Harmonic Compensation using D-STATCOM in

Combination with Renewable Energy Sources to

Enhance Power Quality

Abstract-

K. Bala Nikilesh

P. Nageswara Rao

PG Student, Department of EEE

GITAM University
Visakhapatnam, India
nikileshkaranam@gmail.com

Assistant Professor, Department of EEE

GITAM University
Visakhapatnam, India
nnageshmtech@gmail.com

In this paper, distribution static compensator is

used to compensate the source currents which are affected by the

harmonics due to unbalanced and non-linear loads. Here a PV
based inverter is used as a shunt active power filter to mitigate
the current harmonics. The theory of synchronous reference
frame is used to generate the three phase reference currents.
Hysteresis current controller (HCC) is used to generate the
switching pulses for the gate drives of the grid interfacing
inverter. The inverter act as a shunt active power filters to inject
the compensated current to the system. The total harmonic
distortion (THDs) of the source currents are reduced by using
shunt active power filter (APF). The THDs of the distribution
system with and without APF are compared. The whole work is
been done in MATLAB/SIMULINK.

Keywords-Active power filter (APF), distribution static

compensator, hysteresis current controller (HCC), total harmonic
distortion (THD).
1. INTRODUCTION

Fossil fuels are our main source of energy and they are
depleting. Fossil fuels are non renewable and environmentally
damaging. Due to increasing air pollution, global warming
concerns, diminishing fossil fuels and their increasing cost
have made it necessary to look towards renewable sources as a
future energy solution [1]. There are many Renewable Energy
Sources (RES) such as wind, solar, tidal power, biomass etc.
Solar energy has great potential to supply energy with
minimum impact on the environment, since it is clean and
pollution free. In finding solutions to overcome a global
energy crisis, the Photo Voltaic (PV) system has attracted
significant attention in recent years. The government is
providing incentives for further increasing the use of grid
connected PV systems. Conventionally, grid connected Photo
Voltaic energy conversion systems are composed of an
inverter. Renewable energy sources (RES) integrated at
distribution system is known as distributed generation (DG).
After generation, we need to integrate it with already existing
power system by using power electronic devices. Generally,
current controlled voltage source inverters are used to
interface the intermittent RES in the distributed system. A few
control strategies for grid connected inverters incorporating
PQ solution have been proposed. The inverter acts as an active

978-1-4799-7678-2/15/$31.00 2015 IEEE

inductor at a certain frequency to absorb the harmonic current

[2]. But the exact calculation of network inductance in real
time is difficult and may decrease the control performance.[4]
A control technique for renewable interfacing inverter based
on p-q theory is proposed. In this work, load and the inverter
current sensing is required to compensate the load current
harmonics.
The extensive use of these non-linear loads causes
harmonic injection into the system which affects the quality of
the power supply [3]. These harmonics current causes
problems like equipment overheating, supplementary losses,
EMI related issues and damage devices etc. Harmonics are
introduced into the system by diode or thyristor loads. These
harmonics are to be filtered to make the system behavior as
per the proposed operation. In order to eliminate these
harmonics and load devices by using some controlling
techniques like p-q theory. In this work, a Photovoltaic based
inverter is used as a shunt active power filter (APF) to
compensate these current harmonics and current unbalance
due to unbalanced and non-linear loads. This APF is
connected in shunt to the system as it injects current for
harmonic compensation for enhanced power quality. The
recent advances in the power semiconductor technology have
led to the development of high power switches such as IGBTs,
GTOs and thyristors which has enabled the practical
implementation of active power filters. Different types of
active power filters such as shunt, series and shunt
series/series-shunt have evolved (Singh et aI, 1999). These
filters applied to power distribution networks are referred as
custom power devices [5], [3].
Here this PV based inverter is connected in shunt with the
system. Synchronous reference frame theory controlling
technique is used to generate the reference signals. Hysteresis
current controller is used to generate switching pulses to drive
the gates of the PV based grid interfacing inverter. Thus with
the use of the HCC control technique, the inverter will keep
the supply current balanced. Most of the power quality
problems are due to harmonics, unbalance and low power
factors in the load currents. Hence, these problems can be
mitigated using D-STATCOM and it can be implemented
practically.

S t of

3-phase
and

l-ph>lsc
load"

Renewable Sources

4-LeS Grid interfacing

L.n

Fig.l. Schematic diagram of renewable based distribution system

II. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

The above system consists of a photovoltaic cell as a RES
connected to the dc-link of a grid interfacing inverter as shown
in Fig.l. The voltage source inverter (VSI) interfaces the
renewable energy source to the grid and delivers the generated
power.

(1m) with three unit sine vectors (Ua, Uh and Uc) which are in
phase with the three source voltages will generate the
reference current (la *, Ih * and Ie *). The reference grid neutral
current (In *) is set to zero being the instantaneous sum of
balanced grid currents. The synchronizing angle (9) obtained
from phase locked loop (PLL) [I] is used to generate unity
vector template as

Ua= sinCe)

A. Photovoltaic Energy Panel

Uh= sinCe

PV cell is an energy conversion device, which is used to

convert the solar energy into an electrical energy and the
amount of electrical energy produced depends upon solar
irradiation and temperature.
B.

Ue= sinCe +

231C)

(1)
(2)
(3)

Voltage Source Current Controlled Interfacing Inverter

A voltage source current inverter is a power electronic device

which is connected in shunt with the system. The function of
this inverter is to convert the dc voltage into a balanced three
phase ac voltage. If the inverter output voltage is greater than
the existing system voltage then the inverter acts in capacitive
mode. The switching device used in this voltage source
inverter is an IGBT.
C.

231C)

PLL

PI

Unit
Vector
Template

Po
P;

p.
P,

Control Technique for Grid Interfacing Inverter as Shunt

P,

Active power filter

The tum ON and tum OFF instants of the inverter switches

should be such that the load and the connected RES could be
appeared as a balanced load to the system. For this type of
control, we need to monitor the output of dc link capacitor
continuously and is compared with the reference voltage Vde *.
The difference between the reference and actual voltages will
go through a voltage regulator, whose final output gives an
active current component 1m. By multiplying this peak value

Pi

Fig.2. Block diagram of grid interfacing inverter control

The reference grid currents of the three phase system is given

as

(4)

Ib *= 1m
'
I e = 1m

* Ub

* Ue

(5)
(6)

controls the amount of ripple content in the current output

from VSI.
III. SIMULAnON RESULTS

The neutral current is taken as

(7)
The reference grid currents (la *, Ib *and Ie *) are compared with
actual grid currents (la, ,Ib and Ie) to compute the
current
error as

'
Iberr = lb - Ib

Icerr =
D. Hysteresis

'
Ie - Ie

The simulation of the proposed work IS done by

MATLAB/SIMULINK software. The system under various
load conditions is shown as follows
A. Nonlinear Load

(8)
(9)

(10)
Inn: (.;I.,.:)

Current Control

(a)
20 ,-----,-----,

In this work, the hysteresis current control operation is used to

control the operation of the VSI. The gate control signals for
the grid interfacing inverter to act as a shunt active filter for
compensating current harmonics is given by hysteresis current
control signals.

In

10
-

lJJ..I'f.J:
.. ..

.. ... .

. ,..,.wW"!.N.J.,J,..""
...
. MJ
. .W
. ......
..""
." ""
."w.
..-'..LJ
...w.
" .M
..""'
..M
.. .MW..
.. ""
,""",
"'
,
...W,
. ..J..
...,. .LJ

0
:- :----...,0'-:-., 1 -----,1 :------:0-'=2
0 '="=
, ----...,0-',,
05
0-,-,5
, :! 5:----:-'= 0.3------0.
-2 -0'--------:
:-' 35

Tire (sec)

(b)

emu

II

I
I

. I

enlin

I
I
I

2VI/el_

_:

I
I

1_-

(c)

-2Vdc
Fig.3. Wavefonn of Hysteresis Current Control

An error signal laerr is used to control the switches in a voltage

'
source inverter. The difference between the desired current la
and the current being injected by the inverter la is taken as
error. If the error exceeds the upper limit of the band, the
upper switch of the inverter is turned OFF and the lower
switch is turned ON, which implies that the current starts
decreasing. If the error crosses the lower limit of the band, the
lower switch of the inverter is turned OFF and the upper
switch is turned ON, which implies that the current starts
increasing and gets back into the band. The upper and
maximum values of the error signal are emin and emax
respectively. The range of the error signal is emax - emin directly

FigA. Simulation results of Non-linear Load (a) Source Current (b) Load
Current (c) Inverter Current

It can be observed from Fig.4. (a) that from 0 to 0.1 sec the
waveform of source current is non-sinusoidal due to non
linear load. When the inverter is turned ON at 0.1 sec it will
starts compensating the non-sinusoidal current into sinusoidal.
The FFT analysis of the Non-linear load for before and after
compensation can be shown in Fig.5. and Fig.6.
- FFT 8n8I y:o=;i:=;------rund.an"entaJ (001 Ix) = ).G2'J
:>0

. TI ID= 29_01 'Yo

'-'

<>

;:Y-""'-J

1b
10

10n

OO

OO
400
OO
Fp..;4UIIr...;y (HL)

FigS THD of Source Current Before Compensation.

700

The source current before compensation is 29.18%

oo

FF r

:;;n iillySl!lii

FuncJamental (OH z)

- -- . ---4 844

2 0.-__ ----__------__

__-----

--

FFT

analysis

2O r---..----------

--

_,

16_92 . THD= IS_6D%.

Far-l-.:tnl.aI (5 G-f .z) =-

----------------------

10

...

__

'Tl-tD- 3 20%

0 L-0

10
0
200
"
30
O
L4O0
50
0"

m
OB
OO

60o
F,-eqUE!!ncy (HZ)

Fig.8. THO of source current before compensation

Fig.6. THD of source current after compensation

The source current of balanced Non-linear load before

compensation is 16.69%.

The source current after compensation is 3.20%

FFT

B. Balanced Nonlinear Load

anal ysi s
Fundamental

20

-..

(50Hz):iii 4_856 . THD.;;;; 3_77%

15

10

!!'..

100

200

300
400
500
F,.aQuency (Hz)

600

700

800

Fig.9. THD of source current after compensation

line isec)

The source current of balanced Non-linear load after

(a)
"u ,----,--,---,,--,

compensation is 3.77%.

"r' {1t.i I
' !' i ' !
"

C. Unbalanced Non-linear Load

';;' r .." ;
:

20
- [

.Jv
0 [5

0.1

0.15

-ime

(,ee)

0.2

0::5

iN

:..:

,J..;

0.::

0.35

(b)

"

.... ....
. . . :
: . . ... . . :
. .......
.. . . .. . .. . "\. " .....

005

'

.
... . .. :

0.'1

'

'

...

. . :. . ..

O. IS
0.2
Tirrll:: (I:l":)

(a)

.'

C..25

"

'

"

.
. . .. :. . . . . .

'

'

'

'

'

'

'

0.3

'

0.:::5

'

20 ,-----,----,--,

-- ---- ---- -- ---- ---- --

-JU LO

(c)
Fig.7. Simulation results of Balanced Non-linear Load
(a) Source current (b) Load current (c) Inverter current

----Oc-'-, .O"'
E

---,Oc'-.

----O-O.-,,1 O5 -

----O0'-o- .2

Iline 1.::':'(.)

---,Jc-'.2"' 5

---,o-'
O.3O--

O.36

(b)
6,-----.------,-,--.-,,-, --,,-,--,-,,-, --,,-,-,,-,
4

It can be observed from Fig.7. (a) That from 0 to 0.1 sec the
waveform of source current is non-sinusoidal due to balanced
non-linear load. When the inverter is turned ON at 0.1 sec it
will starts compensating the non-sinusoidal current into
sinusoidal. The FFT analysis of the Balanced Non-linear load
before and after compensation can be shown in Fig.8.and
Fig.9. These figures show that there is a reduction in the
harmonic content, when the system is connected with APF.

'1;

-4
L LLL
L L

L
G L
-------- ,0.3_5
- O

Tilne (sec)

(c)
Fig.! O. Simulation results of unbalanced Non-linear Load
(a) Source current (b) Load current (c) Inverter current

It can be observed from Fig.10. (a) That from 0 to 0.1 sec the
waveform of source current is non-sinusoidal due to
unbalanced non-linear load. When the inverter is turned ON at
0.1 sec it will starts compensating the non-sinusoidal current
into sinusoidal. The FFT analysis of the unbalanced Non
linear load before and after compensation can be shown in
Fig.II. and Fig.12.
FFT :an8Iysis =----15

100

200

)00

1400

Frequency

/jOO
(Hz)

II
GOO

700

000

that the active power filter is the best solution to mitigate the
current harmonics due to unbalanced and Non-linear loads.
IV. CONCLUSION
The performance of a shunt active filter is studied by using
multi-function grid interfacing inverter under various load
conditions. The power quality problems like current
harmonics, current unbalance due to unbalanced and non
linear load connected to the PCC is compensated effectively
by using shunt active power filter (APF). The hysteresis
current controller is used to generate the switching pulses for
the gate drives of grid interfacing inverter. The THD of the
source current after compensation is 3.20%, 3.77%, 2.93% for
the proposed loads which is less than 5%, the harmonic limit
imposed by the IEEE-519 & IEC-6000-3 standard.
References

Fig.ll. THO of source current before compensation

The source current of unbalanced non-linear load before

compensation is 21.08%
t-t- I

::.IrI:allys n::: ------FIJnri:lrnr.nt:11

..,

[2] U. Borup, F. Blaabjerg, and P. N. Enjeti, "Sharing of nonlinear load

in parallel-connected three-phase converters," IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl.,
vol. 37, no. 6, pp. 1817-1823, Nov.!Dec. 2001.

(fiOH7) - 4 R41 . THn- ;> 1/n

o
04
0.3

;o.. 0"
g
:=;; 0 '1
0

I_I
200

100

.I . J.I.

)00

400

Frf1IIp.nr.y

'JOO
(H7)

GOO

700

[3] J. H. R. Enslin and P. J. M. Heskes, -Hannonic interaction between a

large number of distributed power inverters and the distribution network,l
IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 19, no. 6, pp. 1586-1593, Nov. 2004.

.1
000

Fig.12. THD of source current after compensation

The source current of unbalanced non-linear load after

compensation is 2.93%
O.

[1] Mukhtiar Singh, Student Member, IEEE, VinodKhadkikar, Member,

IEEE, Ambrish Chandra, Senior Member, IEEE and Rajiv K. Varma,
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Features."IEEE Transactions On Power

THD Analysis of source currents with and without

D-STATCOM

TABLE.I. THD Percentages of source currents due to various loads

Without
APF

With
APF

Non-linear

29.81

3.20

Balanced
Non-linear

16.69

3.77

Unbalanced
Non-linear

21.08

2.93

Loads

Comparison of the source current THO with and without

O-STATCOM is shown in the above table.I. Here we can see
that the THO Percentages of source currents with APF are less
as compared to THO Percentages without APF. This shows

[4] 1. P. Pinto, R. Pregitzer, L. F. C. Monteiro, and 1. L. Afonso, "3-phase

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