Chapter 1

Fundamentals of Power System

School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

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 Outline

Introduction
Power Generation
Power Transmission
Power Distribution
AC and DC transmission
Single-phase and Three-phase transmission
Complex power

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 Introduction
The three main components in power system are electric power
generation , transmission and distribution stations.

Figure: Power system components

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 Generation station consists of
Prime mover and generator
Step-up transformer
Transmission station consists of
High Voltage transmission lines
Switching stations (circuit breakers and transformers)
Distribution station consists of
Distribution substations (step-down transformers)
MV distribution feeders (distribution transformers)

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 Sources of energy that electric power can be generated include:
Non-renewable sources
Renewable sources
Non-renewable sources
1. Hydro Power: Power generated from elevated water

Figure: Hydro power

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 2. Nuclear Power: Power generated from nuclear fission of uranium
or plutonium.
Fission of Uranium ⇒ Huge heat energy ⇒ Boil water ⇒
Form steam ⇒ Derive steam turbine ⇒ Rotates generator ⇒
Electricity generated
3. Other non-renewable sources:
Fossile Fuel

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 Renewable sources
1. Solar Power: is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either
directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly using
concentrated solar power (CSP).

Figure: PV System

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 2. Wind Power:

Figure: Wind Power

1. Wind causes blade to rotate

2. Shaft turns generator to produce electricity
3. A transformer convert it to a high voltage
4. Electricity transmitted via power grid
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 3. Other renewable sources:
Hydrogen fuel cell
Geothermal energy
Bio energy

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 AC and DC Transmission

The primary transmission voltages are 110, 132, 220 or 500 kV

depending upon the distance and amount of power to be
transmitted.
The equipments used for power transmission system are
Transformers (Step up and Step down)
Transmission Lines & Cables
Relays & Circuit Breakers
Disconnectors & Earthing Switches
Shunt & Series Reactors & Capacitors
Static VAR Compensator
Current Transformers & Potential Transformers

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 Single-Phase Transmission
Let us consider an inductive circuit and let the instantaneous
voltage be
v = Vm sin ωt (1)
Then the current will be

i = Im sin(ωt − φ) (2)

where φ is the angle by which the current lags the voltage.

The instantaneous power is given by

p = vi = Vm sin ωt × Im sin(ωt − φ)
= Vm Im sin ωt sin (ωt − φ)
Vm Im
= [cos φ − cos (2ωt − φ)] (3)
2
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 The value of 0 p 0 is positive when both v and i are either positive
or negative and represents the rate at which the energy is being
consumed by the load. In this case the current flows in the
direction of the voltage drop.
On the other hand power is negative when the current flows in
the direction of the voltage rise which means that the energy is
being transferred from the load into the network to which it is
connected.

Figure: Voltage, current and power in single phase circuit

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 Equation 3 shows that the instantaneous power of the
single-phase system is not constant. It has an oscillating
component at twice the line frequency added to a dc level
(average value) given by Vm2Im cos φ.
Decomposing the oscillating component and rearranging
equation 3 yields the following equation with two terms, which
derives the traditional concept of active and reactive power.
Vm Im Vm Im
p= cos φ[1 − cos (2ωt)] − sin φ sin (2ωt) (4)
| 2 {z } | 2 {z }
I II

Part I has an average value equal to VI cos φ and has an

oscillating component on it, pulsing at twice the line frequency.
This part never becomes negative. We define this average power
as the real power P which physically means the useful power
being transmitted.
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 Part II has a pure oscillating component at the double
frequency (2ω), and has a peak value equal to VI sin φ. Clearly,
it has a zero average value. This component is known as
reactive power (Q) as it travels back and forth on the line
without doing any useful work.
The unit for the measurement of the active power in the
International System is the Watt (W) and volt-ampere-reactive
(VAr) for reactive power.

Figure: Active, reactive and total power in a single-phase circuit

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 Three-Phase Transmission
Assuming that the system is balanced which means that the
three-phase voltages and currents are balanced, these quantities
can be expressed mathematically as,
va = Vm sin ωt
vb = Vm sin(ωt − 1200 )
vc = Vm sin(ωt + 1200 )
ia = Im sin(ωt − φ) (5)
ib = Im sin(ωt − φ − 1200 )
ic = Im sin(ωt − φ + 1200 )
The total power transmitted equals the sum of the individual
powers in each phase.
p = va ia + vb ib + vc ic (6)
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 p = Vm Im sin ωt sin(ωt − φ) + Vm Im sin(ωt − 1200 ) sin(ωt − φ − 1200 )
+Vm Im sin(ωt + 1200 ) sin(ωt − φ + 1200 )
(7)

..
.

p = 3VI cos φ (8)

This shows that the total instantaneous 3-phase power is

constant unlike single-phase power and is equal to three times
the real power per phase(3P).
For a 3-phase system the sum of the three currents at any
instant is zero, this does not mean that the current in each
phase is zero.
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 Similarly, even though the sum of reactive power instantaneously
in three-phase system is zero but in each phase it does exist and
is equal to VI sin φ. Therefore, for three phase system, the
reactive power is given by

Q3φ = 3VI sin φ = 3Q (9)

where Q is the reactive power in each phase

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 Complex Power
A complex power, S, can be defined as the product of the
voltage and current phasors.
In order to be coherent with the sign convention of the reactive
power that is related to a ’positive reactive power for inductive
loads’, the definition of complex power should use the conjugate
value of the current phasor.
Consider a single-phase system and let
V = |V |e jα and I = |I |e jβ (10)
where α and β are the angles that V and I subtend with respect
to some reference axis.
S = VI ∗ = |V |e jα |I |e −jβ = |V ||I |e j(α−β)
= |V ||I | cos (α − β) + j|V ||I | sin (α − β) (11)
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 Here the angle (α − β) is the phase difference between the
phasor V and I and is normally denoted by φ.

⇒ S = |V ||I | cos φ + j|V ||I | sin φ = P + jQ (12)

The magnitude of the complex power is called the apparent

power and it is measured in VA.
p
Apparent power : |S| = P 2 + Q 2 (13)

The practical significance of apparent power is as a rating of

generators and transformers

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