Analytical Approaches on Optimal Placement of STATCOM Under Contingency Occasions

Electrical power utilities nowadays are facing various challenges with emerging technologies that leads to increase in demand on electrical power. Due to the aging grid infrastructure, existing power transmission networks are forced to operate at near critical point which could cause tripping in transmission lines and potentially lead to cascading outages and blackout. During this point, voltage at some buses drop below the lower voltage limit and the system power loss is significantly high. Constructing new power system networks or expanding existing networks is a must to accommodate the impact of ever-increasing demand. However, this consumes a lot of time and money. This can be alleviated by integrating Flexible Alternating Current Transmission System (FACTS) devices in the existing transmission system. In order to ensure investment feasibility, the location of FACTS devices in the network is essential. In this study, several analytical approaches using loss sensitivity factor (LSF), real power performance indicator (PI), voltage profile index (VPI) and power loss index (PLI) is carried out to examine the optimal location of Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) in the power system. The proposed analytical approaches were examined using the IEEE 14 bus and IEEE 30 bus benchmark test systems in DigSILENT PowerFactory 18.