Power System Stability Enhancement with a Novel Combined Load Shedding Algorithm

Power system blackouts have become a serious problem for electric utilities especially in recent years. Different forms of system instability have emerged in recent blackouts, such as voltage instability and frequency instability. To counteract each form of system instability, special algorithms have been designed in the protection system, e.g. Under Frequency Load Shedding (UFLS) and Under Voltage Load Shedding (UVLS) schemes. One of the major weaknesses of these algorithms is that combination of different forms of instability is not considered in their design, while any one form of instability may not occur in its pure form. This is particularly true in highly stressed systems and for cascading events. This paper presents an adaptive algorithm to combine UVLS and UFLS schemes. The purpose of this method is to enhance the flexibility of under frequency relays and increase the security of power system during large disturbances by improving system voltage stability margins. In the proposed algorithm, loads with greater voltage decay are shed sooner. In this way, locations of load shedding become dependent to the location of disturbance and voltage stability margins of the system are enhanced. Indeed, load shedding is performed faster for severe events accompanying large voltage or frequency declines. Using this load shedding method, faster reactions could be obtained for major system failures. This way, system blackouts could be better controlled. Performance of the proposed method is compared with the conventional UFLS method. In this paper, dynamic model of the Khorasan HV network of Iran national grid is used for simulation. This network includes 75 high voltage 400 kV and 132 kV buses with about 2700 MW of generation. Performance of the schemes has been evaluated using dynamic simulations as well as the P-V curves, and reactive power margins for a number of events. Simulation results show that conventional UFLS algorithm will not necessarily result in acceptable voltage stability margins for the system following a disturbance. Meanwhile, the proposed algorithm improves voltage stability margins. The proposed algorithm is suitable for saving system stability after occurrence of major system disturbances.