Stabilization of wind firm integrated Hybrid Power System by using STATCOM

Abstract

This study deals with the stabilization of grid connected wind farms. Operation of wind turbines has an impact on the power quality and reliability at the connected electric network. Power quality problems such as voltage flicker and harmonic distortion along with reliability issues are some major concern and in this work the flicker & harmonics issues are considered. Wind turbine connected to an induction generator and synchronous generator is modeled using PSCAD software to analyze power quality and reliability problems. Due to continuously varying wind speed components, the active and reactive power along with terminal voltage fluctuates continuously. A new type of static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) unit is developed to inject reactive power by switching IGBT(s) to mitigate power quality problems and to get stable grid operation. By connecting proposed Electro-Mechanical Switched Capacitor (EMSC) based STATCOM into the grid, reactive power and terminal voltage can be controlled effectively with varying wind speed.