Voltage instability and reactive planning

Trading power across transmission systems has become one of the most important activities in the deregulated electric power industry worldwide. In addition to the power trading, serving native loads and power transactions based on reciprocity are still common among utilities in different regions, seeking both economic and reliability benefits. The increase in power trading loads up the transmission systems in a much different way than what the transmission network was originally designed and built for. Hence, quick monitoring of grid operating conditions and fast determination of transmission network limits per the condition changes have become a critical mission in the bulk power system operations. Failure to perform the basic functions can lead to major electric service interruptions such as the blackout on August 14, 2003. This talk specifically addresses reactive power compensation and voltage stability issues and outline our perspective of how to prevent the incident from happening in the future.