INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, NIRMA UNIVERSITY, AHMEDABAD 382 481, 08-10 DECEMBER, 2011 1

Simulation & Analysis of Distribution Static

Compensator (D-STATCOM)

Hirak K. Shah, P.N. Kapil, and M.T.Shah

voltages. By controlling the power flow arrangement, one

Abstract-- Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) can control active and reactive power in the transmission
technology opens up new opportunities for controlling power line system. With FACTS controllers, such as Static
and enhancing the usable capacity of present as well as new Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) it is possible to
and upgraded lines. STATCOM is a FACTS device which can regulate bus voltages, line impedance and phase angle
independently control flow of reactive power. This paper
rapidly and flexibly [2].
presents the simulation and analysis of a STATCOM (Static
Synchronous Compensator) for voltage dip mitigation and
other problems like correcting voltage sag and swell, which is
One of the most common power quality problems is
based on a 2-level Voltage Source Converter. Simulations are voltage dips (a short time reduction in RMS voltage
carried out in MATLAB/Simulink to validate the performance magnitude). A voltage dip is caused by the fault in the utility
of the STATCOM. system or a large increase of the load current. Such typical
Index Terms-- FACTS, STATCOM, Voltage dip, Voltage faults may be single-phase or multi-phase short circuits
Source Converter (VSC), MATLAB/Simulink. which results in high currents. There are different ways like
using Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR) and Static
I. INTRODUCTION Compensator (STATCOM) to mitigate voltage dips, voltage

T ODAY there is a great need of improving power interruptions, etc. in transmission and distribution system.
utilization and maintaining power system security and Among these STATCOM is the most effective device which
reliability in highly complex and inter connected power is based on Voltage source Converter (VSC) principle. A
system. Due to under loading and overloading of lines power PWM-based control scheme has been implemented in the 2-
flow in the system is affected. As a result of this there arises level VSC based STATCOM.
a problem of deteriorating voltage profile and power system
stability. So finally power quality, which is one of the most
important factors nowadays, is affected. II. STATIC SYNCHRONOUS COMPENSATOR (STATCOM)
Now it becomes necessary to control the power flow in the Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) is one of
transmission lines to meet power transfer needs. Now on the the most recent FACTS devices for power transmission
contrary with the rapid development in power electronics shunt compensation. It is shunt connected device which was
devices and other solid state technology, a series of custom developed as a static VAR compensator where a Voltage
power devices popularly known as FACTS controllers, Source Converter (VSC) is used instead of controllable
which provides a promising pattern of future power system. reactors.
FACTS are defined by the IEEE as "a power electronic based The STATCOM can be seen as a current source since it is
system and other static equipment that provide control of one connected in shunt with the distribution system and the load.
or more AC transmission system parameters to enhance By controlling the magnitude and the phase angle of the
controllability and increase power transfer capability" [1] . output voltage of the VSC, both active and reactive power
Power flow in a lossless power system can be given as: can be exchanged between the distribution system and the
STATCOM. Being a shunt connected device, the
V1V2 sin STATCOM mainly injects reactive power to the system [3].
Power (1) Fig. 1 shows the basic system scheme of STATCOM. The
X
STATCOM mainly consists of a PWM inverter connected to
Where, V1 and V2 are sending end and receiving end bus the network through a transformer. The dc link voltage is
voltage magnitude and is the angle between voltages. provided by the energy storage or a capacitor which is
X is the line reactance. charged with power taken from the network. To control the
bus voltage and dc link voltage a suitable controller is
From the above equation it is clear that the power flow is provided.
the function of magnitude of sending end and receiving end
voltages, transmission line impedance and angle between

978-1-4577-2168-7/11/$26.00 2011 IEEE

2 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CURRENT TRENDS IN TECHNOLOGY, NUiCONE 2011

The main aim of the control scheme is to maintain

constant voltage magnitude at the point where a sensitive
load is connected, under system disturbances. In this control
scheme it measures the RMS voltage at the load point, i.e. no
requirements of reactive power measurements. Here the
sinusoidal PWM technique is used for the switching of VSC
as sine PWM offers simplicity and good response compared
to other scheme like space vector PWM.
The input of the controller is an error signal which is
obtained from the reference voltage and the value RMS of
the terminal voltage measured. Now PI controller will
process this error signal and then the output is the angle ,
Fig.1 General System scheme of STATCOM which is provided to the PWM signal generator. In this case
. it is important to note that in converter, there is active and
reactive power exchange with the network simultaneously.
III. POWER CIRCUIT TOPOLOGY FOR D-STATCOM Now the error signal is obtained by comparison of the
The topology of the power system with a STATCOM reference voltage with the RMS voltage measured at the load
connected at distribution level is shown in Fig. 2. point. The error signal is processed by PI controller which in
return generates the required angle to drive the error to zero,
i.e., the load RMS voltage is brought back to the reference
voltage.

Fig.3 PI controller

The sinusoidal signal Vcontrol is phase-modulated by means

of the angle .

i.e., VA = sin (t +)
VB= sin (t+-2/3)
VC = sin (t ++2/3)

Fig. 2 General power topology diagram

The STATCOM can maintain the load terminal voltage if

a fault occurs at transmission or distribution voltage level.
The STATCOM can be installed at distribution feeder or
transmission feeder in the power system. However when Fig. 4 Phase-Modulation of the control angle
STATCOM is connected to the distribution, the voltage
boost of the point where the STATCOM is connected, will be Now in order to generate the switching signals for the
more notable. This is due to the influence of the inductance VSC valves, the modulated signal Vcontrol is compared
l
of the transformer connected. Therefore, for voltage dip against a triangular signal. The amplitude modulation index
mitigation STATCOM is usually used at distribution level in of signal, and the frequency modulation index of the
power system, which is called D-STATCOM [4]. triangular signal are the main parameters of the sinusoidal
PWM scheme.

IV. CONTROLLER DESIGN V. SIMULATION

There are basically two types of control scheme which can The following fig. 5 shows the test system used to carry
be implemented are Inner Current Control and Voltage out for the D-STATCOM simulation. It shows the system
Control. In this system voltage control scheme is proposed.
INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, NIRMA UNIVERSITY, AHMEDABAD 382 481, 08-10 DECEMBER, 2011 3

comprising of two loads through a transformer to the utility The D-STATCOM model which is incorporated in the
supply with VSC across it. transmission system for voltage regulation is as shown in the
above figure. It shows an inverter with its PWM controller.

VI. SIMULATION RESULTS

Case 1: Voltage dip during single line to ground fault

The first simulation contains no D-STATCOM and single

line to ground fault is applied at point A in fig. 8, via a fault
resistance of 0.2 , during the period 200500 ms.
120

100
Fig. 5 Single line diagram of test system

80

Voltage (V)
60

40

20

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Time (micro sec) x 10
5

Fig. 8 Voltage VRMS at the load point: Without D-STATCOM

Similarly, a new set of simulations was carried out but now

Fig. 6 Simulink model of D-STATCOM test system with the D-STATCOM connected to the system. Now as
seen from the fig. 9 the dip is reduced from almost 20 V to
Here fig.6 shows the test system implemented in 40 V.
MATLAB SIMULINK. The test system consists of a 230 kV,
50 Hz transmission system which is now fed into the primary 80

side of transformer. 70

A two-level D-STATCOM is connected to the 11 kV

tertiary winding to provide instantaneous voltage support at 60

the load point. There is a 750 F capacitor on the dc side 50

providing the D-STATCOM energy storage capabilities.

Voltage (V)

Simulations were carried out with and with no D- 40

STATCOM connected to the system, to show the 30

effectiveness of this controller. The switching frequency of

VSC is set around 500 Hz. 20

10

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
Time (micro sec) x 10
5

Fig. 9 Voltage VRMS at the load point: With D-STATCOM

Case 2: Voltage interruption due to three phase fault

Here the first simulation contains no D-STATCOM and

three phase fault is applied at load point, through a fault
resistance of 0.001 , during the period 200-500 ms. The
results are shown in fig.10.
Fig. 7 Simulink model of D-STATCOM
4 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CURRENT TRENDS IN TECHNOLOGY, NUiCONE 2011

VIII. REFERENCES
120
[1] A.A. Edris, Chair, Proposed Terms and Definitions for Flexible AC
Transmission Systems (FACTS)", IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery,
100 Vol. 12, No. 4, October 1997
[2] John J. Paserba, How FACTS Controllers Benefit AC Transmission
Systems, IEEE
80
[3] Cai Rong, Analysis of STATCOM for Voltage Dip Mitigation, Thesis
for the degree of Master of Science, December 2004.
Voltage (V)

60
[4] Pierre Giroux, Gilbert Sybille, Hoang Le-Huy, Modeling and Simulation
of a Distribution STATCOM using Simulinks Power System Blockset,
IECON 2001: The 27th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial
40 Electronics Society.
[5] Dong Ju Lee, Eun Woong Lee, Jong Han Lee, Jong Gyeum Kim,
Simulation of Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM), Electric
20
Power System Research, vol.73, February 2005.
[6] Narain G. Hingorani, Understanding FACTS", IEEE Press.
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Time (micro sec) x 10
5

Fig. 10 Voltage VRMS at the load point: Without D-STATCOM

Similarly, a new set of simulations was carried out but now

with the D-STATCOM connected to the system, the load
voltage is not much interrupted between 0.4 sec to 1.5 sec
as shown in the following figure.
80

70

60

50
Voltage (V)

40

30

20

10

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
Time (micro sec) x 10
5

Fig. 11 Voltage VRMS at the load point: With D-STATCOM

VII. CONCLUSION
The objective of this paper is to present method to mitigate
voltage dips and voltage sag and other related problems like
voltage interruptions and thus improving Power Quality
using Shunt Controller STATCOM. STATCOM provide
more reliable and simple control as compared to other
controller like DVR. The design and applications of D-
STATCOM for voltage sags, interruptions and swells, and
comprehensive results are presented.
A sine PWM-based control scheme has been implemented
to control the electronic switches in the two-level VSC used
in the D-STATCOM. This scheme is ideally suitable for low-
voltage custom power applications. The simulation has been
performed in MATLAB/Simulink giving the proof of the
work.