IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2016 - 57

Refurbishment work usually requires extended outages.
Therefore, simultaneous outages of SVCs or HVdc ties must be
avoided in the planning of these projects.
statCoM performance with and without the DaC under
a single line-to-ground fault at the statCoM bus phase C
when operating in capacitive mode. all p.u. values are based
on 12 Va and 100 V rms (l-l) ac system.
operating experience has also shown the need for an
improved controllability range of the CsC in the UpfC configuration. since the statCoM is angle controlled, the dc-link
voltage is not fixed and is regulated over a range of values. it
reaches its maximum and minimum voltage level when the
statCoM operates in full capacitive and inductive modes,
respectively. this variation in the dc-link voltage changes the
maximum possible voltage injection into the transmission line
by the UpfC series inverter and consequently has an impact on
the controllability range of the active and reactive power through
the transmission line. a new control structure has therefore been
developed by the nYpa and nCsU that improves the power
flow controllability of the UpfC when the dc-link voltage is at
its minimum value. the main idea of the proposed solution is to
increase the dc-link voltage without changing the statCoM
operating condition. the proposed controller performance was
verified on the UpfC model of the nYpa CsC that was developed in the psCaD platform.

Conclusion
HVdc and faCts equipment located in the northeastern United
states and Canada have reached their life expectancy. Various
approaches used for refurbishing projects were taken from stations that were beginning to show signs of aging, not meeting
present system requirements, or performing inadequately. the
main drivers and technical considerations behind these projects
were outlined. although the life extension remains the main
benefit, increased maintainability and reliability are additional
benefits realized through the use of modern control system
and design principles. the allocation of sufficient engineering
resources at the different stages of the refurbishing project is a
critical issue that cannot be underestimated.
several planning considerations were identified. the down
time required for the refurbishment work is an important consideration that could have an economic impact on the project. in
addition, a particularly long down-time period could lead to severe
consequences affecting the reliable operation of the system.
performance upgrades require extensive research attention
and simulator testing. similar testing may be necessary to validate that the functionality of the older system is fully reflected
in the new system, especially when the detailed documentation of the existing equipment is not readily available.

ieee power & energy magazine

For Further reading
C. schauder and H. Mehta, "Vector analysis and control of
advanced static VaR compensators," Proc. Inst. Elec. Eng.,
C, vol. 140, no. 4, pp. 299-306, July 1993.
l. Kovalsky, C. schauder, e. stacy, M. Weaver, s. MacDonald, s. Berkowitz, D. Ramey, s. Zelingher, D. suresh, B.
fardanesh, B. shperling, and B. Wang, "Convertible static
compensator (CsC) for new York power authority," epRi,
palo alto, Ca, Usa, tech. Rep. 1001970, sept. 2001.
s. Babaei, B. parkhideh, M. Chandorkar, B. fardanesh,
and s. Bhattacharya, "Dual angle control for line-frequency-switched static synchronous compensators under system faults," IEEE Trans. Power Electron, vol. 29, no. 6, pp.
2723-2736, 2014.
n. g. Hingorani and l. gyugyi, Understanding FACTS.
piscataway. nJ: ieee press, 1999.
s. Babaei and s. Bhattacharya, "Unified power flow controller operational limit improvement," in Proc. IEEE 40th
Annu. Conf. Industrial Electronics Society, oct. 2014, pp.
4416-4422.
H. Bilodeau and l. p. Rollin, "static var compensator at
laurentides," presented at the ieee panel session on sVC
Refurbishment, toronto, on, Canada, 2003.

Biographies
Hubert Bilodeau is with Hydro-Quebec, Montreal, Quebec,
Canada.
Saman Babaei is with the new York power authority,
White plains, new York.
Bruno Bisewski is with RBJ engineering, Winnipeg,
Canada.
Josh Burroughs is with Velco, Highgate, Vermont.
Chris Drover is with amec foster Wheeler, fredericton,
new Brunswick, Canada.
Jeffrey Fenn is with sgC engineering, llC, Bangor,
Maine.
Bruce Fardanesh is with the new York power authority,
White plains, new York.
Brad Tozer is with new Brunswick power, fredericton,
new Brunswick, Canada.
Ben Shperling is with the new York power authority,
White plains, new York.
Patrick Zanchette is with Hydro-Quebec, Montreal,
Quebec, Canada.
p&e

march/april 2016

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