International Journal of Electronics, Electrical and Computational System

IJEECS
ISSN 2348-117X
Volume 3, Issue 5
June 2014

Power Quality enhancement of a distribution line with

DSTATCOM
Divya Parashar1
Department of Electrical Engineering
BSACET Mathura INDIA
Aseem Chandel2 SMIEEE,Deepak Parashar3 Department of Electrical Engineering
BSACET Mathura INDIA

Abstract- Power quality problem is manifested

as a nonlinear voltage, current or frequency that
results in a failure or a
mis-operation of enduser equipments. In industrial applications, an
induction motor may be considered as a linear
load in steady state operation. It is now
equipped with a diode rectifier and inverter for
the purpose of achieving adjustable-speed
control, then it is no longer a linear load. Most
of the modern equipment behaves as non-linear
load injecting a significant amount of harmonic
current to the power network. This paper
presents a study on the modeling of
DSTATCOM used for reactive power
compensation on a distribution network. The
DSTATCOM is controlled using decoupled
theory using the PI controller. This model does
not represent system harmonics, but the
dynamics resulting from control system and
power system interactions. The power circuits of
DSTATCOM and the distribution network are
modeled from the SimPowerSystems on a 25 kV
network is evaluated and results are discussed
for variable load switching.
KeywordsDSTATCOM, Power Quality, VSC
I.INTRODUCTION
Electricity suppliers are nowadays concerned
about the quality of the power delivered to
customers. Power quality is an important
issue in the local distribution system with the
increased penetration of nonlinear loads due
to their harmonic current injection into the

grid. With the development of power

electronics, several solutions have been
proposed to compensate for the fluctuations
observed on the distribution networks in
order to ensure highest possible power
quality for the customers [2]. In early 1980s,
Hingorani introduced the term Custom
Power Devices for the power quality issues.
Mainly Custom Power Devices are classified
into three categories by their structures such
as Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR),
Distribution STATCOM (DSTATCOM) and
Unified Power Quality Compensator
(UPQC).
.
The FACTS devices and Custom Power
Devices are introduced to improve the power
quality of the current and voltage. The
flexible ac transmission technology allows a
greater control of power flow. Since these
devices provide
very fast power swing damping, the power
transmission lines can be securely loaded up
to their thermal limits. In a similar way power
electronic devices can be applied to the
power distribution systems to increase the
reliability and the quality of power supplied
to the customers. The technology of the
application of power electronics to power
distribution system for the benefit of the
customer or group of customers is called
Custom Power (CP) since through this

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Divya Parashar, Aseem Chandel, Deepak Parashar

International Journal of Electronics, Electrical and Computational System

IJEECS
ISSN 2348-117X
Volume 3, Issue 5
June 2014

technology the utilities can supply valueadded power to these specific customers [5].
The custom power devices are basically of
two types-network
reconfiguring type and
compensating type. The compensating
devices are used for active filtering; load
balancing, power factor correction and
voltage regulation. Some of these devices are
used as load compensators, i.e., in this mode
they correct the unbalance and distortions in
the load currents such that compensated load
draws a balanced sinusoidal current from the
ac system.
These Power Quality Devices (PQ devices)
are power electronic converters connected in
parallel or in series with the lines and the
operation is controlled by a digital controller
[1]-[4].The DSTATCOM is commonly used
for voltage sags mitigation and harmonic
elimination at the point of connection. The
interaction between the PQ device and the
network is preferably studied by simulation
II.
DESCRIPTION
DSTATCOM OPERATION

OF

THE

DSTATCOM is a shunt device that controls the

system voltage by absorbing or generating
reactive power. DSTATCOM connected to a
typical distribution network represented by an
equivalent network Fig.1.The Distribution
Static Compensator (DSTATCOM) is a voltage
source PWM inverter based static compensator
(similar in many respects to the DVR) that is
used for the correction of bus voltage sags. It is
connected (shunt) to the distribution network
through a transformer. The dc link voltage is
provided by the capacitor C which is charged
by the power taken from the network. The
control system ensures the regulation of the bus
voltage and the dc link voltage. The
DSTATCOM is used to regulate the bus voltage
on a 25-kV distribution network by absorbing
or generating reactive power to the network.
This reactive power transfer is done through the
leakage reactance of the coupling transformer

by using a secondary voltage in phase with the

primary voltage (network side).This voltage is
provided by a voltage source PWM inverter.

25 kV
100
MVA

B
1

Feed
er

PWM
Inverter

B
2

C
2 MW
0.5
MVAr

1
MW
Contr
ol
Contr
Syste
m ol
Input

Fig.1. DSTATCOM connected to a distribution

network
The DSTATCOM continuously checks the line
waveform with respect to a reference ac signal,
and therefore, it provides the correct amount of
leading or lagging reactive current compensation
to reduce the amount of voltage fluctuations. The
major components of a DSTATCOM consists of
a dc capacitor, inverter modules, an ac filter, a
transformer to match the inverter output to the
line voltage, and a PWM control strategy. The
DSTATCOM operation is illustrated by the
phasor diagrams shown in Fig.2. When the
secondary voltage (VS) is lower than the bus
voltage (VB), the DSTATCOM acts like an
inductance absorbing reactive power from the
bus. When the secondary voltage (VS) is higher
than the bus voltage (VB), the DSTATCOM acts
like a capacitor generating reactive power to the
bus.
X
Q
DSTATCOM
X

BU
S

Q
DSTATCOM

BU
S

Fig.2. DSTATCOM as Inductor and Capacitor

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Divya Parashar, Aseem Chandel, Deepak Parashar

International Journal of Electronics, Electrical and Computational System

IJEECS
ISSN 2348-117X
Volume 3, Issue 5
June 2014

The DSTATCOM has various advantages as

compared to conventional Static VAr
Compensator (SVC) using thyristors. It is faster
and can produce reactive power at low voltage.
III. MODELING OF DSTATCOM
The DSTATCOM is commonly used for voltage
sags mitigation and harmonic elimination at the
point of common coupling. The VSC generates a
three-phase ac output which is controllable in
phase and magnitude. These currents are injected
into the ac distribution system in order to
maintain the load voltage at the desired voltage
reference. We consider here a DSTATCOM
connected to a 25-kV distribution line. Fig.3
shows the simulation model of the distribution
line with DSTATCOM.
The feeding system is represented by a Thevenin
equivalent (bus B1) followed by a 25- km feeder
which is modeled by a pi-equivalent circuit
connected to bus B2. Another feeding system of
5- km is connected between B2 and B3. Both
feeders transmit power to loads connected at
buses B2 and B3.At bus B2, a 2-MW load is
connected, which is a shunt capacitor and helps
for power factor correction.
The 600 V load connected to bus B3 through a
25 kV/600 V step-down transformer represents a
plant absorbing continuously changing currents,
similar to an arc furnace, thus producing voltage
flicker. The variable inductive and capacitive
loads are switched using circuit breakers so that
its apparent power varies approximately between
1 MVA and 5 MVA, while keeping a 0.9 lagging
power factor and simulation results are
evaluated.

the distribution system. The primary of this

transformer is fed by a voltage source PWM
inverter consisting of a 3 arm, 6 pulse IGBT
bridge. The PWM inverter is replaced on the AC
side with three equivalent voltage sources
averaged over one cycle of the switching
frequency (1.68 kHz)..On the DC side, the
inverter is modeled by a current source charging
the DC capacitor. The DC current Idc is
computed so that the instantaneous power at the
AC inputs of the inverter remains equal to the
instantaneous power at the DC output.
(Va*Ia+ Vb*Ib+ Vc*Ic= Vdc* Idc).
A 10000 F capacitor is used as dc voltage
source for the inverter. LC damped filter is
connected at the inverter output to absorb
harmonics and resistances connected in series
with capacitors provide a quality factor of 40 at
50 Hz. The dc voltage (Vdc) is measured and sent
to the controller as well as the three phase
terminal voltages (Vabc) and the injected three
phase currents (Iabc). Va, Vb and Vc are voltages
at converter output.
For the DSTATCOM when the simulation starts,
the DC capacitor starts charging. This requires Id
component corresponding to the active power
absorbed by the capacitor. When the DC voltage
reaches its reference value, the Id component
drops to a value very close to zero and the Iq
component stays at the 1 pu reference value. In
the case of the DSTATCOM, a constant dc
source is provided across the capacitor for
charging the capacitor to dc voltage reference
value.

PWM Based Model of VSC

DSTATCOM is a voltage source converter
connected in shunt with the distribution system
by means of a 25 kV/1.25 kV coupling
transformer connected to compensate the load
current and ensures coupling between the PWM
inverter and the network. The DSTATCOM
output is coupled in parallel with the distribution
system through a step-up transformer to maintain
isolation between the DSTATCOM circuit and

Fig. 3 Simulink model of DSTATCOM and the

distribution network

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Divya Parashar, Aseem Chandel, Deepak Parashar

International Journal of Electronics, Electrical and Computational System

IJEECS
ISSN 2348-117X
Volume 3, Issue 5
June 2014

P
L
L
ab
c d
q
0 dro

dq0
P
I

op
P
I
P
I

P
I

a
b
c

Fig. 4 Voltage Controller of DSTATCOM

Voltage Controller of DSTATCOM
The voltage controller of the DSTATCOM
consists of several components: a phase- locked
loop (PLL), abc_to_dq0 (and dq0_to_abc)
transformation and PI regulators. The aim of the
control scheme is to maintain constant voltage
magnitude at the point where sensitive loads are
connected, under system disturbances. The
voltage controller analyzed in this work is
exhibited in Fig.4, which employs the dq0
rotating reference frames.
In this figure, Vabc represents the three-phase
terminal voltages, Iabc represents the three-phase
currents injected by the devices into the
network, Vrms is the r.m.s terminal voltage, Vdc
is the dc voltage measured in the capacitor and
the superscripts (*) indicate reference values.
PLL is used to synchronize the three-phase
voltages at the converter output with the zero
crossings of the fundamental component of the
phase-A terminal voltage. Therefore, the PLL
provides the angle to the abc-to-dq0 (and dq0to-abc) transformation. There are also four PI
regulators. The first regulator is responsible for
controlling the terminal voltage through the
reactive power exchange with the ac network.
This PI regulator provides the reactive current
reference Iq*, which is limited between +1 pu
capacitive and -1 pu inductive. This regulator
has one droop characteristic, usually 5%,
which allows the terminal voltage to suffer only

small variations. Another PI regulator is

responsible for keeping constant the dc voltage
through a small active power exchange with the
ac network, compensating the active power
losses in the transformer and inverter. This PI
regulator provides the active current reference
Id*.The other two PI regulators determine
voltage reference Vd* and Vq*, which are sent to
the PWM signal generator of the converter, after
a dq0-to-abc transformation. Finally, Vabc* are
the three-phase voltages desired at the converter
output.
IV. SIMULATING THE DSTATCOM
OPERATION
Mitigation of Voltage Flicker
The voltage of the Programmable Voltage
Source will be kept constant and variable load is
enabled so that we can observe how the
DSTATCOM will mitigate voltage flicker. The
DSTATCOM controller at the Q Regulation
mode of operation behaves as floating and
performs no voltage correction. Running the
simulation and observing on Scope 3 variations
of P and Q at bus B3( trace 1) in Figure 5. as
well as at buses B1 and B3 (trace 2) in Figure 6.
Without DSTATCOM, B3 voltage varies
between 0.96 pu and 1.04 pu (+/- 4% variation).
Now, in the DSTATCOM Controller, change the
"Mode of operation" parameter back to "Voltage
regulation" and restart simulation. Observe on
Scope 3 that voltage fluctuation at bus B3 is now
reduced to +/- 0.7 %. The DSTATCOM
compensates voltage by injecting a reactive
current modulated at 5 Hz (trace 3 of Scope3)
and varying between 0.6 pu capacitive when
voltage is low and 0.6 pu inductive when voltage
is high.
DSTATCOM dynamic response
The variable load will be kept constant and you
will observe the dynamic response of a
DSTATCOM to step changes in source voltage.
The Programmable Voltage Source block is used
to modulate the internal voltage of the 25 kV
equivalent. The voltage is first programmed at

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Divya Parashar, Aseem Chandel, Deepak Parashar

International Journal of Electronics, Electrical and Computational System

IJEECS
ISSN 2348-117X
Volume 3, Issue 5
June 2014

1.077 pu in order to keep the DSTATCOM

initially floating (B3 voltage=1 pu and reference
voltage Vref=1 pu). Three steps are programmed
at 0.2 s, 0.3 s, and 0.4 s to successively increase
the source voltage by 5%, decrease it by 5% and
bring it back to its initial value (1.077 pu).

s, the source voltage is decreased by 5% from

the value corresponding to Q = 0. The
DSTATCOM must generate reactive power to
maintain a 1 pu voltage (Q changes from +2.5
MVAr to -2.6 MVAr).

Fig. 5 Q Regulation mode of operation

Fig. 7 Scope 1 representing DSTATCOM
current

Fig. 6 Voltage Regulation mode of operation

After starting the simulation we will observe on
Scope1 the phase A voltage and current
waveforms of the DSTATCOM as well as
controller signals on Scope2. After a transient
lasting approximately 0.09 sec., the steady state
is reached. Initially, the source voltage is such
that the DSTATCOM is inactive. It does not
absorb nor provide reactive power to the
network. At, t = 0.2 s, the source voltage is
increased
by
5%.
The
DSTATCOM
compensates for this voltage increase by
absorbing reactive power from the network
(Q=+2.5 MVAr on trace 2 of Scope2). At t = 0.3

Fig. 8 Dynamic performance of DSTATCOM

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Divya Parashar, Aseem Chandel, Deepak Parashar

International Journal of Electronics, Electrical and Computational System

IJEECS
ISSN 2348-117X
Volume 3, Issue 5
June 2014

V. CONCLUSION
An average model of DSTATCOM has been
developed and implemented using of
SimPowerSystems and presented the case of a
2.5 MVAr DSTATCOM connected to a 25
kV distribution network. The obtained
simulation results have been demonstrated the
validity of the developed model. Average
modeling allows a faster simulation which is
well suited to the controller tuning purposes.
VI. REFERENCES
1) K. K. Sen, STATCOM: Theory,
Modeling, Applications, in IEEE PES
1999 Winter Meeting Proceedings, pp
1177-1183.
2) Flexible AC Transmission Systems
(FACTS), edited by Y.H. Song and A.I.

Johns, The Institution of

Engineers, London, UK, 1999.

Electrical

3) K.V. Patil, et al., Application of

STATCOM for Damping Torsional
Oscillations in Series Compensated AC
Systems, IEEE Trans. On Energy
Conversion, Vol 13, No. 3,Sept 1998,pp
237-243.
4) C.D Schauder, H. Mehta, Vector Analysis
Advanced Static VAR Compensators,
IEEE Proceedings. C, Vol. 140, No. 4, July
1993,pp 299-306.
5) N. G. Hingorani, Introducing Custom
Power , IEEE Spectrum, Vol. 32, No. 6,
pp. 41-48,1995.
6) T. J. E. Miller Reactive Power Control in
Electric Systems, John Wiley, New York,
198

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