Modeling and Simulation of Static Var Compensator for Voltage

Control Using MATLAB/SIMULINK

Deependra Neupane1

Abstract— Electricity has now been Interconnected power transmission system device family, regulating voltage, power
system has been an inherent part of the todays electrical factor, harmonics and stabilizing the system. Unlike a syn-
generation. It has becoming more and more complex as there chronous condenser which is a rotating electrical machine,
are multiple ways of generations, transmission and distribution.
So there is great challenge for proper flow of power and a static VAR compensator has no significant moving parts.
ensuring the system stability. Despite the various use of classical Prior to the invention of the SVC, power factor compen-
controllers (mechanical switching devices), the implementation sation was the preserve of large rotating machines such as
of high performance devices is encouraged. The modern system synchronous condensers or switched capacitor banks. The
that has the ability of varying the power flow parameters SVC is an automated impedance matching device, designed
like voltage, impedance, admittance, power angle, damping
oscillation etc. in order to enhance the power flow capability to bring the system closer to unity power factor. SVCs are
is FACTS (Flexible Alternating Current Transmission). Among used in two main situations:
various FACTS devices, SVC is one of the most popular, reliable 1) Connected to the power system, to regulate the trans-
and economic controller used in modern power system. It is mission voltage (”Transmission SVC”)
acquired to have very good design and performance analysis of
the SVC device for its better working in the power network. 2) Connected near large industrial loads, to improve
Static Var Compensators are being increasingly applied in power quality (”Industrial SVC”)
electric transmission systems to economically improve voltage
control and post-disturbance recovery voltages that can lead to B. Mathematical Model of Static Var Compensator
system instability. An SVC provides such system improvements The mathematical modelling of any physical system be-
and benefits by controlling shunt reactive power sources, gins with the development of the relevant relationship be-
both capacitive and inductive, with power electronic switching
devices. tween the constraints and variables. Basically, SVC being
a control system mathematical modelling is an important
I. INTRODUCTION aspect of the design. The general control loop system of the
SVC is shown in fig 1. Each of the blocks shown above is
The SVC, a FACTS device has become one of the leading
the representation of the transfer function of the components
controller devices in the present power system network.
of the SVC. The individual components of the SVC can be
So the effective design and the performance analysis of
modelled as developing the transfer function:
the SVC devices are very important for its desired work
in the power system network for the proper power flow
control and stability maintenance. The SVC uses the solid
semiconductor devices like Thyristor as the switching device
and the reactor and capacitors as the VAR absorbers and
generators respectively. The amount of the reactive power
injection and absorption in the system is controlled by the
controlling unit which provides the necessary firing pulses
for the thyristors. The effective voltage control and the
reactive power control in the system is accompanied by
the implementation of the special compensator (Static VAR Fig. 1. Block Diagram of SVC
Compensator) in the desired location in the system. The
detail modelling and analysis of the compensator before III. M ATHEMATICAL M ODELLING
implementation in the real field is extremely required.
Each of the components shown in block diagram above
II. STATIC VAR COMPENSATOR and be modelled in mathematical way individually. The
following are the components and their model
A. Introduction to Static Var Compensator
1) Measurement System: These systems provide the nec-
A static VAR compensator is a set of electrical devices for essary inputs to the SVC controller for performing
providing fast-acting reactive power on high-voltage electric- its control operations. The different inputs required
ity transmission networks. SVCs are part of the Flexible AC by an SVC depend on the function that the SVC
1 Deependra Neupane is with Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Tribhuvan
controller is intended to perform. The SVC controller
University, Institute of Engineering, Western Region Campus, Lamachaur- performance and its robustness largely depend on the
16, Pokahara, Nepal [email protected] authenticity of the measured signals. However, the
 measurement units, together with their transducers, below:
operate in environments that cannot be predicted from
simulation studies of power-system component models
but can only be witnessed in the field. The voltage, cur-
rent, power, and frequency transducers can potentially
produce spurious outputs from the effects of extraneous
dynamics present in the input signals. The general
transfer function of the measurement can be treated as
the black box system with first order transfer function
as given below:
1
H(s) = (1)
1 + Tm s
where Tm is time constant of measurement system. Fig. 2. SVC Model Simulation Blocks

2) Voltage Regulator: The SVC voltage regulator pro-

cesses the measured system variables and generates The values taken for optimum operation of SVC is given in
an output signal that is proportional to the desired table below:
reactive-power compensation. Different control vari- TABLE I
ables and transfer functions of the voltage regulator VALUE USED IN THE SIMULATION
are used, depending on the specific SVC application.
The measured control variables are compared with a
Variables Values
reference signal, usually Vref, and an error signal is Reference Voltage 1 p.u
input to the controller transfer function. The output Measurement time constant 4 milisecond
of the controller is a per-unit susceptance signal Bref, Integral Gain 2
Gate Cicuit Delay 0.5 milisecond
which is generated to reduce the error signal to zero in System Impedance 8 Ohm
the steady state. The susceptance signal is subsequently
transmitted to the gate pulsegeneration circuit. The
block G represent the voltage regulator in the above The simulation of SVC with values above has an under-
block diagram of the SVC. Generally, the use of the damped response as shown below. The values need to be
proportionate integral voltage regulator is used for the selected optimally otherwise the result could be over-damped
generation of the control signal. The transfer function or lead to instability.
for the system is given below:
κ
G(s) = (2)
1 + T1 s
where κ is regulation scope and T1 is time constant
of regulator.

3) Gate-Pulse Firing The susceptance reference output

from the voltage regulator is transmitted to the gate
pulsegeneration (GPG) unit, which produces appropri-
ate firing pulses for all the thyristor-controlled and
thyristor-switched devices of the SVC so that the Fig. 3. SVC Model Simulation Result (Voltage-time)
desired susceptance is effectively made available at the
SVC bus to achieve the specified control objectives.
The transfer function can be written as: B. System Implementation Without Using SVC
T (s) = e−Td s (3) It is a two bus system whose performance is stud-
ied without using svc and results are observed in MAT-
Where, Td is delay time of gate pulse firing system. LAB/SIMULINK. It consists of a slack bus, transmission line
IV. SIMULATION and load bus. SVC can be used in both transmission line and
in load bus. Here we dealt with the implementation of SVC
A. Simulation of SVC in load bus. Simulation is done on phasor as powergui. The
The block diagram of SVC shown above can be simulated effcet of transmission line on reactive power flow is almost
in MATLAB/SIMULINK by direct setting the transfer func- neglected. The simulation block in SIMULINK of the two
tions and assainging appropriate values for the time constants bus system is shown below and value used is shown in table
and other values. Simulink block diagram can be shown as below:
 Fig. 4. Two Bus System for Analysis

TABLE II
VALUE USED IN THE SIMULATION

Variables Values
Nominal slack bus voltage 132 kv Fig. 6. Above, response of SVC for different loading, left for capacitive and
Line Resistance 10 Ohm right for inductive loading. Figure at bottom shows reactive power supplied
Line Inductance 12 mH or consumed by SVC.
System Frequency 50 Hz
Base MVA 100 MVA TABLE III
Load Active Power 90 MW
C OMPARSION A NALYSIS OF VOLTAGES

Active Power Reactive Load without SVC with SVC

C. System Implementation Using SVC 90 Mw 0 Var 1 pu 1 pu
90 Mw -50 Var 1.11 pu 1.0132 pu
In two bus system mentioned above, SVC block is con- 90 Mw 50 Var 0.9090 pu 0.987 pu
nected in load bus as shown in SIMULINK block diagram
below:

voltage dropped and during capacitive load voltage raises

up. But with the use of static var compensator voltage in bus
alomost remained in rated value. The oscillation in graph is
due to the energy stord in compensator and is a transient
response shown by compensator.
V. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, Static Var Compensator, a FACT device
is modelled on mathematical basis and simulated in MAT-
LAB/SIMULINK. The use of static var compensator has
shown an improvement in voltage profile in two bus system.
It consumes or supplies reactive power that is either excess
or deficient in the system bus so regulates the voltage.
Fig. 5. Two Bus System for Analysis
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As the table shows, in the absence of var compensator
there is variation of voltage level, during inductive loads,