Application of static VAr compensators to increase power system damping

A theory for analyzing power system damping enhancement by application of static VAr compensators (SVCs) has been developed using the equal area criterion. Some fundamental issues, such as the effect of SVCs on a power system, how to control an SVC to improve system damping, and the differences between continuous and discontinuous control of SVC reactive power to achieve the maximum damping improvement, are discussed. A discontinuous SVC reactive power output at discrete points is determined from the power deviation on a transmission line. Time-domain simulations of the application of this approach to a one-machine system to increase swing oscillation damping and to a four-machine system to increase the damping of an interarea oscillation mode demonstrate that the theory and method can be applied to solve practical power system damping problems