ComEd’s Elmhurst SVCs: Challenges and

Opportunities
Elmhurst

Authors of the Paper (12)

 A. Engelmann– ComEd,  A. Edris – Siemens Energy,

Chicago, IL, USA
 D. Schooley – ComEd,
Chicago, IL, USA
 D. Torgerson, Winfield,
Golden, CO, USA
Consultants
 G. Irwin, Electranix,
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
 A. Flueck, Illinois Institute of
Technology, IL, USA
Mountain View, CA, USA
 D. Durbak –Siemens Energy,
Schenectady, NY, USA
 G. Zhou – Siemens Energy,
Mountain View, CA, USA
 L. Kirschner – Siemens
Energy, Erlangen, Germany
 R. Escher – Siemens Energy,
Erlangen, Germany
 R. Derra – Siemens Energy,
Erlangen, Germany PMs
 M. Fritzshe – Siemens Energy,
Wendell, NC, USA

ComEd’s System and the Elmhurst Substation

Elmhurst
Building the Case
 ComEd is a unit of the Chicago- Lake
Michigan
based Exelon Corporation
 Provides transmission and
distribution service to about
Chicago
3.8 million electric customers in
northern Illinois
 ComEd utilizes transmission
voltages of 138 kV, 345 kV, and Illinois
765 kV
 Peak summer load is about
23,000 MW

Issues Facing ComEd’s Northeast Subzone

 Future retirement of the synchronous condensers
 Compliance with voltage recovery criteria following different fault scenarios at
different load conditions
 Northeast Subzone and Elmhurst Substation
Elmhurst
Elmhurst Substation
 345 kV and 138 kV transmission
 Capacitors on 138 kV bus and autotransformer tertiaries
 Normally-open breaker between 138 kV “red” and “blue” buses
Lake
Michigan

NE
Subzone

345 KV

Elmhurst
Chicago

138 KV 138 KV
N.O. BLUE BUS
RED BUS

SVC SVC

Modeling for Planning Studies

Elmhurst

Large Motor
Dynamic Load Modeling
 ComEd added composite load models (PSS/E
Small Motor
CLODBL) to dynamic system model to capture
voltage response.
Discharge
 Proportions of customer classes (residential, Lighting
commercial, and industrial) were determined
Voltage
for each ComEd load bus Dependent
 A mix of dynamic load types was modeled for
each customer class Constant PQ

Customer Large Small Discharge Voltage Constant

Type Motor Motor Lighting Dependent Power
Residential 0% 50% 10% 25% 15%
Commercial 0% 30% 35% 15% 20%

Industrial 50% 15% 10% 5% 20%

 Determining System Requirements
Elmhurst
ComEd Dynamic Voltage Recovery Criteria

Needs Identified
 ComEd performed
dynamic simulations for
selected transmission
faults
 ComEd dynamic voltage
recovery criteria describes
how quickly transmission
voltages should recover
 Need for additional
reactive power resources
was identified
 Additional sensitivity studies demonstrated that criteria could be satisfied
with two 300 MVAr SVCs at Elmhurst substation

Options of Reactive Power Compensation

Elmhurst
V

Vo I

-
+

V dc

Static S ynchronous C om pensator

Control TCR TSC FC - ST ATC O M -

Power electronics-Based Controllers = FACTS Controllers

Option ??
 Mechanical Switched Capacitors and/or Reactors
 Static Var Compensator, Thyristor Controlled Reactor (TCR), Thyristor
Switched Capacitors (TSC)
 Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM)-Both Inductive and
Capacitive Compensation
 Specifications
Elmhurst
Significant Design Features
 Two 300 MVAR SVCs
 One on each of the 138 kV red & blue buses
 Capable of 300 MVAR continuous
 Capable of parallel SVC operation (red-blue tie closed)
 TSC-only design
 Two 75 MVAR TSCs are connected ungrounded-wye with thyristors
on only 2 phases
 150 MVAR TSCs are delta-connected, thyristors on all 3 phases
 3-phase step-up transformers, plus one shared spare
 External device control
 Control 138 kV Mechanically Switched Capacitor (MSC) banks
 MSC / TSC control managed via coordinated deadbands, control
logic, and MSC time delays
 Auto-restore in degraded mode following failure of a TSC branch
 High reliability / availability design
 Control / monitoring via SCADA

Controlled 0/+300MVAr SVC- Thyristor Switched

Capacitors
Elmhurst

75 MVAr 75 MVAr 150 MVAr

 Simplified Voltage Control Scheme
Elmhurst

Simplified block diagram for input sensing

Simplified controller block diagram

Light Triggered Thyristor Valve

Elmhurst

Thyristors with
cooling pipes

Cooling duct
TVM Card
(Thyristor Valve
Monitoring)
Clamp to tighten
thyristor stack
Voltage Devider for
Check back
Signals

Snubber circuit
(R), watercooled
Multimode
Star Coupler
Snubber circuit
(C)

View of the SVC LTT Thyristor Stack

 Control and Human Machine Interface Systems
Elmhurst

SIMATIC TDC C&P System SIMATIC WinCC HMI

Studies
Elmhurst
 Basic Design Studies
- Design of the SVC components
- Components ratings
- Current and voltage stresses during transient conditions
- Insulation coordination
- Harmonic study
- Loss calculation
- Design specification of the SVC closed loop control

 Electromagnetic transients studies (EMTDC)

 Stability studies (PSS/E)

 Real Time Digital Simulation (RTDS) testing

 Electromagnetic Transients - EMTDC Studies
Elmhurst  Time domain simulation of high-frequency transients.
 Detailed SVC electrical and control model, equivalent external network
 Verify SVC component ratings. Analyze misfire, fault response, SVC
energization, and transients appearing at the 138 kV bus

Stability - PSS/E Studies

Elmhurst
 Positive sequence dynamic simulation
 Detailed external model
 Analyze dynamic behavior of the SVC on the ComEd network. Verify
performance and contribution to dynamic voltage recovery
 Real Time Digital Simulation – RTDS Testing
Elmhurst  Real-time simulation using actual SVC control and protection systems
 Digital simulation of valves and a heavily equivalenced external model
 Verify SVC control settings, test control logic and control interface

ComEd’s Elmhurst SVCs

Elmhurst March 2010
Major Milestones
• Contract Award - Oct 30, 2008
• Engineering complete – April 2009
• Delivery Components – Nov 2009
• Delivery Transformers – Dec 2009
• Installation complete – Apr 2010
• Trial Period complete – May 2010

Elmhurst Substation
 ComEd’s Elmhurst SVCs
Elmhurst March 2010

ComEd’s Elmhurst SVCs

Elmhurst March 2010