1. ECE 576 – Power System Dynamics and Stability
PSCAD Demo
Example Uses:
Study the transient effects of distributed generation such as wind and micro-turbines on the grid.
Investigate instabilities due to harmonic resonance or control interactions.
Effect of transmission line imbalances on the system performance during contingencies.
Study interactions between SVCs, HVDC and other non-linear devices.

2. Example 2.1

3. PSCAD Terminology Master “Components” Library Project “Canvas”
Build Project
Run Project (after Building)
Workspace
Welcome Page

4. Dual Viewing
Drag the “master” tab away from the canvas tab to stack the windows side by side.
Drag and Drop components by holding down Ctrl before dragging.

5. Right Clicking Canvas Canvas Component
Used to paste the component elsewhere as an image. Meta-file is a high-quality image, bitmap is average quality.

6. Example 2.1 in PSCAD
individual components are boxed

7. Source Enter RMS voltage magnitudes Yes, the source is grounded.
The problem gives you the sinusoidal voltage amplitude – convert this into an RMS value.
Yes, the source is grounded.
Can go with an ideal source and add a separate resistance (if desired).
If non-ideal, make sure to navigate to the correct impedance type in the droplist!

8. Breakers (Our “Switch”)
We go from “Open” to “Closed”
One breaker operation at s
Blue = Data Signal Name
The Data Signal Name MUST match the component name shown in configuration.

9. TLine and Impedance Travelling Wave Models
Bergeron **
Frequency (Mode or Phase)
ACSR conductors are stranded (unlike solid-cores)
GMR for a conductor bundle vs. GMR for a stranded conductor
Impedances
No droplists, only their inductance/resistance/capacitance values

10. Conductors
ACSR Falcon conductor which has a GMR of feet, an outer diameter of inches and dc resistance of ohms per mile. Further assume the conductors are spaced 25 feet apart. Use 120 mile length.
Can use the defaults for all other values.

11. Voltage and Current Outputs

12. Completed PSCAD Project
Created the “ECE 576 …” text using the “Imports, Exports, and & Labels” subcategory.

13. Other Tips Zoom: Undo/Redo: Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y respectively
hold down Ctrl and scroll up or down using your mouse wheel.
+ and – keys on your numpad
Undo/Redo: Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y respectively
Rotate/Mirror/Flip Components: Select the component and press R / M / F
Choosing a component:
Right-click Canvas -> Add Components
Workspace: Master Library -> Choose subcategory
Click the “masterMain” tab directly
Backspace exits a subcategory.
Note that components have separate 3phase and 1phase versions
This may be the reason for your “dimension mismatch” errors
One space between the parameter values and its units!
Units are always in brackets (“[mi]” = miles)
See Help -> PSCAD -> Operations and Feature -> Creating a New Project -> Unit System for the correct abbreviations and prefixes.