Reactive reserve determination using coherent clustering applied to the Mexican Norwest control area

A methodology is used to evaluate, in an efficient manner, the availability of machine reactive reserve of an electric power system. This reactive reserve is evaluated on the areas affected due to a reactive power imbalance. The determination of buses or a sub region of a network that is vulnerable to voltage collapse is of extreme importance. This sub region is called voltage control area (VCA). Voltage control areas are groups of buses stiffly interconnected and in which voltage magnitudes and voltage angles vary in a similar manner as a result of a contingency or operation condition changes. A technique to develop the voltage control area is also presented in this paper, since the work developed uses strongly the voltage control areas of the electrical network.