STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator)

It is a device connected in derivation, basically composed of a coupling transformer, that serves of link between the electrical power system (EPS) and the voltage synchronous controller (VSC), that generates the voltage wave comparing it to the one of the electric system to realize the exchange of reactive power. The control system of the STATCOM adjusts at each moment the inverse voltage so that the current injected In the network is in cuadrature to the network voltage, in these conditions P=0 and Q=0. In its most general way, the STATCOM can be modeled as a regulated voltage source Vi connected to a voltage bar Vs through a transformer.
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STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator)

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STATCOM - A VSC interfaced in shunt to a transmission line The STATic COMpensator (STATCOM) uses a VSC interfaced in shunt to a transmission line. In most cases the DC voltage support for the VSC will be provided by the DC capacitor of relatively small energy storage capability hence, in steady state operation, active power exchanged with the line has to be maintained at zero, as shown symbolically in the Figure.

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STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator)

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STATCOM - A VSC interfaced in shunt to a transmission line With the active power constraint imposed, the control of the STATCOM is reduced to one degree of freedom, which is used to control the amount of reactive power exchanged with the line. Accordingly, a STATCOM is operated as a functional equivalent of a static VAR compensator; it provides faster control than an SVC and improved control range.

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STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator)

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Each GTO converter generates a voltage that is stepped up by a lineside-series-connected multi-stage converter transformer. The converter transformer enables the build-up of a sine-wave voltage in both magnitude and phase. Because STATCOMs with multi-stage converter transformers do not generate significant internal harmonics, they generally require minimal, or no, harmonic filtering. If the number of firing pulses for the GTOs is increased (i.e., pulse-width modulation (PWM) order), the harmonics are further decreased. High-side voltage is generally used as a controller input, as indicated in the figure.

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STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator)

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The figure shows the equivalent circuit of a STATCOM system. The GTO converter with a dc voltage source and the power system are illustrated as variable ac voltages in this figure. These two voltages are connected by a reactance representing the transformer leakage inductance.
Equivalent circuit of a STATCOM

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STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator)

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Using the classical equations that describe the active and reactive power flow in a line in terms of Vi and Vs, the transformer impedance (which can be assumed as ideal) and the angle difference between both bars, we can defined P and Q. The angle between the Vs and Vi in the system is d. When the STATCOM operates with d=0 we can see how the active power send to the system device becomes zero while the reactive power will mainly depend on the voltage module. This operation condition means that the current that goes through the transformer must have a +/-90 phase difference to Vs. In other words, if Vi is bigger than Vs, the reactive will be send to the STATCOM of the system (capacitive operation), originating a current flow in this direction. In the contrary case, the reactive will be absorbed from the system through the STATCOM (inductive operation) and the current will flow in the opposite direction. Finally if the modules of Vs and Vi are equal, there wont be nor current nor reactive flow in the system. Thus, we can say that in a stationary state Q only depends on the module difference between Vs and Vi voltages. The amount of the reactive power is proportional to the voltage difference between Vs and Vi.

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STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator)

There can be a little active power exchange between the STATCOM and the EPS. The exchange between the inverter and the AC system can be controlled adjusting the output voltage angle from the inverter to the voltage angle of the AC system. This means that the inverter can not provide active power to the AC system form the DC accumulated energy if the output voltage of the inverter goes before the voltage of the AC system. On the other hand, the inverter can absorb the active power of the AC system if its voltage is delayed in respect to the AC system voltage.

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Principle of operation of a STATCOM 24/08/2007

STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator)

The STATCOM smoothly and continuously controls voltage from V1 to V2. However, if the system voltage exceeds a low-voltage (V1) or high-voltage limit (V2), the STATCOM acts as a constant current source by controlling the converter voltage (Vi) appropriately. V-I characteristic of a STATCOM
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Thus, when operating at its voltage limits, the amount of reactive power compensation provided by the STATCOM is more than the most-common competing FACTS controller, namely the Static Var Compensator (SVC). This is because at a low voltage limit, the reactive power drops off as the square of the voltage for the SVC, where Mvar=f(BV2), but drops off linearly with the STATCOM, where Mvar=f(VI). This makes the reactive power controllability of the STATCOM superior to that of the SVC, particularly during times of system distress.

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STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator)

In addition the STATCOM has other advantages compared to an SVC, such as: Quicker response time (A STATCOM has a step response of 8 ms to 30 ms). This helps with compensation of negative phase current and with the reduction of voltage flicker. Active power control is possible with a STATCOM (with optional energy storage on dc circuit). This could further help with system stability control. No potential for creating a resonance point. This is because no capacitor banks or reactors are required to generate the reactive power for a STATCOM. The STATCOM has a smaller installation space due to no capacitors or reactors required to generate Mvar, minimal or no filtering, and the availability of high capacity power semiconductor devices. Designs of systems of equal dynamic ranges have shown the STATCOM to be as much as 1/3 the area and 1/5 the volume of an SVC. A modular design of the STATCOM allows for high availability (i.e., one or more modules of the STATCOM can be out-of-service without the loss of the entire compensation system).

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STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator)

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In 1991, the worlds first commercial transmission system STATCOM (at the time known as SVG for Static Var Generator) was installed at the Inuyama substation of The Kansai Electric Power Company in Japan, for the objective of improving power system and voltage stabilization. It has been successfully operating for nearly 9 years. The figure shows the one-line diagram of this 80 MVA STATCOM. 24/08/2007

STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator)

Application of the Three-Phase STATCOM in Voltage Stability Voltage stability is one of the biggest problems in power systems. Engineers and researchers have met with the purpose of discussing and trying to consolidate a definition regarding to voltage stability, besides proposing techniques and methodologies for their analysis. Most of these techniques are based on the search of the point in which the systems Jacobian becomes singular; this point is referred as the point of voltage collapse or maximum load ability point. The series and shunt compensation are able to increase the maximum transfer capabilities of power network .Concerning to voltage stability, such compensation has the purpose of injecting reactive power to maintain the voltage magnitude in the nodes close to the nominal values, besides, to reduce line currents and therefore the total system losses. At the present time, thanks to the development in the power electronics devices, the voltage magnitude in some node of the system can be adjusted through sophisticated and versatile devices named FACTS. One of them is the static synchronous compensator (STATCOM).

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STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator)

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With the help of the previous one-phase STATCOM formulation, it is easy to deduce the three-phase model. The shunt voltage source of the three-phase STATCOM may be represented by: EvR = VvR (cos vR + jsin vR ) where indicates phase quantities, a, b and c. The equivalent circuit of the three-phase STATCOM is shown in Figure 4 in a wye configuration. This model is used to derive the steady state equations included into the three-phase power flow formulation 24/08/2007

STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator)

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Thus, the three-phase STATCOM model is integrated into the steady state formulation. In the simulations, the STATCOMs node where is connected, is represented as a PV type node. This node can change to PQ type when, during the process, one of the limits in the devices voltage magnitude is violated.

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