Comparative Study of Reactive Power Compensator Methods for Integration of Renewable Energy Sources

Abstract

The integration of renewable energy sources with power system network brought a number of challenges. One of them is imperfect power quality. The power quality is the primary goal of an electrical power distribution system network. The assessment of demand for reactive power, required for inductive loads, limits the quality of power. In the past, many inductive power compensating techniques were used to control the inductive loads. A flexible alternating current transmission system (FACTS) devices like static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) and voltage source converter (SVC) are the state-of-the-art and the most modern reactive power compensators in order to deal with renewable energy sources. The current paper presents the study of the olden times of reactive power control methods used in the past and state-of-the-art reactive power control method through STATCOM & SVC. This paper also discusses effects of STATCOM and SVC on power system to progress the power quality .i.e. improvement in the power transfer capability of the transmission system and voltage stability for the distribution system.