The Impact of Using STATCOM for PV Farms Connected with Grid

Abstract

Solar energy is now playing a vital role in electrical distribution networks due to its strong financial benefits. However, the integration of photovoltaic systems can cause issues such as power losses by altering the way power flows through the network. To study the impact of PV penetration, an IEEE 14 bus system is used as a distribution network model. In this study, an IEEE 14 bus Simulink model was created and the reactive power was compensated using STATCOM to minimize overall network losses. Two optimization methods were evaluated, with the AGWO algorithm suggested as the best STATCOM control method. The suggested method first determined the optimal allocation and number of STATCOMs to add, then calculated the appropriate reactive power for each STATCOM using power flow analysis in the MATLAB-Simulink environment. Ultimately, the results showed that using the AGWO algorithm in combination with STATCOMs produced better results than the other technique.