 2011; 21:20632079 Published online 9 December 2010 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/etep.541

STATCOM modeling impacts on performance evaluation of distance protection of transmission lines

Mojtaba Khederzadeh*,y and Amir Ghorbani
Department of Electrical Engineering, Power & Water University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

SUMMARY In this paper, the impact of STATCOM on the apparent impedance seen by conventional distance relay protecting a transmission line is investigated. Analytical results are presented, and veried by detailed simulations. It is shown that the implications of applying STATCOM on distance relay are highly dependent on the sophisticated modeling of STATCOM especially its control system considering practical constraints. Accurate modeling of the distance relay, particularly the analog input signals are also important in extracting reliable results. Practical constraints of the STATCOM are modeled in full details. It is demonstrated that when the STATCOMs limits are modeled in detail, i.e., the STATCOM is not considered an ideal reactivepower source the STATCOMs impact on the performance of distance protection is less severe than in the case where limits are ignored and thus ideal controllers are applied. This is a remarkable point for the utilities as not to overestimate the severity of the impact of STATCOM on conventional distance protection of transmission lines. Six different phase-to-phase and phase-to-ground measuring units of the distance relay are simulated to resemble the behavior of the relay. Different power system operating conditions, STATCOM control system settings and fault scenarios are investigated. The STATCOM effects on distance relay tripping characteristics are also analyzed. Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
key words:

distance relay; exible AC transmission systems (FACTS); power system protection; STATic synchronous COMpensator (STATCOM); transmission line

1. INTRODUCTION Appropriate reactive shunt compensation can control the voltage prole along the transmission line and increase the steady-state transmittable power. The purpose of this reactive compensation is to change the natural electrical characteristics of the line to make it more compatible with the prevailing load demand. Thus, shunt-connected reactors are applied to minimize line overvoltage under light load conditions, and shunt-connected capacitors are applied to maintain voltage levels under heavy load conditions. Shunt compensation is used for voltage regulation at the midpoint to segment the transmission line and at the end of the (radial) line to prevent voltage instability, as well as for dynamic voltage control to increase transient stability and damp power oscillations. Conventionally, the lowcost mechanically switched reactors and capacitor banks are used to provide the shunt compensation. However, although these devices help improve the steady-state voltage regulation, the transient issues, such as power uctuations, voltage uctuations, and stability, cannot be solved satisfactorily by them because these devices are not fast enough. Therefore, a fast shunt VAR compensator is needed to address these issues more effectively [1]. The STATic synchronous COMpensator (STATCOM) is a shunt-connected regulated source of leading or lagging reactive power. By varying its reactive power output in response to the demand of an automatic voltage regulator, a STATCOM can maintain virtually constant voltage at the point in the
*Correspondence to: Mojtaba Khederzadeh, Department of Electrical Engineering, Power & Water University of Technology (PWUT), P.O. Box:16765-1719, Tehran, Iran. y E-mail: khederzadeh@pwut.ac.ir Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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network to which it is connected. It is in general a solid-state switching converter capable of generating or absorbing independently controllable real and reactive power at its output terminals when it is fed from an energy source or energy-storage device at its input terminals. STATCOM provides many advantages, in particular the fast response time (12 cycles) and superior voltage support capability with its nature of voltage source. With the recent innovations in high-power semiconductor switch, converter topology, and digital control technology, faster STATCOM (quarter cycle) with low cost is emerging. A STATCOM is analogous to an ideal synchronous machine, which generates a balanced set of three sinusoidal voltagesat the fundamental frequencywith controllable amplitude and phase angle. This ideal machine has no inertia, is practically instantaneous, and can internally generate reactive (both capacitive and inductive) power [2,3]. Distance relays estimate the fault location by calculating the apparent impedance using the voltage and current values [46]. However, the employment of STATCOM has an impact on the operation of distance relays because of the rapid changes introduced by the associated control actions in the primary system parameters such as line impedances and load currents. The system voltage decreases after occurrence of a single-phase fault, so STATCOM takes remedial action by injecting reactive capacitive current to the network in order to recover the voltage to its reference value. Thereby, the impedance seen by the distance relay starts to change, and the positive sequence impedance measured by the relay is no longer an indicator of the distance to a fault [715]. The performance of a distance relay in a transmission system with STATCOM is analyzed in Reference [11] and it is shown that the STATCOM operation increases the R/X ratio of the apparent impedance under all operating conditions. The works in References [12,14] presents the performance of distance relays in presence of shunt FACTS compensation devices, i.e., SVC/STATCOM, however, the control systems used is ideal and implements no limitation on the injected current during an unsymmetrical fault, i.e., the STATCOM applies its full reactive power in these cases to recover the voltage. In this paper, the impact of STATCOM on the performance of conventional distance relay considering the practical limits of its control system during unbalanced conditions is clearly analyzed. It is shown that the protective measures utilizing the semiconductor components of the STATCOM has a profound impact on the results obtained. The six well-known measuring units of the distance relay are accurately modeled and simulated to show the behavior of each unit individually upon occurrence of a specied fault type. Forty eight-pulse voltage source converters are designed and used for modeling the STATCOM; hence, the simulation results are more accurate and reliable [16]. It is clearly demonstrated that the impact of STATCOM on the distance relay considering practical constraints is less severe than the case ignoring them and applying ideal controllers.

2. SAMPLE SYSTEM USED FOR SIMULATION The single line diagram of the sample system with STATCOM is shown in Figure 1. It contains two 1 1 0 0 300 km, 500 kV transmission lines with ZL1 ZL2 0.0255 j0.3520 V/km, ZL1 ZL2 0.3864

Figure 1. Sample system one-line diagram.

Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Euro. Trans. Electr. Power 2011; 21:20632079 DOI: 10.1002/etep

STATCOM MODELING IMPACTS ON DISTANCE PROTECTION

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j1.5556 V/km; Short Circuit Level (SCL) at S and R 8500 MVA; system frequency 60 Hz and load angle between sources 408. STATCOM rating 200 MVA, each of phase shifting transformers 125/15 kV and 75 MVA, voltage regulator gains: KP 12 and Ki 3000, Iq regulator gains: KP 5 and Ki 40. STATCOM is installed in the middle of Line 1. Four three-level 48-pulse inverter coupled with four phase shifting transformers introducing phase shift of 7.58 are used [16,17]. The STATCOM consists of two seriesconnected 3000 mF capacitors which act as a variable DC voltage source.

3. ANALYSIS OF STATCOM IMPACTS ON DISTANCE PROTECTION Figure 2 shows the sequence networks of the sample system of Figure 1. Since the structure of the sequence networks are nearly the same, the positive-, negative-, and zero-sequence networks are shown on the same diagram by using the superscript (1, 2, 0), for sake of brevity. It means positive-sequence network, for example, is composed of the parameters with the superscript (1). Distance relay is installed on Line 1 near bus S to protect the associated transmission line; x has a value between 0.5 and 1.0 for faults at F, i.e., a point between the STATCOM in the middle of line and receiving bus R. Following equation can be derived from the positive-sequence network for a fault at point F on Line 1 with the fault resistance Rf: VS xZL1 IS1 x0:5ZL1 ISTATCOM Rf If VE
1 1 1 1 1 1 1

(1)

The negative- and zero-sequence voltages are obtained from Figure 2 in the same way: VS xZL1 IS1 x0:5ZL1 ISTATCOM Rf If VE VS xZL1 IS1 x0:5ZL1 ISTATCOM Rf If VE
0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 2 1 2 2 2

(2) (3)

3.1. Single-phase fault Generally, the apparent impedance for a single-phase fault is as follows [4,5]: ZRelayA-G VA 0 1 1 0 ZL1 ZL1 =ZL1 IA Vrelay Irelay (4)

IA

where VA and IA are the voltage and current of phase A at the relay point, respectively; while Vrelay and Irelay are the relaying voltage and current, respectively, i.e., the values that are used for relaying. The

Figure 2. Sequence network of the sample system.

Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Euro. Trans. Electr. Power 2011; 21:20632079 DOI: 10.1002/etep

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M. KHEDERZADEH AND A. GHORBANI

following equations are valid for a single-phase fault: V E V E VE 0 VS V S V S V S IS1 IS1 IS1 IS1
1 2 1 2 1 2 0 1 2 0

(5) (6) (7)

0

ISTATCOM ISTATCOM ISTATCOM ISTATCOM

0 1 1 0

(8)

For the sample system, Vrelay Vs and Irelay IS1 ZL1 ZL1 =ZL1 IS1 for a single-phase 1 2 0 fault. The voltage Vs can be derived by using VS ; VS and VS from Equations (1)(3) in Equation (6): VS xZL1 IS1 ZL1 ZL1 IS1 Rf If x0:5ZL1 ISTATCOM x0:5 ZL1 ZL1 ISTATCOM
0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1

(9)

If the traditional distance relay is applied to the transmission system with STATCOM, the apparent impedance seen by this relay for a single-phase fault using Equation (4) can be expressed as: ZRelayA-G xZL1 x0:5ZL1
1 1 ISTATCOM

IRelay

x0:5ZL1 ZL1

ISTATCOM If Rf IRelay Irelay

(10)

In practice, one side of the shunt transformer has often a delta connection, so there is no zero 0 sequence current injected by STATCOM, that is to say, ISTATCOM 0, and the above apparent impedance can be simplied as: ZRelayA-G xZL1 x0:5ZL1
1 1 ISTATCOM

IRelay

If Rf Irelay

(11)

From Equation (11), we can see that the apparent impedance seen by a traditional distance relay during a single-phase fault has three parts: the rst is positive-sequence impedance from the relay point to the fault point, which should be the correct value for the distance relay; the second part is the impact of STATCOM on the apparent impedance and results from the shunt current ISTATCOM injected by the STATCOM; the last part of the apparent impedance is caused by the fault resistance. From Equation (11), for a solid single phase-to-ground fault, the impact of STATCOM on the apparent impedance is expressed by the ratio (ISTATCOM/Irelay). It means that the current injected by STATCOM has a direct impact on the apparent impedance. 3.2. Phase-to-phase faults The apparent impedance for a phase-to-phase fault such as AB is generally expressed as: ZRelayA-B VA VB Vrelay IA IB Irelay (12)

where VA, VB, IA, and IB are the voltages and currents of phases A and B at the relay point, respectively. Vrelay and Irelay are the relaying voltage and current used for evaluation of a phase-to-phase fault. The following equations are valid here: VA VB V 0 V 1 V 2 V 0 a2 V 1 aV 2 V 1 aV 2 IA IB I 0 I 1 I 2 I 0 a2 I 1 aI 2 I 1 aI 2 where a 1120 0:5 j0:886
Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

(13) (14)

(15)

Euro. Trans. Electr. Power 2011; 21:20632079 DOI: 10.1002/etep

STATCOM MODELING IMPACTS ON DISTANCE PROTECTION

1 2

2067 and

For an AB phase-to-phase fault in the sample system Vrelay VA VB VS aVS 1 2 Irelay IA IB IS aIS . By using Equations (1) and (2) in Equation (13) we have: VS aVS xZL1 IS1 aIS1 x0:5ISTATCOM aISTATCOM ZL1 If aIf Rf Hence, the apparent impedance for a phase-to-phase (AB) fault is as: ZRelayA-B VS aVS IS aIS
1 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 2

(16)

VS aVS IRelay
1

xZL1 x0:5

ISTATCOM aISTATCOM 1 If aIf ZL1 Rf IRelay Irelay

(17)

where Rf is the fault resistance between two phases. From Equation (17) we can conclude that during a phase-to-phase fault, the apparent impedance seen by distance relay is also composed of three parts: the rst is positive-sequence impedance from the relay point to the fault point, which should be the correct value for the distance relay; the second part is the impact of STATCOM on the apparent impedance and depends upon the difference between the positive- and negative-sequence current injected by STATCOM; the last part of the apparent impedance is caused by the fault resistance. It is clear from Equation (17) that for a solid phase-to-phase fault, the impact of STATCOM on the apparent 1 2 impedance can be only expressed by the expression ISTATCOM aISTATCOM =IRelay , which is not so signicant. It means the impact of STATCOM on the apparent impedance is more pronounced for single-phase faults than phase-to-phase faults.

4. STATCOM MODELING CONSIDERING PRACTICAL CONSTRAINTS 4.1. STATCOM control system During steady-state operation, the STATCOM control system keeps the fundamental component of the Voltage-Sourced Converter (VSC) voltage in phase with the system voltage. If the voltage generated by the VSC is higher (or lower) than the system voltage, the STATCOM generates (or absorbs) reactive power. The amount of reactive power depends on the VSC voltage magnitude and on the transformer leakage reactances. The fundamental component of VSC voltage is controlled by varying the DC bus voltage. In order to vary the DC voltage, and therefore the reactive power, the VSC voltage angle (alpha) which is normally kept close to zero is temporarily phase shifted. This VSC voltage lag or lead produces a temporary ow of active power which results in an increase or decrease of capacitor voltages. The implemented control system of STATCOM is shown in Figure 3. It is based on a full-decoupled current control strategy using both direct and quadrature current components of the STATCOM ac current. A phase locked loop (PLL) synchronizes on the positive sequence component of the threephase terminal voltage at interface point. The output of the PLL is the angle (u) that is used to measure the direct axis and quadrature axis component of the ac three-phase voltage and current. The regulation loop comprising the ac voltage regulator provides the reference current (Iqref) for the current regulator that is always in quadrature with the terminal voltage to control the reactive power. The PLL system generates the basic synchronizing-signal that is the phase angle u of the transmission system voltage Vt. To enhance the dynamic performance of the full 48-pulse STATCOM device model, a supplementary regulator loop is added using the dc capacitor voltage. The main concept is to detect any rapid variation in the dc capacitor voltage. The strategy of the supplementary damping regulator is to correct the phase angle of the STATCOM device voltage u, with respect to the positive or negative sign of the dc voltage variation. If DVdc > 0, the dc capacitor is charging very fast. This happens when the STATCOM converter voltage lag behind the ac system voltage; in this way, the converter absorbs a small amount of real power from the ac system to compensate for any internal losses and keeps the capacitor voltage at the desired level. The same technique can be used to increase or decrease the capacitor voltage and, thus, the amplitude of the converter output voltage to control the var generation or absorption. This
Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Euro. Trans. Electr. Power 2011; 21:20632079 DOI: 10.1002/etep

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Figure 3. STATCOM control system.

supplementary loop reduces ripple content in charging or discharging the capacitor and improves fast controllability of the STATCOM. STATCOM output current is composed of two factors: reactive (Iq) and active (Id) current. Reactive current is compared with the reference reactive current IqRef, a parameter that is used to regulate the voltage at the point of connection of STATCOM to the network, and then the ring angle a is obtained by appropriately amplifying the error. a u provides the synchronizing signal of the converter which provides the reference reactive current. Generally, STATCOM has two different operational modes; Voltage regulation mode, in that, VRef is specied by the external controller, so the output voltage is kept constant at VRef by absorbing or generating reactive power using a PI regulator and VAR regulation mode, where STATCOM reactive power is xed in this case, thereby the voltage regulation is not necessary in this mode; so IqRef is directly applied by an external controller to the compensator. q 2 2 Current limiter in the STATCOM control system is used to restrict Id Iq in a specied value. Current limiter has two inputs: Id and IqRef. Active current (Id) is very small when STATCOM operates q 2 2 in its normal condition. So, Id Iq is approximately equal to Iq. However, when a fault occurs on the line, Id increases because of the unbalance condition of the system. In contrast to Iq, Id is not q 2 2 controllable. Therefore, in order to limit Id Iq , Iq should be decreased. Current limiter species Iqlimit according to Id. 0.25 p.u. For Id > 0.25 p.u., Iqlimit decreases Here, it is assumed, Iqlimit 1 p.u. for Id commensurate with Id. Current limiter operation is summarized in Figure 4 according to the following steps: (1) Iqlimit is determined by steps of 0.1 p.u. from 1 to 0.3 p.u based on the actual value of Id. (2) If the new desired Iqlimit is lower than the actual limit, Iqlimit is updated instantly. (3) If the new desired limit is higher than the actual limit, the updating of the new desired Iqlimit is delayed by three cycles. (4) Finally, after specifying Iqlimit, it will be compared with Iqref continuously. If IqRef Iqlimit (STATCOM generating reactive power) or IqRef ! Iqlimit (STATCOM absorbing reactive power) the output of the current limiter is changed to Iqref. Otherwise the output is set at Iqlimit.
Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Euro. Trans. Electr. Power 2011; 21:20632079 DOI: 10.1002/etep

4.2. STATCOM current limiter

STATCOM MODELING IMPACTS ON DISTANCE PROTECTION

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Figure 4. Iqref selection block diagram based on Id.

5. STATCOM BEHAVIOR DURING FAULTS 5.1. Negative sequence control The ac network voltages are normally balanced and therefore compensators control all three phases of their output current together. Consequently with unbalanced system voltages the compensating currents in each phase would become different. Individual phase control of STATCOM is rarely applied in transmission line compensation, because, in this case the triplen harmonic content would be different in each phase and their normal cancellation through delta connection would not take place. Hence, STATCOM is unable to compensate all three phases equally during an AG fault. For unbalanced system conditions, like an AG fault, a negative-sequence voltage is generated internally by the converter during the fault; hence making the injected capacitive compensating currents balanced, but with considerable third harmonic distortion. However, in practice the current supplied by STATCOM during the fault is limited for economic reasons. The operation of STATCOM under unbalanced system conditions is governed by the fundamental physical law requiring that the net instantaneous power at the ac and dc terminals of the voltagesourced converter employed must always be equal. This is because the converter has no internal energy storage and thus transfer through it is absolutely direct, and consequently the net instantaneous power at its ac and dc terminals must be equal. With perfectly balanced sinusoidal ac terminal voltages provided by the ac power system, the STATCOM will draw a set of balanced, sinusoidal currents in quadrature with the system voltages, but the dc capacitor will experience no charging current because no real power is exchanged with the ac system and, furthermore, because the net instantaneous power remains invariably zero at the ac terminals of the converter. However, if the ac system voltages become unbalanced, then an alternating power component at twice the fundamental frequency will appear at the ac terminals of the STATCOM converter and this will be matched by an alternating second harmonic charging current in the dc terminals, producing in turn an associated alternating voltage component of the same frequency across the capacitor shunting the dc terminals. If the converter control ignores this ac component, that is, if it is operated to produce the ac output voltage as if the dc terminal voltage was constant, then the second harmonic voltage component from the dc terminal will be transformed by the converter switching operation as a negative sequence fundamental component to the ac terminals. As a result, the STATCOM will, in general, draw a negative sequence fundamental current in proportion to the difference between its internally generated negative sequence voltage and the negative sequence component of the ac system voltage as well as a positive sequence third harmonic current component. The negative sequence fundamental voltage, generated naturally by the converter with properly sized dc capacitor, reduces signicantly the negative sequence current that would otherwise be forced by the negative sequence system voltage which could be very large during single-phase faults, the third harmonic has clearly no useful function [3]. Negative sequence components in the ac voltage at the point of STATCOM connection can result from unbalanced loads and unsymmetrical network impedances within the power system. They will also appear during power system fault conditions. The STATCOM can be controlled such that it
Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Euro. Trans. Electr. Power 2011; 21:20632079 DOI: 10.1002/etep

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M. KHEDERZADEH AND A. GHORBANI

reduces the negative sequence component in the ac voltage passively, actively, or such that the STATCOM draws only positive sequence currents from the power system. If the STATCOM converter control is set to produce purely positive sequence voltages, the STATCOM will draw negative sequence currents from the network and by doing so; will passively reduce the negative sequence components of the ac voltages. Utilization of this method is limited by the maximum value of the converter current, and/or permissible variation in the dc capacitor voltage. The negative sequence control methods are limited by the maximum value of the converter current and/or the permissible rated variation in the dc capacitor voltage of the converter. In dening the negative sequence control requirements, consideration needs to be given to the overall converter and dc capacitor ratings as such control strategies will utilize some of the available capacity [18]. Figure 5 shows the positive-, negative-, and zero-sequence voltages and currents of the sample system at the relay point and also at the point of the connection of STATCOM to the ac network for a solid single-phase fault at 160 km from the relay (line length 300 km) without implementing the IqLimit computation and IqRef selection block. The simulation is performed by using MATLAB/Simulink software environment with SimPowerSystems toolbox and the Simulink library [17]. Figure 6 shows the same but without the presence of STATCOM. Comparison of Figures 5 and 6 reveals that the negative-sequence current at the relay point is considerably reduced due to the interaction of the STATCOM. It can be also deduced that the negative-sequence current injection by STATCOM at its point of connection to the ac network is appreciable, even it is higher than the positive-sequence injected current during the fault. The under-reaching effect of STATCOM is justied by the reduction of current seen by the relay, especially the negative-sequence current. As can be seen in Figure 6, the zero-sequence current injected by STATCOM is zero during the fault.

5.2. Line modeling impact on STATCOM performance Figures 7 shows the reactive power injected by STATCOM and the voltages (measured and reference) at the point of connection of STATCOM to the ac network for the distributed transmission line model. Figure 8 shows the same but for simple (series resistance and reactance) transmission line model.

Voltage(p.u.)

Sequence voltages at the relay point

1 0.5 0 0.2
Current(p.u.)
Positive-sequence Negative-sequence Zero-sequence

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

0.45

0.5

0.55

0.6

Sequence currents at the relay point

0 0.2 1

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

0.45

0.5

0.55

0.6

Voltage(p.u.)

Sequence voltages at the STATCOM location

0.5 0 0.2
Current(p.u.)

0.25

0.3

Sequence currents at the STATCOM location

0.35

0.4

0.45

0.5

0.55

0.6

2 1 0 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 Time (s) 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6

Figure 5. Sequence voltages and currents at the relay point and at the STATCOM location for a single-phase fault on the sample system with STATCOM and no current limiter.
Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Euro. Trans. Electr. Power 2011; 21:20632079 DOI: 10.1002/etep

STATCOM MODELING IMPACTS ON DISTANCE PROTECTION

Sequence voltages at the relay point

2071

Voltage(p.u.)

1 0.5 0 0.2 5

Positive-sequence Negative-sequence Zero-sequence

0.25

0.3

Current(p.u.)

Sequence currents at the relay point

0.35

0.4

0.45

0.5

0.55

0.6

0 0.2 1

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

0.45

0.5

0.55

0.6

Voltage(p.u.)

Sequence voltages at the STATCOM location

0.5 0 0.2 1 0.5 0 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 Time (s) 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.25 0.3
Sequence currents at the STATCOM location

0.35

0.4

0.45

0.5

0.55

0.6

Figure 6. Sequence voltages and currents at the relay point and at the STATCOM location for a single-phase fault on the sample system without STATCOM.

Current(p.u.)

STATCOM reactive power Q for system with distributed line model without limiter on Iqref

Q (Mvar)

200 0 Q 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55

STCOM

-200 0.2 1.2

0.6

Vmeasured and Vref (p.u.) for system with STATCOM and distributed line model

Voltage (p.u.)

Vmeasured Vref 1

0.8 0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4 Time (s)

0.45

0.5

0.55

0.6

Figure 7. STATCOM reactive power and measured/reference voltages with distributed line model and no limiter on Iqref.

It can be seen from Figure 7 that the measured voltage at the STATCOM location prior to fault is higher than the reference voltage, hence the STATCOM absorbs reactive power to its full capacity (200 Mvar) to compensate the voltage; this is due to the shunt capacitance of the transmission line. Upon occurrence of the single-phase fault the voltage is reduced and STATCOM injects its full capacitive power (there is no limitation on Iqref) to correct the voltage. According to Figure 8, the simple transmission line model causes the voltage to be less than the reference voltage at the STATCOM location, so STATCOM injects its full capacitive power to modify the voltage. During the fault, the injected power remains the same, since there is no limit on Iqref. Comparison of the Figures 7
Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Euro. Trans. Electr. Power 2011; 21:20632079 DOI: 10.1002/etep

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STATCOM reactive power Q for system with simple RL line model without limiter on Iqref

300 QSTATCOM Q (Mvar) 250 200 150 0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

0.45

0.5

0.55

0.6

Vmeasured and Vref for system with STATCOM and simple RL line model

Voltage (p.u.)

1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 Time (s) 0.45

Vmeasured Vref

0.5

0.55

0.6

Figure 8. STATCOM reactive power and measured/reference voltages with simple RL line model and no limiter on Iqref.

and 8 clearly presents the importance of appropriate modeling of the components in achieving correct results.

5.3. Current limiter impact on STATCOM performance during a fault Figure 9 shows the behavior of STATCOM during the same single-phase fault while applying the limit on Iqref. By comparing Figure 9 with Figure 7, it can be concluded that the situation is the same prior to fault, i.e., the limit on Iqref is ineffective on the injected reactive power by STATCOM for the balanced system, but during the unbalanced condition of the single-phase fault, the limiter only allows the injection of 100 Mvar (half of the STATCOM capacity). This is a considerable point, since the reduction of the injected reactive power, alleviates the impact of STATCOM on the conventional distance relay.
STATCOM reactive power for system with IqLimit compution and Iqref selection block (distributed line model)

100 Q (Mvar) 0

-100 -200 0.2 1.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

0.45

0.5

0.55

0.6

Vmeasured and Vref for system with IqLimit compution and Iqref selection block (distributed line model)

Voltage (p.u.)

1.1 1 0.9 0.8 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 Time (s) 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6

Figure 9. STATCOM reactive power and measured/reference voltages with distributed line model and limiter on Iqref.
Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Euro. Trans. Electr. Power 2011; 21:20632079 DOI: 10.1002/etep

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6. SIMULATION RESULTS OF STATCOM IMPACTS ON DISTANCE PROTECTION A traditional relay receives samples at its designed sampling rate (for example 16 samples/cycle, or 960 Hz as is considered in this paper). The analog waveform, therefore, needs to be ltered to avoid aliasing. For a sampling rate of 960 Hz, the cutoff frequency of the low-pass anti-aliasing lter needs to be 480 Hz or lower. Since the hardware setup is not available to model the traditional relay in this way, we employed an alternate method, i.e., digital waveforms are created by using an extremely high sampling rate of 96 kHz (1600 samples/cycle) by selecting an appropriate time step in the simulation. This would ensure practically zero aliasing. These waveform samples are digitally ltered by using a second order Butterworth low-pass lter with a cutoff frequency of 240 Hz, downsampled to 16 samples/cycle and processed with Full Cycle Discrete Fourier Transform (FCDFT) to estimate the phasor value of the fundamental. This process will effectively model the traditional relay that uses an analog second-order Butterworth anti-aliasing lter with a cutoff frequency of 240 Hz, and uses sampling rate of 960 Hz. A cutoff frequency of lower than 480 Hz (half of the sampling rate) was chosen because the second-order lter does not have a very sharp cutoff [19]. Equations (11) and (17) are used for single-phase and phase-to-phase faults, respectively. After calculation of the positive-, negative-, and zero-sequence components of the estimated phasors, the apparent impedances for the six measuring units (AG, BG, CG, AB, BC, and CA) are evaluated [46].

6.1. Impact of Iqref limit on the performance of distance relay Figure 10 shows the performance of the relay for a single-phase fault at 225 km from the relay point on Line 1 with limiter on Iqref. As can be deduced from this gure, the relay is slightly under-reached, but still operates at Zone I. Figure 11 shows the same case, except with no limit on Iqref, i.e., STATCOM injects its full capacitive reactive power to compensate the voltage. This leads to the under-reaching of the distance relay, i.e., the relay does not see the fault due to the impact of injected current by STATCOM as described by Equation (11). Comparison of Figures 10 and 11 indicates that ignoring the practical constraint of Iqref overstates the impact of STATCOM on the conventional distance relay behavior. Figure 12 shows the Iqref for the cases with and without IqLimit Computation and Iqref Selection block. As can be deduced from this gure, Iqref transits from 1 p.u. to 1 p.u. when there is no practical limit (Figure 11), while it transfers from 1 p.u. to 0.3 p.u. (Figure 10), when the limiter is operative. Figure 12 is in consistency with Figure 9.

Apparent impedance computed by the A-G unit with limiter on Iqref

120

Without STATCOM With STATCOM and limit on Iqref

Apparent Reactance (Ohms)

100 80 60 40 20 0 50

50 Apparent Resistance (Ohms)

100

150

Figure 10. Apparent impedance calculated by the AG measuring unit for a single-phase fault at 225 km from the relaying point without/with STATCOM and limiter on Iqref.
Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Euro. Trans. Electr. Power 2011; 21:20632079 DOI: 10.1002/etep

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M. KHEDERZADEH AND A. GHORBANI

Apparent impedance computed by the A-G unit and no limiter on Iqref

120 Apparent Reactance (Ohm) 100 80 60 40 20 0 -50

Without STATCOM With STATCOM & no limit on Iqref

50 Apparent Resistance (Ohm)

100

150

Figure 11. Apparent impedance calculated by the AG measuring unit for a single-phase fault at 225 km from the relaying point without/with STATCOM and no limiter on Iqref.
Iqref before and during a single-phase fault with/without limiter

0.5 Iqref (p.u.)

-0.5
Iqref(without limiter)

-1 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 Time (s) 0.45 0.5

Iqref(with limiter)

0.55

0.6

Figure 12. Iqref for the system with/without IqLimit Computation and Iqref Selection block.

6.2. Phase-to-phase fault For a phase-to-phase fault at 225 km from the relaying point, the apparent impedance seen by the AB measuring unit of the distance relay is presented in Figure 13, which shows that the presence of STATCOM in the fault loop does not have any appreciable impact on the relays performance. This is in consistency with the analytical results presented by Equation (17).

6.3. STATCOM setting impact Figure 14 shows the injected reactive powers by STATCOM for an AG fault at 0.4 second for different values of reference voltage of STATCOM VRef. In this case the capacity of STATCOM is increased to 300 Mvar. As can be seen, after the single-phase fault, the injected reactive power by STATCOM is the same for both values of the reference voltages. In other words, whether STATCOM injects reactive power (VRef 1.01), or absorbs reactive power (VRef 0.92) prior to fault, it will inject the same amount of reactive power after the fault. This can be justied as upon occurrence of an AG fault, the measured positive-sequence voltage Vmeas is less than the VRef regardless of the initial value, so
Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Euro. Trans. Electr. Power 2011; 21:20632079 DOI: 10.1002/etep

STATCOM MODELING IMPACTS ON DISTANCE PROTECTION

Apparent impedance measured by A-B unit for an A-B fault at 225km from relay with limiter on Iqref

2075

120 Apparent Reactance (Ohm) 100 80 60 40 20 0 -50

With STATCOM Without STATCOM

50 Apparent Resistance (Ohm)

100

150

Figure 13. Apparent impedance calculated by the AB measuring unit for a phase-to-phase fault at 225 km from the relaying point without/with STATCOM and limiter on Iqref.
Reactive power of STATCOM (A-G Fault at 0.4 s)

300 200 QSTACOM (MVAr) 100 0 -100 -200 -300 VRef=1.01 p.u. Fault @225km VRef=0.92 p.u.Fault @225km 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 Time (Sec) 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8

Figure 14. STATCOM reactive power output during a single-phase fault at 0.4 second for different values of initial reference voltage.

STATCOM will inject reactive power to increase Vmeas up to VRef for both cases. It can be concluded that STATCOM have the same effect on the apparent impedance seen by the distance relay for different values of VRef. Figure 14 also indicates that the STATCOM does not inject its maximum reactive power (300 MVAR) during the AG fault. This is due to the operation of the current limiter of the STATCOM controller. 6.4. Trip characteristics The trip characteristics of the relay is obtained by keeping the system operating conditions constant, while fault location (095% length of transmission Line 1) and fault resistance Rf (from 0 to 200 V) are varied [4,5]. Figure 15 shows the impact of STATCOM on the trip characteristics, which points out that the presence of STATCOM in the middle of Line 1 causes the trip characteristics to be split into two parts. The lower part is for faults that occur at 050% of Line 1, as Rf varies from 0 to 200 V. STATCOM effect on the apparent impedance for these faults (050% of Line 1) depends on the value of Rf, i.e., for Rf 0 V the STATCOM has no effect, so by increasing Rf, the impact of STATCOM increases. The upper part is related to the faults between the middle of Line 1 to 95% of the line length with the presence of STATCOM in the fault loop.
Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Euro. Trans. Electr. Power 2011; 21:20632079 DOI: 10.1002/etep

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M. KHEDERZADEH AND A. GHORBANI

Trip characteristics for A-G faults and STATCOM in voltage regulation mode

120 100 80 60 40 20 0

Without STATCOM With STATCOM

Apparent Reactance (Ohm)

50

100 150 200 Apparent Resistance (Ohm)

250

300

Figure 15. Trip characteristics for single-phase faults with STATCOM in voltage regulation mode.

6.5. STATCOM in VAR regulation mode STATCOM in VAR regulation mode injects or absorbs a pre-specied reactive power determined by external controller. When a xed reactive power is injected by STATCOM, the impact on the apparent impedance is similar to the voltage regulation mode. When STATOM absorbs a xed reactive power, it decreases the apparent resistance and reactance, so this will lead to over-reaching of the relay. Figure 16 shows the trip characteristics for an AG fault when STATCOM absorbs a xed reactive power. It can be deduced from this gure that the presence of STATCOM in the fault loop for low values of Rf leads to the over-reaching of the relay, so it is in contrast to the case in which STATCOM is in voltage regulation mode.

6.6. Quantitative evaluation of the practical factors The results of the simulations presented above demonstrate that the practical factors have a signicant impact on the behavior of the relay. In order to indicate the results quantitatively, Table I presents the comparison results of the simple and sophisticated modeling of the STATCOM and transmission line impacts on the performance of the conventional distance relay. As can be concluded from this Table, the simple model will make us overestimate the severity of the impact of STATCOM on the conventional distance protection.
Trip characteristics for A-G faults and STATCOM in VAR regulation mode

140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 50

Without STATCOM With STATCOM (Iqref= -1 p.u)

Apparent Reactance (Ohm)

100 150 200 Apparent Resistance (Ohm)

250

300

Figure 16. Trip characteristics for single-phase faults with STATCOM in Var regulation mode.
Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Euro. Trans. Electr. Power 2011; 21:20632079 DOI: 10.1002/etep

Table I. Quantitative evaluation of practical factors on the reach of relay. No STATCOM Rf 0 V Reach (km) Reach (km) Error Reach (km) STATCOM Model with IqLimit computation and IqRef selection block Rf 0 V STATCOM Model without IqLimit computation and IqRef selection block Rf 0 V Error

Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Line Model

Operation Mode

Simple RL

Distributed No STATCOM Rf 50 V Reach (km) Reach (km) Error STATCOM Model with IqLimit computation and IqRef selection block Rf 50 V

Voltage Reg. (Vref 1) VAR Reg. (Iqref 1) Voltage Reg. (Vref 1) VAR Reg. (Iqref 1) 240 240 241 241 232 250 235 253

8 km (3.3%) Under-reach 10 km (4.2%) Over-reach 6 km (2.5%) Under-reach 12 km (5%) Over-reach

210 252 222 256

30 km (12.5%) Under-reach 12 km (5%) Over-reach 19 km (7.9%) Under-reach 15 km (6.2%) Over-reach STATCOM Model without IqLimit computation and IqRef selection block Rf 50 V Reach (km) Error

Line Model

Operation Mode

Simple RL

STATCOM MODELING IMPACTS ON DISTANCE PROTECTION

Distributed

Voltage Reg. (Vref 1) VAR Reg. (Iqref 1) Voltage Reg. (Vref 1) VAR Reg. (Iqref 1) 150 150 146 146 146 145 147 149

4 km (2.7%) Under-reach 5 km (3.3%) Under-reach 1 km(0.7% Over-reach) 3 km(2% Over-reach)

135 144 140 149

5 km (3.3%) Under-reach 6 km (4%) Under-reach 6 km(4.1% Under-reach) 3 km(2% Over-reach)

2077

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As can be deduced from this table, the reach of Zone I, which is set to 300 0.8 240 km for the system without STATCOM and Rf 0, is reduced to 210 km (12.5% error) for the system with STATCOM when the transmission line is modeled by a simple RL and no IqLimit computation and IqRef selection block is implemented. On the other hand, the implementation of distributed line model and IqLimit computation and IqRef selection block indicates that the reach of the relay is revised to 235 km (2.5% error). As another example, for Rf 50 V, the sophisticated modeling shows only 1 km (0.7%) overreach, while simple modeling indicates 5 km (3.3%) under-reach.

6.7. Guidelines to adjust the distance relay As can be deduced from the above analysis and simulations, the impact of STATCOM on the performance of conventional distance relay is complicated and depends on many parameters. However, some general guidelines on adjustment of the relay for different conditions based on the results can be given.  When STATCOM operates in voltage regulation mode, it is preferable to increase the default reach of Zone I (usually 80% of transmission line length) by nearly 5% to compensate for relay under-reaching.  When STATCOM operates in VAR regulation mode, it is preferable to keep the reach of Zone I at 80% of the transmission line length to compensate for relay over-reaching. In this case, the relay has enough safety margins to confront with the over-reaching caused by the STATCOM impact.  If a fast and reliable communication link between the STATCOM and the relay is predicted, then the operating condition of STATCOM would be transferred to the relay and the relay could be adjusted accordingly. This kind of adaptive protection can be considered as a viable solution for the future compensated networks. 7. CONCLUSIONS This paper presents a comprehensive evaluation of the impact of STATCOM and power system modeling on the performance of conventional distance relay. It analyzes the performance of STATCOM when several practical factors are considered in the model, including the transmission line model, the multilevel converter model, and the model of practical control systems. Simulation results show the practical factors have a signicant impact on the behavior of the relay. Quantitative comparisons also conclude that the simple model will make us overestimate the severity of the impact of STATCOM on conventional distance protection. For the purpose of a realistic evaluation of the STATCOM impact on conventional distance protection, following models are recommended:  Distributed model of the transmission line to be used, otherwise the behavior of STATCOM is inappropriate if the line capacitance is ignored.  Modeling STATCOM by cascaded multilevel converters, i.e., 48-pulse (three levels) source converters are preferable. Otherwise, the injected currents deviate much from sinusoids and present harmonics which may affect the operation of the distance relay.  Sophisticated STATCOM control system with practical constraints on the injected current during faults should be used in order to properly reect the amount of reactive compensation power presented by STATCOM. STATCOM current during a fault has a direct impact on the apparent impedance of the relay. 8. LIST OF SYMBOLS If 1 2 0 IR1 ; IR1 ; IR1 fault current; sequence phase currents of Line 1 from R side;
Euro. Trans. Electr. Power 2011; 21:20632079 DOI: 10.1002/etep

Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

STATCOM MODELING IMPACTS ON DISTANCE PROTECTION

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IS1 ; IS1 ; IS1 Rf 1 2 0 VE ; VE ; VE 1 2 0 VS ; VS ; VS x 1 2 0 ZL ; ZL ; ZL

sequence phase currents of Line 1 seen by the relay; fault resistance; sequence phase voltages at fault point E; sequence phase voltages at the relay location; per unit distance of a fault from the relay location; Sequence impedances of Line 1 and Line 2.

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Euro. Trans. Electr. Power 2011; 21:20632079 DOI: 10.1002/etep