A Spreadsheet Illustration of the Transient Stability Analysis of Power Systems

Abstract

This paper presents a simple, yet powerful approach to introducing the topic of transient stability in a power system course. The problem of transient stability is of fundamental importance in the analysis and design of power systems. The solution to this problem couples numerical methods for solving power flows with those for solving the differential equations that describe the behavior of synchronous machines. Transient stability is very rich in technical and mathematical content. As such it is a challenging topic for students to grasp and for instructors to present. This paper uses spreadsheets to implement the step-by-step procedure that is typical in a transient stability study. Unlike commercially available power system software, spreadsheets expose the solution steps with clarity without obscuring the inner workings of the numerical methods employed.