Page 40 - Power Electronic Control in Electrical Systems

//SYS21/F:/PEC/REVISES_10-11-01/075065126-CH001.3D ± 30 ± [1±30/30] 17.11.2001 9:43AM

30 Electrical power systems ± an overview

network has been used to give examples of FACTS and Custom Power plant equip-
ment and in which locations of the network they may be deployed.
The random nature of the power system load, the ability of a certain class of loads
to generate harmonic distortion, and our limited capacity to store electrical energy in
significant quantities are issues used to exemplify some of the challenges involved in
the planning and operation of electrical power networks. This is in addition to the
fact that power networks span entire continents and they are never in a steady state
condition but rather in a perpetual dynamic state. This is part of the complex
background which since the late 1950s has continuously called for the use of state-
of-the-art computers and advanced algorithms to enable their reliable and economic
operation. The main computer-based studies used in today's power systems are
outlined in this introductory chapter.