VOLTAGE STABILITY IMPROVEMENT USING

STATCOM WITH SUPER CAPACITOR

A
Minor project Submitted to
Gopal Krishna College of Engineering and Technology, Jeypore
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
in
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

By
AMITABHA SARKAR
(Regd. No.: 2221228005)

Under the guidance of

ER. DEBASHIS SAHU
(Department of Electrical Engineering)

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

GOPAL KRISHNA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, JEYPORE
BIJU PATTANAIK UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, ROURKELA, ODISHA
October 2024
 2

Dept. of Electrical Engineering

GOPAL KRISHNA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL

This is to certify that we have examined the dissertation entitled “VOLTAGE STABILITY
IMPROVEMENT USING STATCOM WITH SUPER CAPACITOR” submitted by AMITABHA
SARKAR, Regd. No. 2221228005, in partial fulfillment for the degree of Bachelor of Technology at the
Department of Electrical Engineering of Gopal Krishna College of Engineering and Technology,
Jeypore, Odisha

We hereby accord our approval of it as a dissertation work carried out and presented in a manner
required for its acceptance for the partial fulfillment for the minor project for the degree of Bachelor of
Technology in Electrical Engineering for which it has been submitted. The approval does not necessarily
endorse or accept every statement made, opinion expressed, or conclusions drawn as recorded in this report.
It only signifies the acceptance of the report for the purpose it has been submitted.

__________________________ ____________________________
External Examiner Er. Debashis Sahu
Head of Department of Electrical
Engineering
GKCET, JEYPORE, Odisha.
 3

DECLARATION

I declare that this project report titled VOLTAGE STABILITY IMPROVEMENT

USING STATCOM WITH SUPER CAPACITOR submitted in partial fulfillment of
the degree of B. Tech in (Electrical Engineering) is a record of original work carried
out by me under the supervision of Er. Debashis Sahu, and has not formed the basis for
the award of any other degree or diploma, in this or any other Institution or University. In
keeping with the ethical practice in reporting scientific information, due
acknowledgements have been made wherever the findings of others have been cited.

GKCET, Jeypore AMITABHA SARKAR

Date: Regd. No.: 2221228005
 4

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I express my deepest gratitude to my project guide Er. Debashis Sahu whose encouragement,
guidance, and support from the initial to the final level enabled me to develop an understanding of the
subject also for providing his invaluable advice and for providing me with an environment to complete my
project successfully.
I am deeply indebted to all faculty members of Electrical Engineering Department, Gopal Krishna
College of Engineering and Technology, Jeypore, for their help in making the project a successful one.
Finally, I take this opportunity to extend my deep appreciation to my family and friends, for all that
they meant to me during the crucial times of the completion of my project.

AMITABHA SARKAR
Regd. No.- 2221228005
 5

Table of Content

SL.
CONTENT PAGES
NO.

1 INTRODUCTION 7

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR STATCOM PLUS

2 8
SCESS

3 DEIGNING COMPONENTS OF THE SYSTEM: 12

4 WORKING PRINCIPLE OF STATCOM 17

5 WORKING OF STATCOM 18

6 SIMULATION SCENARIOS 19

7 CONCLUSION 20

8 REFERENCE 22
 6

ABSTRACT

To maintain voltage stability of a power system, STATCOM is better solution which can provide
the required amount of reactive power under various power system disturbances. This paper proposes a
solution to enhance the performance of the STATCOM by adding supercapacitor which is a energy storage
device to DC link of the conventional STATCOM. With the fast charge or discharge characteristics of the
supercapacitor, the enhanced STATCOM can absorb and eject real and reactive power to the AC Power
Grid instantaneously. In addition, this paper also proposes that the enhanced STATCOM can be applied to
reduce instability and tripping due to the Rate of Change of Frequency (RCF) protection devices caused by
large load impact. The amount of the energy required for the enhanced STATCOM to maintain the stability
of the system is also discussed. In this paper, Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) with energy
storage system for wind power application has been implemented. This device was proposed to improve
voltage stability and power transmission by offering reactive as well as active power compensation. The
energy storage system used for this application was designed and simulation results were discussed. For
active compensation for wind power, a bank of Super Capacitors for Energy Storage System (SCESS) was
used. The super capacitor bank size was designed and used, based upon the short-term fluctuations in wind
power. These fluctuations are results of constructional factors of the turbines, variation and turbulence in the
wind. A super capacitor bank was interface with the DC bus of the STATCOM with the normal half bridge
boost converter, to convert voltage level of the bank while maintaining a constant DC bus voltage for good
switching operation in the VSC.

Keywords: STATCOM, Supercapacitor, Voltage profile, power losses.

 7

CHAPTER 1
GENERAL INTRODUCTION

I. INTRODUCTION

STATCOM with supercapacitor which was demonstrated the change of dynamic and
transient dependability and transmission capacity of the power system. Energy
storage type STATCOM controls both active and reactive power absorption/injection to
the power system. In a new structure of STATCOM with Super capacitors for improved
power system dependability was designed to improve the voltage and system
stability. For many cases in AC Power Systems disturbance during transient
conditions, the lack of real power support from system compensators may lead to the
failure due to low stability margins. A STATCOM with the ability to support both
reactive and real power dynamically can provide significant improvement to the
security of AC Power Systems, even if the real power is only supported for a short
period of time.

The main objectives of this paper are summarized as below:

1) To investigate the use of the STATCOM with energy storage for improving the
stability within the system.
2) To investigate the Super Capacitor Energy Storage System (SCESS) applied for
enhancing the performance of the conventional
STATCOM.
3) To demonstrate the benefits of an AC Power System using the enhanced STATCOM
with SCESS.

A STATCOM is a reactive power compensator that exhibits a good dynamic

response with a wide control of bandwidth and the capability of providing higher
currents at low voltage levels. It is also desirable to use a STATCOM due to the
possibility of working with decoupled control of the DC-link voltage and the reactive
current. To compensate the voltage, drop which is occurring across the AC
transmission lines, lines which are compensated using shunt connected capacitors.
Voltage compensation across AC transmission lines is one of the most notable
advantages of STATCOM which replaces all the previous methods. The STATCOM is
delivering the adequate amount of reactive power for dynamic voltage compensation.
For this dynamic compensation STATCOM is controlling its three-phase amplitude and
phase angle on AC side. STATCOM acts as either inductor or capacitor while absorbing
 8

or injecting reactive power. STATCOM acts as an inductor while current flowing from
AC side to capacitor and acts as capacitor while current flowing from capacitor to AC
side. A capacitor with high capacity is used in STATCOM to deliver the adequate
amount of DC power to the voltage source converter. Small signal transient stability
and voltage stability of the system is achieved during Power System operations.
However, one of the main drawbacks is the low energy density on the DC link
capacitor installed in the STATCOM; this limits the reactive and active power
capability of the STATCOM. An improved version of the STATCOM is called the
STATCOM + ES (Energy Storage). This variant includes a storage device, usually
batteries, Supercapacitors etc. The storage device provides more capabilities to the
STATCOM, such as power oscillation damping or mitigation of phase-jump-related
disturbances. Moreover, the STATCOM + ES can be used for reactive compensation
when Low Voltage Ride Through system (LVRT) is implemented.

CHAPTER 2

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR STATCOM PLUS SCESS

As the inverter and the DC-DC converter used in this paper are designed for utilizing the
supercapacitors energy, the supercapacitor terminal voltage (Vsc) is then considered as the dominant rating
that further defines the other voltage limitations. In order to make the use of the supercapacitor for the
STATCOM, the bi-directional DC-DC converter is placed in between the supercapacitor modules and the
STATCOM, with one side connected to the supercapacitor unit and the other side connected to the
STATCOM's DC-link capacitor. This converter is designed to keep the DC-link voltage constant at 400V by
operating at a duty ratio of about 0.5 the optimum point where the stored energy can be extracted from the
supercapacitors by the DC-DC converter. With this optimized operating point, as the DC-DC converter is
interfaced to the STATCOM's DC-link capacitor, this DC link capacitor is therefore rated at Vdc link=
400V. To operate the STATCOM with the ability to inject power to the AC power grid, three-phase PWM
voltage should have a higher magnitude than the three phase power supply voltage. With the DC-link
voltage fixed at 400V, a step-down transformer (rating 415V/110 V 4kVA) must be used to lower the supply
voltage as shown in Figure, ensuring that the operation of the inverter, by the PWM technique, will be in
linear region and will not reach over modulation. The voltage at the point of common coupling in this
 9

research is therefore set to be Vpcc=110V (line-to-line RMS voltage).

The design of a STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator) integrated with SCESS

(Supercapacitor Energy Storage System) involves several considerations to ensure that both systems work in
harmony to improve power quality, voltage regulation, and system stability. Here are the key design
considerations:
1. Power System Requirements

 Voltage Support: STATCOM is primarily used to provide voltage regulation by injecting reactive
power into the system. The design must account for the voltage control range and reactive power
capacity needed for the system.

 Active Power Support: SCESS provides active power support during transient disturbances, so its
energy and power ratings should match the system’s dynamic performance requirements.

 Response Time: STATCOM has a fast response time, typically in milliseconds. SCESS should be
designed with a similarly fast response to support transient stability events.

2. Integration of STATCOM and SCESS

 Coordination between STATCOM and SCESS: The control strategy should ensure smooth
coordination between the reactive power support from STATCOM and the active power support
from SCESS. Proper coordination ensures optimal system performance during voltage dips or other
disturbances.

 Power Electronics Interface: A common voltage-source inverter (VSI) or separate VSIs can be
used for STATCOM and SCESS. In both cases, the control strategy should manage the energy
exchange efficiently without causing interference.

3. Control Strategy

 Reactive Power Control (STATCOM): The STATCOM control system should regulate reactive
power to maintain system voltage. Typically, a PI controller or advanced control techniques like
fuzzy logic or neural networks may be used for precision.
 10

 Active Power Control (SCESS): The SCESS control must ensure that energy is supplied or
absorbed based on system conditions, like during load changes or faults. A bi-directional control
algorithm is necessary for charging and discharging supercapacitors

.
 Energy Management System (EMS): An EMS is needed to manage the state of charge (SOC) of
the supercapacitors and ensure they are ready to supply power when needed. The EMS should also
handle the charging cycles efficiently to prevent overcharging and degradation.

4. Supercapacitor Sizing and Energy Capacity

 Energy Storage Sizing: The energy capacity of the supercapacitors must be adequate to support
transient events, but over-sizing can increase costs. The design should consider the duration and
magnitude of typical disturbances in the grid.

 Lifetime and Durability: Supercapacitors have a high cycle life but are sensitive to voltage
fluctuations and temperature. Proper thermal management and control of operating voltage ranges
are critical for extending lifespan.

 Voltage Matching: The voltage levels of the SCESS must match the DC-link voltage of the inverter
in the STATCOM system.

5. Thermal Management

 Both the STATCOM and SCESS systems generate heat, particularly during peak load periods. The
design should include appropriate cooling mechanisms to prevent overheating, such as liquid cooling
or forced air cooling, depending on the size of the system.

6. Grid Integration

 Harmonics and Filtering: The VSI in both STATCOM and SCESS introduces harmonics into the
system. Proper filtering techniques, such as the use of passive or active filters, are required to
mitigate these harmonics and maintain power quality.
 11

 Fault Ride-Through Capability: The system should be designed with fault ride-through
capabilities to ensure that it remains operational during grid faults or disturbances. The SCESS can
provide active power during these events to maintain stability.

 Modularity and Scalability: Designing the system to be modular allows for easier expansion and
maintenance. This is particularly important if the grid is expected to grow or if more energy storage
is needed in the future.

7. Cost and Efficiency

 Cost-Effective Design: The choice of components, such as power converters and supercapacitors,
impacts the overall cost. Efficiency should be maximized to minimize losses and operational costs,
but trade-offs between cost and performance should be carefully evaluated.

 Energy Efficiency: Supercapacitors have high efficiency (typically over 90%), but the inverter and
other power electronics introduce losses. Minimizing conversion losses in the power electronics is
essential for overall system efficiency.

8. Reliability and Redundancy

 Redundancy: For critical applications, designing redundancy in both STATCOM and SCESS
systems can improve reliability and ensure continuous operation, even in the event of a component
failure.

 Protection Schemes: Adequate protection must be provided for both STATCOM and SCESS.
Overcurrent, overvoltage, and thermal protection are crucial to ensure safe operation and longevity.

9. Compliance with Standards

 The design should comply with relevant electrical standards and grid codes (e.g., IEEE, IEC) to
ensure compatibility with grid requirements. STATCOM and SCESS systems may need to meet
standards for power quality, fault ride-through, and voltage stability.
 12

10. System Simulation and Testing

 Modeling and Simulation: Prior to implementation, the combined STATCOM and SCESS system
should be thoroughly modeled and simulated to assess dynamic performance. Simulations should
cover fault conditions, transient stability, and load variations.

 Prototyping and Testing: Building prototypes for laboratory testing is critical to evaluate the real-
world performance of the system, including efficiency, response time, and robustness under different
scenarios.

CHAPTER 3

DEIGNING COMPONENTS OF THE SYSTEM

1. STATCOM

STATCOM has been used in Electrical Power Systems as a shunt-connected compensator for voltage
support and to improve power quality. Compared with the conventional compensators such as the
synchronous condenser and the Static Var Compensator, the STATCOM has a faster speed of response to
deal with dynamic and transient impacts. Although the STATCOM is capable of reactive power support to
improve power quality, the ability to support real power is limited due to the insufficient energy storage
capability of the conventional DC-link capacitor. Therefore, STATCOM performance is improved by using
energy storage element Supercapacitor. STATCOMs have been used to provide reactive power at a PCC in a
transmission network or distribution network for different purposes e.g., control of voltage, load
compensation and addressing LVRT; the most relevant feature is its capability of injecting a controllable
reactive current independent of the grid voltage. A STATCOM is formed by a DC/AC converter, a capacitor
on the DC side and a reactor on the AC side for filtering the high frequency components related to Insulated
Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) commutation. The main function of that capacitor is to help to stabilize the
DC voltage. This power electronic device is based on the voltage source converter principle. Usually, the
control implemented for simulation is a Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) based in dq coordinates that allows
the decoupling between the real and the reactive power.
 13

Figure 1: Typical scheme of a STATCOM based on VSI, voltage source inverter.

2. Energy storage system

 14

In wind farms, not only the reactive power, but also the active power is fluctuating. These fluctuations
should be controlled, in order to obtain a more stable power system, both with regards to the power
transmission and voltage. For this purpose, the STATCOM with an energy storage systems have been
proposed in several different techniques for storing energy are available, each having their advantages and
disadvantages regarding lifetime, power density and energy density: Batteries, fly-wheels, super capacitors
and super conducting inductors. The literature considers normally battery energy storage systems, while
some newer, also take into consideration the super capacitors. Due to the power fluctuations in a wind farm,
there is a need for high power for a short period in order to maintain a stable voltage. For this purpose, the
super capacitor is the most suitable choice, offering high power density, while the energy density is low,
compared to for instance batteries. Since the purpose of the device is not to store energy, but smoothen out
the active power fluctuations, this is an acceptable trade-off. In addition, the high numbers of cycles the
super capacitors can handle are also favourable. By adding the energy storage element, the STATCOM can
draw and inject both active and reactive power, adding an additional degree of freedom to the system. By
doing so, the power quality is improved. The demanded size of the energy storage system is depending on
the demanded control of the power fluctuations. A sensitive control will demand for a higher energy
capacity than a rough one.

3. DC/DC-converter for super capacitor

The super capacitor bank needs an interface for the connection to the DC bus. This could span from a
simple inductance to filter out the most severe ripples, to a full bridge DC/DC-converter. The choice
 15

depends very much on the demanded size of the energy storage, as the cost (and size) of the converter
should be compared to that of the super capacitors. The general system, seen from the super capacitor bank
is presented in fig.2.The variable load will in the case treated in this text be the grid interfaced with the VSC
of the STATCOM.

Figure 2: General super capacitor system

A half-bridge buck boost converter is presented. This compromises two bidirectional switches, an
inductor and the super capacitor bank. The converter command is a carrier based PWM signal, fed from a
cascaded controller. The innermost controls the current, while the outermost feeds this controller based on
the active power correction needed in the PCC.

4. Two-Level Three Phase Power Converter

The circuit configuration of a two-level Power Converter connected to the AC grid is shown in
Figure 3. In this configuration, for each phase-leg, two switching devices are connected in series (six
switches in total). The two switches in the phase-leg are operated in a complementary way. Thus, at any
instant of time, only one switch is ON, the other one must be OFF. In order to prevent failure if both the
switches are ON at the same time due to the finite transition time of the switches, a small-time delay (i.e.
blanking time or dead time) is normally included in the switching pattern.
 16

Figure 3: The conventional6-pulse grid connected power converter

An example of the resulting voltage produced by a two-level converter is shown in Figure 4 (circuit
without neutral point) where the conduction of the switch in each phase leg is set to 50% duty ratio. When
the upper switch (Sa, S, or Sc) is on, the 'a' terminal is connected to Vdc resulting in the voltage Vao
equaling Vdc. The other phase legs are connected in the same way, but with a phase delay of 1200 as in the
standard three-phase ac system. These phase voltages indicate that there are two levels in the voltage
waveforms (Vdc and zero). The line voltage, for example Yah, is determined by measuring the voltage
difference between terminal 'a' and 'b' which is equal Vab =Vao-Vbo indicating in the top trace of Figure 4.
 17

Figure 4: Phase and line voltage of the 2-1evel DC-to-AC converter

The top trace of Figure 4 shows that the resulting line voltage is a 3-level voltage waveform (Vdc-
zero and -Vdc). It can be summarized that the levels of line voltage can be determined by (2M -1) where M
is the number of levels of the phase voltage.
 18

CHAPTER 4

WORKING PRINCIPLE OF STATCOM

In this project, a voltage source converter is adopted for use as the main component of the STATCOM. The
power circuit diagram of the STATCOM based on a voltage source converter is illustrated in Figure 5,
where six IGBTs with its anti-parallel diodes and a DC-link capacitor are used to produce the three-phase
voltage. The three-phase inductor Lc is used as the coupling reactor linking the converter to the AC power
grid.

Figure 5: A power circuit diagram of a STATCOMs

The basic principle of operation is that the amplitude and phase of the converter voltage is controlled
with respect to the measured ac power grid voltage. This can only be achieved if the DC-link voltage is
significantly larger than the peak line-to-line voltage of the AC power grid. The generation of the desired
voltage at the front-end of the converter can be achieved by pulse width modulation. Although the output
voltage of the converter is a high frequency switching waveform, the coupling reactor acts as a filter and
therefore sinusoidal current can be seen flowing in between the AC grid and the STATCOM unit. The
strategies used to achieve instantaneous power control.
 19

CHAPTER 5

WORKING OF STATCOM

At the time when the main load is switched on, the STATCOM quickly reacts to the sudden voltage
drop by supplying the reactive power current (negative Iq) to the AC grid. According to this reactive power
current, the magnitude of Vpcc increases rapidly. Consequently, as Vpcc is controlled by the STATCOM,
the amount of the reactive power injection is therefore reduced proportional to the increase of the magnitude
of Vpcc. due to the STATCOM supplying current to the AC grid, a small drop in the DC-link voltage is
seen, as some energy in the DC-link capacitor is needed to supply losses in the system, for example, the
switching and conduction losses. According to the STATCOM's DC-link voltage control reacting to this
drop in order to maintain the DC-link constant, a small amount of the active power current (LI) is seen.
From the results it can be seen that the STATCOM can be applied as a reactive power flow controller. A
STATCOM, however, with limited amount of stored energy in a conventional DC-link capacitor, cannot
deliver real power to ac grid. Even though the STATCOM can keep the AC bus voltage constant by means
of reactive power injection, most of the load current is being supplied by power source side (generator side).
 20

CHAPTER 6

SIMULATION SCENARIOS

1. Simulation of a power system using a conventional STATCOM

Only to see the benefits of the instantaneous reactive power compensation to the same power system,
the simulation was carried out with a conventional STATCOM connected at Vpcc s-bus. The simulation
results are shown in figure. From the beginning of the test at time t=0sec the STATCOM is enabled,
therefore the DC-link voltage is regulated at the reference level (400Vdc).

Figure 6: Injected/absorbed reactive power and measured/reference voltage for STATCOM without any
energy storage

2. The enhanced STATCOM with Supercapacitors

With the aim to enhance the performance of the STATCOM, the Supercapacitor Energy Storage
System (SCESS) has been designed and built interfacing to the STATCOM's DC-link capacitor. In the
design for the two-mode control of the SCESS (buck and boost modes), the small-signal model representing
the change in the supercapacitor voltage related to the change in the reference for the supercapacitor current
has been derived and applied in the buck mode controller design, while the relation of the change in the DC-
link voltage and the change in the reference for the supercapacitor current has been derived and applied in
the boost mode controller design. The improved performance of the enhanced STATCOM, the STATCOM
plus SCESS, has been confirmed by the simulation and the experimental results. The STATCOM plus
SCESS has a superior performance over the standard STATCOM, it can provide both real and reactive
power to the ac grid immediately, while the standard STATCOM can provide only the reactive power. It can
be summarized that the enhanced STATCOM can control the support current effectively in all four
quadrants, which will be the benefit for the AC power system stability improvement.
 21

Figure 7: Injected/absorbed reactive power and measured/reference voltage for STATCOM with super
capacitor
 22

CHAPTER 7

CONCLUSION

In this paper, the advantages of supercapacitor energy storage have been discussed as the reason for
selecting the SCESS as the storage device to improve the performance of the STATCOM. The control of the
proposed STATCOM enhanced with supercapacitors (STATCOM plus SCESS) is presented. The
simulations verify that the combination of the STATCOM and the SCESS can store and supply the energy
instantaneously to the AC grid. Therefore, in terms of frequency stability, this ability can be used as the
complement for the frequency variation due to the slow response of generator, and therefore to improve the
transient stability of the AC system.
 23

REFERENCES

[1] The European Wind Energy Association. Annual Report 2012; European Wind Energy Association:
Brussels, Belgium, 2012.
[2] Energized Regulation TF 3.2.5 Wind Turbines Connected to Grids with Voltages above 100kV.Eltra:
http://www.energinet.dk/SiteCollectionDocuments/Engelske documenter/El/Grid Code 3.2.5 Wind Turbines
connected above 100
kV.Pdf (accessed on 10 May 2013).
[3] National Grid Electricity Transmission Public Limited Company. The grid code, issue 5, Revision 11.
Available online:
http://www2.nationalgrid.com/UK/Industry-information/Electricity-codes/Grid-code/The-Grid-code/ ac
[4] A. Ghosh and G. Ledwich, Power quality enhancement using custom power devices. Boston; London,:
Kluwer Academic,
2002.
[5] N. G. Hingorani, L. Gyugyi, E. Institute of, and E. Electronics, Understanding FACTS: concepts and
technology of flexible
AC transmission systems. New York, N.Y.: IEEE Press, 2000.
[6] R.Meinski, R.Pawelek and I.Wasiak, “Shunt Compensation For Power Quality Improvement Using a
STATCOM controller
Modelling and Simulation”, IEEE Paper, Volume 151, No.March 2004.