Monitoring voltage stability of a transmission corridor

1. A method of monitoring voltage stability of a transmission corridor through which power flows between different parts of a power system, the method comprising the following performed by a voltage stability monitoring apparatus:

monitoring an equivalent load impedance at an interface between the transmission corridor and a part of the power system designated as generating said power, the equivalent load impedance at said interface comprising a ratio of a voltage phasor at said interface to a current phasor at said interface;

tracking a Thevenin equivalent voltage and impedance of said designated part by separately updating that voltage and impedance, wherein updating the Thevenin equivalent voltage comprises updating the voltage to reflect the magnitude of any changes in said voltage phasor that are associated with large variations in the magnitude of the equivalent load impedance at said interface, said large variations including variations greater than a threshold-defined variation; and

computing an index indicating said voltage stability as a function of the tracked Thevenin equivalent voltage and impedance.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said updating the Thevenin equivalent voltage comprises, for each of a plurality of phasor measurement times, determining whether or not variation in the magnitude of the equivalent load impedance at said interface since a previous phasor measurement time is greater than the threshold-defined variation, and, if so, adjusting the Thevenin equivalent voltage computed for the previous phasor measurement time by the magnitude of the change in said voltage phasor since that previous phasor measurement time.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein said adjusting comprises computing the Thevenin equivalent voltage Ē g i for a current phasor measurement time i as Ē g i =Ē g i-1 (1+| V Int g i − V Int g i-1 |), where Ē g i-1 is the Thevenin equivalent voltage for a previous phasor measurement time i−1, V Int g i is said voltage phasor for the current phasor measurement time i, and V Int g i-1 is said voltage phasor for the previous phasor measurement time i−1.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein updating the Thevenin equivalent voltage further comprises, responsive to small variations in the magnitude of the equivalent load impedance at said interface, decreasing or increasing the Thevenin equivalent voltage by a predefined percentage change when said small variations do or do not have the same polarity as estimated variations in said Thevenin equivalent impedance, respectively, said small variations including variations less than the threshold-defined variation.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein, responsive to small variations in the magnitude of the equivalent load impedance at said interface, increasing the Thevenin equivalent voltage comprises computing the Thevenin equivalent voltage as Ē g i =Ē g i-1 (1+|Ē g i-1 ×k|) and decreasing the Thevenin equivalent voltage comprises computing the Thevenin equivalent voltage as Ē g i =Ē g i-1 (1−|Ē g i-1 ×k|), where Ē g i is the Thevenin equivalent voltage for a current phasor measurement time i, Ē g i-1 is the Thevenin equivalent voltage for a previous phasor measurement time i−1, and k is a pre-specified parameter configured to constrain tracking error within predefined bounds.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein, responsive to small variations in the magnitude of the equivalent load impedance at said interface, increasing the Thevenin equivalent voltage comprises unconditionally computing the Thevenin equivalent voltage as Ē g i =Ē g i-1 (1+|Ē g i-1 ×k|) and decreasing the Thevenin equivalent voltage comprises unconditionally computing the Thevenin equivalent voltage as Ē g i =Ē g i-1 (1−|Ē g i-1 ×k|).

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein updating the Thevenin equivalent voltage comprises updating the Thevenin equivalent voltage's complex value in rectangular coordinates.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein updating the Thevenin equivalent impedance comprises solving a set of two linear equations with two unknown variables that comprise the real and imaginary parts of the Thevenin equivalent impedance, wherein known variables in the set of two linear equations include the real and imaginary parts of the Thevenin equivalent voltage as updated to reflect the magnitude of any changes in said voltage phasor.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising dynamically adjusting a threshold defining the threshold-defined variation, as a function of the Thevenin equivalent voltage.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising dynamically adapting which of said parts of the power system is designated as generating said power, responsive to detecting a change in direction or magnitude of power flowing through one or both interfaces between the transmission corridor and said parts of the power system.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising monitoring whether a breaker for each line associated with said interface is open or closed, and wherein monitoring the equivalent load impedance at said interface comprises dynamically computing the equivalent load impedance at said interface exclusively from phasor measurements taken at lines whose breakers are closed.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein, responsive to detecting the opening or closing of one or more of said breakers, said updating comprises updating the Thevenin equivalent voltage to reflect the magnitude of the resulting change in said voltage phasor, as dynamically computed, without re-initializing the Thevenin equivalent voltage.

13. A voltage stability monitoring apparatus configured to monitor voltage stability of a transmission corridor through which power flows between different parts of a power system, the voltage stability monitoring apparatus comprising one or more processing circuits configured to:

monitor an equivalent load impedance at an interface between the transmission corridor and a part of the power system designated as generating said power, the equivalent load impedance at said interface comprising a ratio of a voltage phasor at said interface to a current phasor at said interface;

track a Thevenin equivalent voltage and impedance of said designated part by separately updating that voltage and impedance, wherein updating the Thevenin equivalent voltage comprises updating the voltage to reflect the magnitude of any changes in said voltage phasor that are associated with large variations in the magnitude of the equivalent load impedance at said interface, said large variations including variations greater than a threshold-defined variation; and

compute an index indicating said voltage stability as a function of the tracked Thevenin equivalent voltage and impedance.

14. The voltage stability monitoring apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the one or more processing circuits are configured to update the Thevenin equivalent voltage by, for each of a plurality of phasor measurement times, determining whether or not variation in the magnitude of the equivalent load impedance at said interface since a previous phasor measurement time is greater than the threshold-defined variation, and, if so, adjusting the Thevenin equivalent voltage computed for the previous phasor measurement time by the magnitude of the change in said voltage phasor since that previous phasor measurement time.

15. The voltage stability monitoring apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the one or more processing circuits are configured to adjust the Thevenin equivalent voltage by computing the Thevenin equivalent voltage Ē g i for a current phasor measurement time i as Ē g i =Ē g i-1 (1+| V Int g i − V Int g i-1 |), where Ē g i-1 is the Thevenin equivalent voltage for a previous phasor measurement time i−1, V Int g i is said voltage phasor for the current phasor measurement time i, and V Int g i-1 is said voltage phasor for the previous phasor measurement time i−1.

16. The voltage stability monitoring apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the one or more processing circuits are configured to update the Thevenin equivalent voltage also by, responsive to small variations in the magnitude of the equivalent load impedance at said interface, decreasing or increasing the Thevenin equivalent voltage by a predefined percentage change when said small variations do or do not have the same polarity as estimated variations in said Thevenin equivalent impedance, respectively, said small variations including variations less than the threshold-defined variation.

17. The voltage stability monitoring apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the one or more processing circuits are configured, responsive to small variations in the magnitude of the equivalent load impedance at said interface, to increase the Thevenin equivalent voltage by computing the Thevenin equivalent voltage as Ē g i =Ē g i-1 (1+|Ē g i-1 ×k|) and decrease the Thevenin equivalent voltage by computing the Thevenin equivalent voltage as Ē g i =Ē g i-1 (1−|Ē g i-1 ×k|) where Ē g i is the Thevenin equivalent voltage for a current phasor measurement time i, Ē g i-1 is the Thevenin equivalent voltage for a previous phasor measurement time i−1, and k is a pre-specified parameter configured to constrain tracking error within predefined bounds.

18. The voltage stability monitoring apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the one or more processing circuits are configured, responsive to small variations in the magnitude of the equivalent load impedance at said interface, to increase the Thevenin equivalent voltage by unconditionally computing the Thevenin equivalent voltage as Ē g i =Ē g i-1 (1+|Ē g i-1 ×k|) and to decrease the Thevenin equivalent voltage by unconditionally computing the Thevenin equivalent voltage as Ē g i =Ē g i-1 (1−|Ē g i-1 ×k|).

19. The voltage stability monitoring apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the one or more processing circuits are configured to update the Thevenin equivalent voltage by updating the Thevenin equivalent voltage's complex value in rectangular coordinates.

20. The voltage stability monitoring apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the one or more processing circuits are configured to update the Thevenin equivalent impedance by solving a set of two linear equations with two unknown variables that comprise the real and imaginary parts of the Thevenin equivalent impedance, wherein known variables in the set of two linear equations include the real and imaginary parts of the Thevenin equivalent voltage as updated to reflect the magnitude of any changes in said voltage phasor.

21. The voltage stability monitoring apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the one or more processing circuits are further configured to dynamically adjust a threshold associated with the threshold-defined variation as a function of the Thevenin equivalent voltage.

22. The voltage stability monitoring apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the one or more processing circuits are further configured to dynamically adapt which of said parts of the power system is designated as generating said power, responsive to detecting a change in direction or magnitude of power flowing through one or both interfaces between the transmission corridor and said parts of the power system.

23. The voltage stability monitoring apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the one or more processing circuits are further configured to monitor whether a breaker for each line associated with said interface is open or closed, and are configured to monitor the equivalent load impedance at said interface by dynamically computing the equivalent load impedance at said interface exclusively from phasor measurements taken at lines whose breakers are closed.

24. The voltage stability monitoring apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the one or more processing circuits are configured, responsive to detecting the opening or closing of one or more of said breakers, to update the Thevenin equivalent voltage to reflect the magnitude of the resulting change in said voltage phasor, as dynamically computed, without re-initializing the Thevenin equivalent voltage.

25. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing one or more actions, based on the computed index, as needed to control the transmission corridor's voltage stability and/or mitigate system degradation or disturbance propagation.

26. The voltage stability monitoring apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the one or more processing circuits are further configured to perform one or more actions, based on the computed index, as needed to control the transmission corridor's voltage stability and/or mitigate system degradation or disturbance propagation.