Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101537

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Ain Shams Engineering Journal

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Electrical Engineering

Impact of grid-tied photovoltaic systems on voltage stability of tunisian

distribution networks using dynamic reactive power control
Abdelaziz Salah Saidi
Department of Electrical Engineering, King Khalid University, Abha City, P.C.: 61411, Saudi Arabia
Université de Tunis El Manar, Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Tunis, Laboratoire des Systèmes Electriques, Tunis, Tunisie

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Analysis of voltage stability of transmission network with high photovoltaic (PV) integration is a chal-
Received 18 October 2020 lenging problem because of the stochastic generation of a solar system. Stabilization of the output power
Revised 25 March 2021 is an important criterion for determining the degree of penetration of PV in active distribution networks,
Accepted 26 June 2021
considering loading capability. This article describes the effective voltage regulation strategy for the
Available online 10 July 2021
transmission system using the STATCOM module to resolve the drop and the effect aspects on the voltage
stability in the transmission network. This paper analyzes also the influence of the STATCOM control sys-
Keywords:
tem on preventing the combination of injection voltage STATCOM with harmonics from achieving pure
Transient stability
Distributed solar photovoltaic generator
voltage compensation. The proposed test system under analysis is the 53-Bus Tunisian distribution
Power quality power network integrating 12 MW solar PV plant. Simulation results are added to demonstrate the effi-
STATCOM ciency of the proposed control technique for enhancing the power system quality based on the Tunisian
Tunisian distribution system grid code. Investigation of voltage stability shows that the dynamic behavior of the voltage depends
Tunisian grid code strongly on the short circuit capacity of the power network at the point of PVs integration.
Ó 2021 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier BV on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams Uni-
versity. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction rate of emissions from fossil fuels. Solar PV systems in a network

can be connected in a two-tier manner and such systems can be
Currently, Distribution grids are solely designed for radial ser- categorized into three main types in terms of size: small, medium
vice, with large centralized power stations providing power to and large. Larger scale photovoltaic power plants (PVPP) have the
the delivery of networks over long distances. However, as decen- capacity to produce more than 100 MW. Thus, they could be con-
tralized and distributed generators with smaller capacities are nected to high and medium voltages [3–4]. Usually delivered in
added gradually to the electricity distribution system, it undergoes three steps, this type of PV energy includes transformers in parallel
dramatic changes. Renewable sources of energy have appropriated with the power system. Another next category is medium-scale PV,
a large share in the recently proliferating distributed mode of gen- producing between 1 and 100 MW, which is related to the stage of
eration during the past few years, and especially in the 2000 s. A distribution [5–6]. The possible negative impacts of enlarged pen-
major chunk of this recent distributed mode of generation are con- etration levels of photovoltaic plants on power system stability are
tributed by renewable sources of energy. In such generation sys- levitating trepidations to equipment’s and utilities [7]. Solar gener-
tems, renewable sources like biomass, fuel cells, hydroelectric, ators operating in parallel to conventional types of synchronous
solar and wind have demonstrated promising potential and viabil- generators are confronted with new challenges in terms of the con-
ity [2]. Renewable energy production is both attractive and advan- trol, operation and stability of the overall power system and its
tageous as it offers a renewable option that considerably decreases parts [8–9]. Voltage stability analysis of the transmission network
is increasing challenging task due to modern power systems com-
plexity and the ever-expanding photovoltaic system integration.
E-mail address: [email protected].
Power system voltage stability has been explored and investigated
Peer review under responsibility of Ain Shams University.
by many researchers in [5–23,25–35] to reveal the influence of PVs
with high degree of generations. In particular, DIgSILENT
PowerFactory simulation package has been used in [28] to study
Production and hosting by Elsevier the voltage stability during steady state and transient operations.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2021.06.023
2090-4479/Ó 2021 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier BV on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
A. Salah Saidi Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101537

The presented work exhibits the effect of integrating large penetra- tion (DGs) can help to save the stability of the system, conse-
tion of PV into the Egyptian power system. The performance of the quently this is the favored technique, but the distributed
Jordan’s power system with integrated large PV plants and wind generation depends on the ordinary circumstances for using the
power generation has been scrutinized by DIgSILENT software renewable generation [27].
platform in [29]. Simulation results determine that the penetration As the maximum power generated from the photovoltaic power
level of the solar and wind energy resources should not exceed plants matches the peak load consumption during summer, solar
beyond 10% of the annual peak demand of Jordan in order to avoid generators are applicable for use in sunny areas as peaked power
grid collapse. The effect of 1 MW PV plant integration to the Bah- plant. The task is to use the potential of distributed resources
rain grid has been examined in [30] using PSSE and PVsyst soft- and to alleviate the effect of the changing nature of the solar source
wares. Simulation results are concentrated to illustrate how on the power system stability to improve the reliability of the over-
weather condition of Bahrain can be exploited by PV systems to all system. When there is an abrupt rise of load demand in the grid,
meet the peak demand. The voltage stability of the larger inter- simultaneously there should be sufficient control over voltage and
connected system has been presented in [31] by quantitative power [27]. This work emphases on the control logic module STAT-
assessment of the effect of large penetration of embedded small COM for improving the power quality and how to ensure a stable
PV units in the distribution networks. Moreover, it is required that operation of an autonomous transmission system. This paper also
larger PV power plants should remain connected with the trans- simulates the control of the operating steps for the STATCOM mod-
mission network during large grid voltage disturbances because ule using Power System Analysis Toolbox to define the effect of
the disconnection of massive PV power may further worsen volt- adding the STATCOM on the system voltage and the ability of load-
age recovery throughout the disturbance and after fault recovery ing to reach the optimum system quality. The dynamic models of a
[32]. Thus, the voltage stability studies has attracted the concern solar photovoltaic unit will be briefly described in section 2. The
of many scholars towards the Low-Voltage Ride-Through (LVRT) Reactive power control using STATCOM is also described in section
competency of PV generators with large penetration [5–22]. The 2. The radial 53-Bus distribution network followed by a formula-
photovoltaic power plants integrated into the grid through a tion of the various studies and methodology will be concisely pro-
diverse range of penetration capability, have been investigated in vided in section 3. In section 3 too, we have included the results
[33–40]. Nodal voltage stability get affected by integrating solar and related discussions. The overall conclusions are included in
generators to medium voltage distribution networks, [10–11]. This section 4. The steps of the study consists of: (i) computing load
delineated voltage stability is due to the inability of network to flow solution for all load buses, with generator dynamic PV/PQ
uphold acceptable voltage levels all over the network under differ- state transitions recording, using the Newton Raphson algorithm.
ent operating circumstances. Voltage instability arises due to (ii) determining the critical voltage stability of the system with
unmanageable short or long-term disturbances causing a progres- and without STATCOM and PV integration. (iii) computing smallest
sive drop in voltage level [12]. The crucial reason for voltage col- eigenvalue locus for the static load flow Jacobian matrix to critical
lapse is the inability of the grid to supply the requisite reactive modes, and (iv) analyzing the performance and the power quality
power. Therefore, this problem desires to be examined meticu- of the system under study for compliance with the Tunisian grid
lously specifically with the existence of the high solar PV genera- requirement codes. These steps has been shown in Fig. 1.
tors. Over the long distances, the power system stability is
impacted by the transmission energy, which, is needed for control-
ling the voltage and for solving challenges like variation of load 2. Grid-Tied photovoltaic system
conditions [13–14], saving the balance with active and reactive
powers and also adding of renewable sources of energy. Reactive A Conventional Grid-tied Photovoltaic system comprises of a
power compensation can be maintained by various means; but this photovoltaic array, DC to DC boost converter, 3-Ø DC to AC inver-
might lead to unfortunate problems like harmonics injection, non- ter, maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller, filters and
continuous compensation and huge inrush current into the system transformer. In actual practice, parameters like voltage, current,
[15–16]. Due to the rapid developments in power electronics, the insolation/ irradiation, temperature etc. of the PV Panel are neces-
Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) devices have received
consideration as a very cost-effective means to affect the real net-
work subject to variations in the operating conditions of the sys-
tem, for maintenance of voltage levels and for controlling the
reactive and active power flows. By employing FACTS control tech-
niques, through the transmission network being in series or shunt
modes, it is possible to control the voltage in all bus bars of the
power system and there is flexibility through the control of the
phase angles and line impedances [17–19]. The Static var compen-
sation and the Static Synchronous Compensation (STATCOM) are
the most popular modules among the FACTS devices [18]. The
STATCOM unit can be considered as impressively fast and is also
one among the most efficient modules among the FACTS devices,
which are used for increasing transmission capacity, dynamic
behavior and stability margin. It also serves to assure improvement
in power quality [20–22]. One of the main objectives of the paper is
to scrutinize the influence of the integration of PV generators on
the steady-state/dynamic voltage stability behaviors of the radial
Tunisian distribution system. STATCOMs are one remedy when a
network is subject to a contingency to control voltage fluctuation
and boost transient stability [23,25,26]. Large-scale PVs are
installed to assist the test system at the power plant. In addition,
and near the loads the uses of the renewable distributed genera- Fig. 1. Steps of the voltage stability.

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A. Salah Saidi Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101537

sary to monitor continuously in the grid connected system. The PV panel produces maximum output power at maximum efficiency
approach for the implementation of the model with all parametric and is dependent on these Voltage-Current & Power-Voltage char-
measurement required are shown below in ‘‘Fig. 2”. The output acteristics on solar irradiation and temperature.
value of current drawn from PV cell is shown in ‘‘(1)” which repre- By using various MPPT techniques and algorithms we can
sents the Current-Voltage characteristics of the ideal P-V cell [38– arrange the point at that level where to get maximum power irre-
39]. spective of the irradiation level [41]. Consequently, for the same
solar radiation, the power delivered will be different according to
U cel Rs the load. An MPPT controller can therefore be used to control the
Icel ¼ Isc  Id  ð1Þ
Rp converter connecting to the load and the photovoltaic panel in
order to supply continuous maximum power to the load. Since
Where Isc is the current produced by the incident irradiation, Id
these parameters change continuously, operating point vary too
is the current in the Shockley diode, Rs is series resistance and Rp is [12]. The Perturb and Observe (P & O) is one of the famous conven-
parallel connected resistance. In addition, the value of Rs is very
tional MPPT technique. Perturb and Observe is extensively used
low, as compared to Rp and the value of Rs may be neglected. method among all MPPT techniques because of its simple opera-
The value of diode current is calculated as shown in ‘‘(2)”
tion [41]. P&O easily calculates the P-V output current and termi-

 nal voltage, from which actual Power to be measured and by
q U cel
Id ¼ Io  ½exp e  1 ð2Þ changing the duty ratio of dc-dc converter is made unless the max-
ai kT c imum power is achieved. This MPPT technique is utilized in the dc-
Where qe is charge of electron (1.602  10-19C), k is Boltzmann to dc converter, which his duty Ratio/ cycle is adjusted to locate the
constant with value 1.3806  10-23 Joules/Kelvin, Tc (Kelvin) is the current value of MPP on the Photovoltaic array. Even, perturb and
temperature at the P-N junction, ai is ideality constant of the diode observe (P&O) MPPT algorithm can fail under quickly varying
(1  ai  1.5) and Io is saturation current of diode and it is depen- weather situations [14], under changes in illumination/irradiance
dent on the temperature / Irradiation can be expressed in ‘‘(3)” as, and temperature levels and the operating point is tracked, then
the rate of sampling is optimized for carrying out the MPPT per-
Isc þ K i  ðT c  T n Þ fectly, [14]. In P&O, the duty ratio/cycle is changed to attain the
Io ¼ ð3Þ value of maximum active power of P-V array. Model of Voltage
exp ½ðU oc þ K V  ðT c  T n ÞÞ=ai U t   1
Source Converter (VSC) is implemented and connected to the
Ut represents the thermal voltage of Ns series-connected cells at transmission network along with first order filter (consider the
the nominal value of temperature Tn. System requires a DC to DC value of resistances are neglected). A transformer is connected
converter for controlling and limiting the dc voltage. The value of between P-V system and the Grid network in Power Grid block
resultant over voltage is less than the inverter output without as shown in ‘‘Fig. 4”.
DC-DC boost converter [9–23,25–37]. This is the only cause for Here, inverter injects the active power into the Power Grid and
using DC-DC boost converters shown in ‘‘Fig. 3”. A Grid connected also controls the injection of reactive power in the grid. The Three
photovoltaic generator has V-I characteristics which is nonlinear in Phase Voltage equations can be expressed in ‘‘(4)” as:
nature and it varies with irradiation and temperature. A specific
operating point on V-I and Power-Voltage curves is maximum Ia Da Ua
d Udc 1
power point (MPP) tracking. This unique point on curve at which ½ Ib  ¼ ½ Db   ½ Ub  ð4Þ
dt L L
Ic Dc Uc
Being Da, Db and Dc are ratio/cycles on Photovoltaic inverter on
phases a, b and c, by ‘‘(4)”, for phases a-b-c can be re-written to dq
coordinates by ‘‘(5)” and ‘‘(6)”, using Parks transformation tech-
nique [14].

U d ¼ U id  Lxiq  L didtd
ð5Þ
U q ¼ U iq  Lxid  L dtq
di

Where Uiq and Uid are respectively the dq inverter voltages

coordinates. Being Ui = Udc. d is inverter voltage, this is the input
dc voltage multiplied by duty Ratio/ cycle, i.e. Da, Db, Dc. A maxi-
mum current It is injected by P-V inverter. This current limits/ con-
trols the active and reactive powers, are then injected over the
photovoltaic inverter by PV generator. This limit is calculated from
the equation of a circle which is expressed as in ‘‘(6)”.

Fig. 2. Block diagram of Grid-Tied Photovoltaic system.

Fig. 3. Circuit diagram of Boost converter. Fig. 4. Circuit block diagram for VSC to power grid.

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A. Salah Saidi Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101537

 2
P 2 þ Q 2 ¼ U g þ Ii ð6Þ The maximum installed capacity for photovoltaic power capacity
for each solar generator is 4 MW, operating with power factor
Where Ug is 1-/ voltage in the power system, Ii is 1-/ current in ranging between 0.95 lag and 0.95 lead. The solar irradiation and
P-V system, and P-Q presents the active and reactive power in the temperature are assumed to be constant throughout the analysis.
network at the Grid. Now ‘‘(4)” can be rewritten as: The parameters of the transmission lines, the load distribution
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi for each path, the synchronous power station (SG), the values of
P2 þ Q 2 the parameters adopted for the turbine governor and exciter
Ii ¼ ð7Þ
Ua model, and the parameters assessed for the PVPPs are taken from
The Ii is inverter current limit (8), R2 and C2 represents the [35–5]. We present the test results for the transient responses of
Radius and Center, R2 = Ug*Ii and c2 = (0, 0). the grid-tied photovoltaic power plants when a grid-fault happens.
The maximum voltage of P-V inverter, Ui, imposed this limit. We have analyzed the performance of the system for compliance
This voltage describes an supplementary limit capacity of active with grid requirement codes [5–21]. For this, we applied three-
and reactive powers is expressed in ‘‘(8)”: phase short-circuit faults at one regular transmission network
bus (ie., bus ‘52‘). Also, we chose the network bus-52, as a faulty
!2
2
2
U 2g Ug Ui bus, because it is the main bus to distribute the power to the rest
P þ Qþ ¼ ð8Þ of grid. A three-phase, short-circuit was applied at time t = 5 s. To
X X
examine the power quality, the fault is cleared after 150 ms and
Ii, and Ui represent the 1- / current & voltage of the P-V inver- simulations were executed without and with the photovoltaic solar
ter, further, Ui depends on the continuous value of voltage from power for comparison. The STATCOM module is used for voltage
Inverter input, X represents the reactance values from the Inverter control through reactive power compensation [26]. In the real case
terminals. Again ‘‘(9)” can be rewritten as: study, for investigating the impact of integrating STATCOM on the
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi transient voltage stability, we have taken the distribution network
U 2g Ug located in the state of Hammam-Lif, which is in the north of Tuni-
U i ¼ P2 þ ðQ þ Þ  ð9Þ sia near the Mediterranean coast, having a PV penetration of
X X
12 MW.

3. Numerical analysis 3.2. Steady state voltage analysis

All the numerical analysis has been carried out using MATLAB- In static load flow studies, the photovoltaic power plants volt-
based toolbox for power system studies known as PSAT. It includes age control capacity and active power generation are typically
load flow analysis, dynamic stability analysis, optimal power-flow assimilated to PV generator buses. If they reach their limits on
continuation power flow and transient stability tools. This soft- reactive generation, they are called load buses. In terms of this
ware affords a SIMULINK-based, one-line network and a full graph- hypothesis [18], we assessed the voltage profile of the network
ical interface. with and without photovoltaic power plants in peak-load condi-
tions. In Fig. 6, we have plotted this characteristic. We observed
3.1. System description that, when photovoltaic power is zero (Fig. 6.a), the voltage at
the connection photovoltaic buses are within 1.01p.u. When all
‘‘Fig. 5” show the structure of a distribution system applied in three photovoltaics farms are injecting their maximum solar power
the presented analysis. Since the length of the distribution lines (Fig. 6.b), voltage levels increase at the connection buses with the
in every segment of the distribution system structure do not condition of peak-load and no over-voltages are depicted. The volt-
exceed two kilometers. The system consists only of one syn- age profile of the grid and photovoltaic buses in particular
chronous generator, 48 constant PQ loads, 53 bus-bar, one trans- increased to 1.045 percent. The voltages in the network’s multiple
former and 53 branches with a nominal base value of power and buses are included in the appropriate 10% tolerances. Fig. 7 pre-
voltage respectively 100 MVA, and 33 kV. In the base case, the total sents the smallest eigenvalues locus for the static load flow Jaco-
loading system is 12.107 MW and 3.952 MVAR. The distribution bian matrix. For clarity of the figure, the rest of the eigenvalues
grid functions at one voltage level 33 kV. The main power station locus have been unnoticed, taking only loose value. We have noted
connected to bus 53 is fitted with a TG and AVR and chosen as that, the minimum eigenvalue of the static load flow Jacobian
the swing bus [25]. The Solar Generators labelled as PVPP 1, PVPP matrix is equal to 0.2 showing that the system is stable. The com-
2 and PVPP 3 are connected to buses 13, 18 and 46 respectively. parison between the voltage magnitude with and without intro-
ducing the STATCOM can be shown in Fig. 8. After integrating
Bus 20
Bus 18 Bus 17
Bus 16
Bus 15
Bus 1 Bus 2
Bus 3
Bus 4
Bus 12
Bus 13
PVPP1 the Static Synchronous Compensation to busbar 52, the voltage
Bus 11
Bus 19
PVPP2
Bus 5
magnitude has been enhanced for all the busbar, moreover the
Bus 37
Bus 36 Bus 35
Bus 34
Bus 6
Bus 8
Bus 9
Bus 10
Bus 14
voltage has been improved specially at PVPPs connection buses
Bus 33 Bus 7
Bus 32
Bus 31 Bus 21 Bus 22 as presented in Fig. 8 by generating their maximum solar active
Bus 29 Bus 28

Bus 27
power as illustrated in Fig. 9.
Bus 30 Bus 24 Bus 25 Bus 26
Bus 23
Bus 43 Bus 42

Bus 52
Bus 41
Bus 40 Bus 39 Bus 38 3.3. Simulations results for power quality
Bus 51

Bus 47 Bus 44
Bus 48
In this section, we present the test results for the transient
Bus 46
Bus 45 responses of the grid-tied photovoltaic power plants when a
Bus 50PVPP3 grid-fault happens. We have analyzed the performance of the grid
Bus 53 for agreement with the Tunisian requirement grid codes [19]. For
Bus 49
this, we applied three-phase, short-circuit at one transmission reg-
ular grid bus ‘52‘. Also, we chose the network bus-52, as a faulty
bus, because it is the main bus to distribute the power to the rest
Fig. 5. Single line diagram of a distribution system connected PVPP. of grid. A three-phase, short-circuit fault was applied at time 5 s.
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A. Salah Saidi Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101537

1.2
Voltage with adding STATCOM
Voltage without STATCOM

0.8

Busbar Voltage (p.u)

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Busbar No.

Fig. 8. Tunisian distribution network busbar magnitude voltage value with and
(a) without introducing STATCOM.

(b)
Fig. 6. Voltage magnitude profile of the Tunisian distribution network with (a) and
without (b) PVPPs.

Fig. 9. Active power injected at PVPPs and at swing bus SG.

Fig. 7. Smallest eigenvalue locus for the static load flow Jacobian matrix.

The fault is cleared after 150 ms to test the power quality, and for
comparison, the simulation results were executed with and with-
out photovoltaic power plants.

1. Fault ride-through

According to the Tunisian Gas Company, the minimum voltage Fig. 10. Typical LVRT requirements curve for Tunisian Grid.
specifications that solar photovoltaic generators must resist is as
presented in Fig. 10. It shows that every solar photovoltaic gener-
ators with transient stability remains connected with the grid Tracked by a voltage recovery upto 85% of the nominal power sys-
without deteriorating with an average fault clearance period of tem voltage with a voltage recovery duration of 30mn at the point
250 ms. Within the operating range of the solar photovoltaic power of common coupling. In solar inverters, the LVRT capability is
plant, such faults should not lead to instability or isolation from the essential to keep the stability of the system.
transmission network. Moreover, Fig. 10 indicates that solar photo- Under abnormal operation, the recovery duration of the solar
voltaic power plant should have the capability for uninterrupted power plant is shown in Table 1. The ranges of the network volt-
operation of a duration of 250 ms and a voltage drop up to zero. ages are defined in per unit system.
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A. Salah Saidi Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101537

Table 1
Solar power plant requirements with respect
to the grid voltage variations [5].

Voltage Ranges Requirements

0.8Un – 0.85 Un 30 mn
0.85 Un  0.95 Un 3 hrs
0.95 Un – 1.05 Un Unlimited
1.05 Un  1.1 Un 1 hr
1.1 Un – 1.2 Un 15 mn

2. Network short-circuit without PVPP

For this first test, the grid is simulated without the PVPPs farms.
The resulting voltage profiles at the PVPPs buses connection ‘13, 18
and 46‘ is shown in Fig. 11. We could observe a significant drop in
voltage at the connection buses reaching to 0.65p.u and at the
faulty bus ‘52‘, dropping down to 0.70p.u, as is seen in Fig. 12. Fig. 13. Voltage response in p.u at PVPPs connection buses during the short-circuit
– System with PV and without STATCOM.
3. Network short-circuit with PVPP

For the second test, the distribution network is simulated with

the PV farms. We apply the fault at the connection bus ‘52‘. Figs. 13
and 14 show respectively the behavior of the PVPPs and the faulty
bus ‘52‘during the fault-ride through. It is seen that after the occur-
rence of the fault, immediately the voltage at the Photovoltaic
buses decreases near 0.7p.u, and on clearing the fault at 5.150 s,
as the PVPP commences a regulation mode voltage, the Photo-
voltaic terminal voltage starts rising to reach 1.3p.u.
The reactive and active power production of the photovoltaic
bus ‘46‘ is depicted at Fig. 15. The regulation of voltage at this pho-
tovoltaic generator is assured because the photovoltaic generators
have been expanded by a simple and continuous controller as
according to [5]. The reactive power generation of photovoltaic

Fig. 14. Voltage response in p.u at faulted connection bus 52 during the short-
circuit – System with PV and without STATCOM.

Fig. 11. Voltage response in p.u at PVPPs connection buses during the short-circuit
– system without PV.

Fig. 15. Active and reactive power response in p.u at PVPP bus ‘46‘ during fault–
system with PV and without STATCOM.

bus ‘46‘ was depicted to render voltage support during the low-
voltage period as shown in Fig. 15. The photovoltaic bus ‘46‘, con-
tributes the most to support the network voltage since it is the
most PV bus near the faulty bus. During the transient process,
the active power generated from the solar power plant decreased
as a result of the short circuit. Simulation results do confirm the
fact that the Photovoltaic generator controllers have the capability
Fig. 12. Voltage response in p.u at faulted connection bus 52 during the short-
to reestablish the PV terminal voltage once the short-circuit fault is
circuit – system without PV. cleared.

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A. Salah Saidi Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101537

4. STATCOM Simulation with the Distribution Network During STATCOM’s reactive power supply in secure and dynamic environ-
Short-circuit ments to minimize the voltage decrease. The supply of reactive
power is decreased after clearance of the fault. In order to keep a
The voltages at PVPPs and faulty bus ‘52‘ buses with the STAT- DC stable bus voltage, the STACOM consumes active power and
COM, throughout the short-circuit analysis, are shown respectively indicates that the active power is decreased when the supply of
in Figs. 16 and 17. It is obvious that the Static var Compensation reactive power increases. It is observed that the presence of STAT-
could manage mitigation of the voltage sag at both PVPPs buses COM lowers the voltage level towards its nominal value.
and faulty bus ‘52‘. In addition, the voltage enhancement at bus
52 is greater, as this is the STATCOM connection point. The STAT-
COM’s dynamic behavior influences grid voltages, but without 4. Discussion
adverse effects, shortly after clearance of faults. Fig. 18 shows the
The distribution network located in the state of Hammam-Lif
which is in the north of Tunisia near the Mediterranean coast, hav-
ing a PV penetration of 12 MW was studied. A large-scale PV pen-
etration including STATCOM is connected to the power system as
shown in Fig. 5 respectively to buses 13, 18 and 46. The MATLAB
software platform was used and the power network was described
by a set of differential and algebraic equations, from the initial con-
ditions of the static power flow method. The simulations results
aimed at analyzing the impact of STATCOM and PV farms on power
system transient stability. The STATCOM controls the current in
order to deal with the reactive power, since the voltage at the point
of common coupling is significant for computing the control vari-
ables. The STATCOM had a significant impact on reducing the over-
voltage level towards its nominal value at the PV bus and
minimizing reactive power losses in a system that included large
PV generation with fault disruption. Despite the fact that the
imposed voltage was greater than the reference voltage, the PV
inverter was kept at its nominal voltage, so it improved system sta-
bility. It is observed that the presence of STATCOM lowers the
Fig. 16. Voltage response in p.u at PVPPs connection buses during the short-circuit voltage.
– System with PV and with STATCOM.

5. Conclusion

This paper investigated the influence of photovoltaic integra-

tion on the voltage stability of the 53-Bus distribution grid. Effi-
ciency and quality of voltage in PV system degrades due to
instability in voltage in Grid connected system. To overcome this
problem, the STATCOM is implemented for improving the power
quality and the power system voltage stability under various sce-
narios based on the Tunisian grid code. STATCOM contributes bet-
ter alternatives to increases static voltage stability margin and
power transfer capability. STATCOM is also implemented to regu-
late the injected P-Q power to the power transmission network.
In this paper, we also presented some appropriate models for the
STATCOM in the steady-state analysis and with a rigorous discus-
Fig. 17. Voltage response in p.u at faulted connection bus 52 during the short-
sion. Thus, we have derived a technique for identifying optimal
circuit – System with PV and with STATCOM. placement of FACTS devices. The related equations are also derived.
Simulation results show that there is a significant improvement of
these parameters and steady-state stability of the system with
insertion of STATCOM.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-

cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

The authors extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Scien-

tific Research at King Khalid University for funding this work
Fig. 18. Active and reactive power response in p.u at PVPPs bus ‘46‘ during fault– through Research Groups Program under grant number
system with PV and with STATCOM. (RGP.1/299/42).
7
A. Salah Saidi Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101537

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for low voltage ridethrough wind turbines for controlling the dynamic Dr. Abdelaziz Salah Saidi was born in Tunisia, in 1979. He
behavior under different load conditions. Wind Eng 2019;43(4):420–40. doi: joined the Higher Institute of Computer Science of Kef as
https://doi.org/10.1177/0309524X18791387.9. assistant Professor in 2012. He is currently Assistant
[21] Abdelaziz Saïdi, Khadija Ben Kilani, Chokri Bouchoucha, Mohamed Elleuch. professor of Electrical Engineering at King Khalid
Voltage Regulation and Dynamic Performance of the Tunisian Power System
University in Abha. He is received his M.S in Electrical
with Wind Power Penetration. Trends in Applied Sciences. Research. 2011;6
systems from the national engineering school of Tunis
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in the year 2003. He received his Ph. D degrees in
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Dynamic Load Model on the Low Voltage Ride-Through of the Doubly-Fed electrical engineering in 2011 from the same school. His
Induction Generator Wind Farm. WSEAS Transactions on Power Systems, ISSN main interest research areas focuses on dynamical sys-
/ E-ISSN: 1790-5060 / 2224-350X, Volume 12, 2017, Art. #1, pp. 1-10. tems theory applied to power systems integrating
[23] Bouchoucha Chokri, Abdelaziz Saïdi, Mimouni MN, Mansouri F. Effect of Renewable Energy, power systems voltage stability
Dynamic and Static Load in the Voltage Stability. International Review on using load flow techniques and power systems con-
Modelling and Simulations (I.RE.MO.S.) 2012;5(5):2214–27. troland operation.