Balance of power

Variable shunt
reactors for network
stability control

CLAES BENGTSSON The variable shunt reactor (VSR) is an interesting

alternative for controlling network voltage stability when the need for
reactive power compensation varies with time or when the grid is undergoing change. VSR benefits include: The voltage steps related to switching of
fixed reactors are avoided; maintaining voltage stability during seasonal or
daily load variations becomes easier; and the operation of the reactors can
be coordinated with static var compensators (SVCs) to maximize dynamic
capacity during failures. For wind park applications, control of fluctuating
reactive power exchange at connection points becomes possible at an
attractive cost. The VSR has become well established and several are in
successful operation in Europe and North America. This article discusses
the design and application of VSRs.

Balance of power

4 1

1 Gapped core concept for efficient use of active material

Core

Core segment
Non-magnetic spacers

Winding

he networks that transmit and

distribute electrical energy are
continually facing new demands
due to changes in power generation and load structure. For example,
in many regions power grids are undergoing gradual change, eg, adding generation, interconnecting local/regional grids,
switching from overhead lines to high
voltage cables for environmental reasons,
and so forth. Such changes are usually
made step-wise and are often followed
by revised reactive power compensation
requirements.
Further, the growing use of renewable
energy sources is bringing fundamental

change to traditional generation structures

and is placing new demands on the transmission network. The dynamic and timevarying effects associated with renewable
sources play a more pronounced role in
networks when the system is, as a whole,
optimized for energy efficiency.
Another driver making variable reactors
attractive is the emergence of smart grids.
These are currently attracting a great deal
of attention and are high on political and
technical agendas.
Title picture
The title photo shows a Variable Shunt Reactor,
120200MVAr, 420kV. How do such products help
to control power network stability?

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ABB review special report

It is not only the active power flow in a

network that has to be controlled, but the
balance of reactive power too. The most
commonly used device for compensating
reactive power and for maintaining voltage
stability is the shunt reactor. By tradition,
shunt reactors have fixed ratings with no
regulation. If regulation is needed, then
reactors are switched in and out along with
load variations. This procedure, however,
has disadvantages. The large steps in
reactance lead to step changes in the system voltage level and more stress on
breakers. Little dynamic regulation is provided.
The VSR is product that helps solve these
power distribution network issues.
The VSR is a new product type that is rapidly becoming popular. It provides regulation capability and, thereby, system benefits in terms of power quality, optimized
grid operation and the possibility of interacting with other regulating devices such
as SVCs.
Reactive power compensation
The voltage along an alternating current
(AC) transmission line depends on both
the capacitive charging and the loading of
the line. The former is due to the capacitance between the lines conductors and
earth and depends on the line geometry.
The capacitance generates so-called reactive power in the line. The reactive power is
normally expressed in MVAr. The latter
plays a role because both the loads and
the line itself consume reactive power. In
an AC system it is important to maintain
the balance between the generated and
the consumed reactive power. The reactive power balance determines the voltage
stability of a transmission line, no matter
whether it is an overhead or cable line.

Ifthere is an excessive amount of reactive

power, the voltage will increase in the system. If there is a lack of reactive power, the
voltage will decrease. Therefore, the reactive power must be controlled in order to
maintain voltage stability.
Shunt reactors

A shunt reactor is an absorber of reactive

power and is the device most commonly
used for reactive power compensation.
The shunt reactor can be directly connected to the power line or to a tertiary winding
of a three-winding transformer.
The shunt reactor could be permanently
connected or switched via a circuit breaker. To improve the adjustment of the consumed reactive power the reactor can also
have a variable rating. If the load variation
is slow, which it normally is (seasonal, daily
or hourly) a VSR could be an economical
solution for some customer applications.
The VSR in a power system

In some applications there is a need to

connect or disconnect the inductive reactive power in steps. Then, several shunt
reactor units are needed. This requires
several circuit breakers and, consequently,
a bigger footprint. Instead of having several units, one VSR that covers the entire
power range could be a more cost-effective solution. By regulating the inductance
of the reactor inside the unit itself, the external circuit breakers will have fewer operations and will, thus, need less maintenance.
Generally, it can be said that when there is a
slow variation of the load, the VSR works as
an efficient reactive power compensator
and it enables a better fine tuning of the
voltage in the system to be accomplished.

2 Measured sound power levels of seven shunt reactors against year of manufacture:
factory measurement (first column) and 2007 on-site measurement (second column)

Sound power level dB (A)

100
95
90
85
80
75

1984

1989

1991

1996

1998

2000

2002

Year of manufacture

ABB gapped core shunt reactor

Most oil-immersed shunt reactors manufactured by ABB are based on the so-called
gapped core concept. This technical concept is based on the core type technology
that has been used within ABB since the
beginning of the 1970s. More than 2,500
reactors based on this concept have been
manufactured by ABB for the global market
since then and hundreds of units have been
in service for thirty years or more.
General design

The philosophy of the design is to minimize

losses, sound and vibration. Design similarities with large power transformers permit
an efficient use of ABBs long experience of
building large transformers, for instance in
the areas of insulation build up, production
handling and so on.
Each phase limb consists of a number of
so-called core segments that are circular
in shape. Between the segments there are
non-magnetic gaps that contain oil and
spacer elements. Due to the high magnetic
reluctance, most of the energy of the reactor is stored in these gaps. In the case of a
shunt reactor with a fixed power rating,
there is only one physical winding around
each phase limb. To minimize the size, and
to avoid spreading of the electromagnetic
flux, a magnetic core frame surrounds the
phase limbs 1.
High voltage shunt reactors are technically complex products due to the large
magnetic forces, which can be tens of
tonnes, acting between the core segments. These forces appear 100 times
per second in 50Hz systems, so the engineering challenges with respect to longterm mechanical stability are considerable. This can be seen in the failure
statistics of some utilities where there is

wide spread in failure rates depending on

the design of the reactors [1, 2].
To verify the mechanical integrity of the
ABB shunt reactors, an extensive study
was made in which sound measurements
were made on reactors that have been in
operation for between 5 and 23 years [3].
These measurements were compared with
the original factory acceptance tests. The
study shows no increase in sound levels
over time, which is a very good indication
of a mechanically robust design 2. The
long-term stability in sound level can be
explained by robust design, durable materials and precision in the manufacturing
process.

Generally, when
there is a slow
load variation,
the VSR works
as an efficient
reactive power
compensator.

VSR design

The main function of a VSR is to regulate

the consumption of reactive power. This is
accomplished by connecting and disconnecting electrical turns in the reactor by
means of a tap changer. At the maximum
power rating the minimum number of
electrical turns will be connected.
The ABB VSR design is the result of extensive development work combined with
well-proven power transformer and reactor
technology 3. The regulation of the reactor is accomplished by a separate regulating winding, or windings, located outside
the main winding. The taps from the regulating winding are led to the tap changer.
The regulating winding configuration can
vary depending on the regulating range,
voltage level and loss capitalization1.
The regulating range is limited by the maximum step voltage and voltage range of
the tap changer. Another limitation is the
electrical behavior of the regulating winding under transient voltage stresses. The

Footnote
1 Loss capitalization based on expected
energy prices, interest rates, etc., the customer
puts a financial value on each kW of losses.
This is added to the price of the reactor to form
a comparison price which is used for evaluating
tenders.

Balance of power

4 3

3 The design principle of the active part of the VSR

4 The feasible range is the area above the curve and the feasible
voltages are 110 kV to 525 kV

Neutral

Phase
terminal

OLTC

R=MVAR min/MVAR max

0.6

0.5

0.4
525

110
0.3

0
0

100

200

300

400

500

Voltage (kV)

feasible regulation range depends on the

voltage rating of the reactor 4.
Today, utilities are demanding a regulation
range larger than that indicated in the figure. As a result of this market demand, the
VSR concept has recently been further developed to provide regulation ranges that
are around 40 percent higher. As an example, 420kV VSRs with a maximum rating of 200MVAr can today be regulated
between 90 and 200MVAr compared with
the 120 to 200MVAr range of a few years
ago.
VSR field references
The main transmission line system in Norway has been upgraded from 300 kV to
420 kV. In the new 420 kV grid, the system

ratings. This minimizes footprint and the

number of circuit breakers.
The VSR is complementary to substation SVC equipment. This allows coarse
tuning of the total reactive power
compensation.
Better fine tuning of the voltage to cope
with seasonal and daily load variations
is available.
There is flexibility for future load
conditions in the network.
The ratings
80150MVAr
(three-phase)
90200MVAr

of these VSR units are

at 300kV, 120200MVAr
at 420
kV and, recently,
at 420kV.

Another example comes from a transmission company in the United States

that began implementing inductive
reactive
power
compensation with
shunt reactors that
are connected directly to the high
voltage line. By
now utilizing oilimmersed
shunt
reactors, they were
also able to eliminate environmental concerns surrounding electromagnetic flux spread around
open air core reactors.

HV shunt reactors are technically complex due to the large

magnetic forces, which can
be tens of tonnes, acting
between the core segments
operator has decided to only use VSRs
instead of shunt reactor units with fixed

power ratings. There are several benefits

supporting this policy decision:
Low short-circuit power. If the MVAr
rating of the reactor is high compared
to the short-circuit power of the
network, the voltage will jump when the
reactor is switched in or out. To
minimize this phenomenon, it is
possible to switch the unit in or out at a
minimum-power tap position.
There is only one variable reactor unit
instead of two units with fixed power

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ABB review special report

This company chose the ABB VSR for

i nductive compensation control. The

e xtensive use of AC cables in their network placed particularly high value on

the ability to control reactive power compensation. A bonus is that the reduced
number of circuit breaker operations
results in less maintenance.

The rating of these VSR units is 50

100MVAr (three-phase) at 242kV.
A final example is found in some African
countries where relatively long transmission lines feed small load centers. The
loads have a daily variation and there are
also future plans to increase the load.
That makes the ABB VSR a good solution
for the owner of the transmission lines
since it is essential to accommodate variability in the inductive reactive power
compensation requirements. For these
applications the size of the units has been
up to 30MVAr (three-phase) and voltage
ratings of between 110 and 225kV.
In total, ABB has received orders for
38VSRs from five countries. ABB is the
market leader for this application. The
market interest for this product is constantly growing.

Claes Bengtsson
ABB Power Transformers
Ludvika, Sweden
[email protected]

References
[1] Petersen A. et al. (2007). Australian experience
with shunt reactors reliability, condition
assessment, end of life and impact on
specifications. Cigr A2/D1 Colloquium
Bruges 2007, paper pp. 341.
[2] Cormack R. (2007). A snapshot into one
utilitys experience with the operation of shunt
reactors. Cigr A2/D1 Colloquium Bruges 2007,
keynote p.3.
[3] Bengtsson C. et al. (2008). Field Performance
and Sound of Shunt Reactors in Service.
Cigr 2008, paper A2-306.
[4] G. Bertagnolli et al. (1998). Design and
application of variable Mvar output shunt
reactors with on load tap-changer.
Operation experience in Africa. CIGRE
Sessions 1998, Paris, France, paper 12308.