PSS tuning at the Virginia Electric and Power Co. Bath County pumped storage plant

An outline is presented of test procedures and results for tuning the power system stabilizers (PSSs) at the Virginia Electric and Power Company Bath County pumped storage plant. High machine reactance and critical operating conditions provided a challenging damping problem that was solved using computerized test equipment and classical feedback controller design techniques. Onsite tests involved obtaining frequency-response data for use in determining PSS parameters. Step responses using a general-purpose digital controller indicated a definite improvement in rotor damping. This same damping was obtained when the original analog PSSs were modified and put into service