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International Journal of Electrical, Electronics

and Computer Engineering 2(2): 40-46(2013)

ISSN No. (Online): 2277-2626

Performance Analysis and Comparison of Various FACTS

Devices in Power System
Mukesh Kumar Singh and Nitin Saxena
Department of Electrical Engineering,
Jabalpur Engineering College Jabalpur, (M.P.)
(Received 07 June, 2013, Accepted 05July, 2013)
ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the enhancement in voltage stability margin as well as the improvement
in power transfer capability of transmission line in a power system with the incorporation of Static
Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM), Fixed Capacitor Thyristor Controlled Reactor(FC-TCR and)
Static Synchronous Series Compensator (SSSC). A simple transmission line system is modeled in
MATLAB/SIMULINK environment. The load flow results are first obtained for an uncompensated system,
and the voltage and power (real and reactive power) profiles are studied. The results so obtained are
compared with the results obtained after compensating the system using STATCOM, FC-TCR and SSSC to
show the voltage stability margin enhancement. The results so obtained after simulation demonstrate the
performance of the system for each of the FACTS devices in improving the power profile and thereby voltage
stability of the same. All simulations have been carried out in MATLAB/SIMULINK environment.
Keywords: Voltage Stability, STATCOM, FC-TCR, SSSC, FACTS
I. INTRODUCTION
Modern power systems are large, interconnected and
involves thousands of buses and hundreds of
generators. Power system protection devices also form
a large part of the system. Environmental as well as
economic factors primarily govern the installation of
new power system and to transport this power, new
transmission line construction are needed to meet the
ever increasing load demand. Apart from these factors,
new transmission line constructions are expensive and
also take considerable amount of time and way of right.
Regulatory limitation on the expansion of system
network has resulted in reduction in stability margin
thereby increasing the risk of voltage collapse [1].
Voltage collapse occurs in power system when system
is faulted, heavily loaded and there is a sudden increase
in the demand of reactive power. Voltage instability is
the prime cause of system voltage collapse. Voltage
collapse occurs when the system voltage decays to a
level from which it is unable to recover. The
consequences of voltage collapse involve partial or full
power interruption in the system.
One of the main causes of voltage instability in a
system is the occurrence of reactive power imbalance in
the system. Reactive power imbalance occurs when
there is a sudden increase or decrease in reactive power
demand in the system.

The only way to prevent the occurrence of voltage

collapse is either to reduce the reactive power load or to
provide the system with additional supply of reactive
power before the system reaches the point of voltage
collapse. This can be done by connecting sources of
reactive power, i.e., shunt capacitors and/or Flexible
AC Transmission System (FACTS) controllers at
appropriate locations in the system.
Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS)
technology helps utilities in reducing transmission
congestion and in utilizing more efficiently the existing
transmission system without compromising the
reliability and security of the system. Their fast
response offers high potential for power system
stability enhancement apart from steady state flow
control [2]. The benefits of employing FACTS are
many: improvement of the dynamic and transient
stability, voltage stability and security improvement,
less active and reactive power loss, voltage and power
profile improvement, power quality improvement,
increasing power flow capability through the
transmission line, voltage regulation and efficiency of
power system operation improvement, steady state
power
flow
improvement,
voltage
margin
improvement, loss minimization, line capacity and
loadability of the system improvement [3].

Singh and Saxena

FACTS devices have been defined by the IEEE as
alternating current transmission systems incorporating
power electronic-based and other static controllers to
enhance controllability and increase power transfer
capability [4]. The FACTS controllers can be
classified as [5]:
Shunt controller : - SVC, STATCOM
Series controller : - TCSC, SSSC
Series-Series controller :- IPFC
Shunt-Series controller :- UPFC, TCPST etc.
II. BASIC DESCRIPTION OF FACTS DEVICES
A. Static synchronous compensator (STATCOM)

Fig.1. Static synchronous compensator.

The static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) is
another shunt connected GTO based FACTS device.
STATCOM is a static synchronous generator operated
as a static VAR compensator which can inject lagging
or leading Var into the system. STATCOM have
several advantages. It has no rotating parts, very fast in
response, requires less space as bulky passive
components are eliminated, inherently modular and
relocate-able, less maintenance and no problem as loss
of synchronism [6]. Simple diagram of STATCOM is
shown in Fig. 1. The dc source voltage is converted into
ac voltage by the voltage source converter using GTO
and ac voltage is inserted into the line through the
transformer. In heavy loaded condition if. Output of
VSC is more than the line voltage, converter supplies
lagging VARs to the transmission line. During low load
condition if line voltage is more than then converter
absorbs lagging VAR from the system. If output
voltage of converter is equal to line voltage, then the
STATCOM is in floating condition and this shunt
device does not supply or absorb reactive power to the
system or from the system.
B. Fixed Capacitor Thyristor Controlled Reactor (FCTCR)
Static VAR compensated FACTS device are the most
important device and have been used for a number of
years to improve voltage and power flow voltage
problems.

41

Fig. 2. Fixed capacitor thyristor controlled reactor.

SVC is shunt connected static generator/absorber.
Utilities of SVC controller in transmission line are
many: a) provides high performance in steady-state and
transient voltage stability control, b) dampen power
swing, c) reduce system loss d) Control real and
reactive power flow. Simple FC-TCR type SVC
configuration is shown in figure 2. In FC-TCR a
capacitor is placed in parallel with a Thyristor
controlled reactor. Is, Ir and Ic are system current,
reactor current and capacitor current respectively which
flows through the FC-TCR circuit. Fixed capacitorThyristor controlled reactor (FC-TCR) can provide
continuous lagging and leading VARS to the system
[5]. Circulating current through the reactor (Ir) is
controlled by controlling the firing angle of back-back
thyristor valves connected in series with the reactor.
Leading var to the system is supplied by the capacitor.
For supplying lagging var to the system, TCR is
generally rated larger than the capacitor.
C. Static synchronous series compensator (SSSC)

Fig. 3. Static synchronous series compensator.

In present days, SSSC is one of the most important
FACTS controller used for series compensation of
power. In series compensation the capacitor which is
connected in series compensates the inductive reactance
of the transmission line. SSSC output voltage (Vc) is in
quadrature with the line current (I). The voltage across
series capacitor is jXcI (where Xc is the capacitive
reactance of the series capacitor) and voltage drop
across line inductance (XL) is +jXLI cancel each other
thus reducing the effect of line inductance. Due to this,
power transfer capability is increased [6]. The symbolic
representation of SSSC using voltage source converter
is shown in Fig. 3.

Singh and Saxena

42

Supply voltage from a dc source is converted into ac

voltage using VSC (voltage source converter).
Quadrature voltage is injected into the line through a
coupling transformer. This injected voltage (Vc) lags
the line current (I) by 90and series compensation is
done. SSSC control flow of real and reactive power
through the system.
III. SYSTEM MODEL

Fig. 6. Source Current.

Fig.7. Load Voltage.

Fig. 4. Basic Transmission Line Model.

The above diagram shows a simplified model of an
uncompensated system. The system is modeled in
SIMULINK platform. The model is supplied from an
11 kV voltage source. The source impedance
(0.01+j0.001), line impedance (10+j0.028) and the
load is kept constant at 30 MW and 60 MVAR for the
above transmission line model. The scopes provided
displays the signals generated during the simulation. In
the above figure, two scopes are provided: one displays
the source voltage and current, and the other displays
the Load Voltage (VL), Load Current (IL), Real and
Reactive Power at the receiving end. The results
obtained after simulation are shown below:

Fig. 8. Load Current.

Fig. 9. Real Power.

Fig.10. Reactive Power.

Fig. 5. Source Voltage.

The load voltage is found to be 0.945 kV, which is
15.5% below the required voltage. The real and reactive
power profiles are also shown. So, in order to keep the
system stable, we have to provide adequate
compensation to the system.

It is an established fact, that voltage stability is

dependent on the reactive power. So, if we can improve
the reactive power to meet the demand, then we can as
well improve the voltage profile of the system to
prevent it from dipping below the margin. In this paper,
compensation using Fixed Capacitor, SVC and
STATCOM are studied and compared to obtain the best
compensation for the system under study.

Singh and Saxena

43

IV. COMPENSATION SYSTEM

B. STATCOM Compensated System
The SIMULINK model for
compensated system is shown below:

STATCOM

Fig. 15. Reactive Power.

Thus from the above figures, it is seen that there is
considerable improvement in the real and reactive
power flows as well as the receiving end voltage. For a
capacitor value of 1200F, the Real and Reactive
Powers obtained are 0.3342MW and 0.7691MVAR
respectively. The receiving end voltage is found to be
1.33kV for the present case. The voltage profile
improves further with increased rating upto a certain
point. The change in the power flows is obtained for
different values of capacitance:
Fig. 11. STATCOM Compensated System.
The above figure shows the configuration of the
STATCOM model connected to the system. The plots
showing the improvement in the Load Voltage, Load
Current and Real and Reactive Power are given below:

Fig. 12. Load Voltage.

Fig. 13. Load Current.

Fig.14. Real Power.

Table 1: Variation of Real and Reactive Power with

the Variation of Capacitance.
Capacitance
(F)

Real Power
(MW)

Reactive Power
(MVar)

50
100
200
250
300
350
400
500
600
800
1000
1200

0.1533
0.1581
0.1683
0.1736
0.1793
0.1851
0.1912
0.2043
0.2186
0.2508
0.2891
0.3342

0.3065
0.3160
0.3362
0.3470
0.3853
0.3700
0.3822
0.4083
0.4367
0.5012
0.5774
0.6665

From the above table, it is seen that, both Real and

Reactive power flows are improved impressively upto a
capacitor rating of around 1200F. Increasing the
capacitance value further improves the power profile.
B. FC-TCR Compensated System
The SIMULINK model for a FC-TCR compensated
system is shown below. The figure shows an SVC,
modeled in FC-TCR configuration, connected to the
system. The Real and Reactive Powers are obtained for
a fixed value of inductance of TCR taken to be 100mH
and by varying the capacitance.

Singh and Saxena

44

Fig.20. Reactive Power.

Fig. 16. FC-TCR Compensated System.
Plots for a particular case of the compensated system
with the capacitor value 100F are shown below:

Fig. 17. Load Voltage.

Fig.18. Load Current.

Fig. 19. Real Power.

The change in the Real and Reactive Powers obtained

for different capacitor values are tabulated below:
Table 2: Variation of Real and Reactive Power With
the Variation of Capacitance.
Capacitance
(F)
50
100
200
250
300
350
400
500
600
800
1000
1200

Real Power
(MW)
0.1440
0.1483
0.1576
0.1626
0.1678
0.1731
0.1788
0.1910
0.2040
0.2336
0.2687
0.3102

Reactive Power
(MVar)
0.2822
0.2969
0.3156
0.3255
0.3358
0.3466
0.3579
0.3818
0.4079
0.4673
0.5376
0.6205

Thus from the above table we see that both real and
reactive powers are compensated to a large extent by
incorporating SVC into the system and the power flow
improves in direct proportion to the variation of
capacitance. Also the receiving end voltage improves
considerably with the addition of SVC into the system
and helps in keeping the system in stable state.
C. SSSC Compensated System
The SIMULINK model for a SSSC compensated
system is shown in figure. The above figure shows the
configuration of the SSSC model connected to the
system. The plots showing the improvement in the
Load Voltage, Load Current and Real and Reactive
Power are given below:

Singh and Saxena

45
Thus from the above figures, it is seen that there is
considerable improvement in the real and reactive
power flows as well as the receiving end voltage. For a
capacitor value of 300F, the Real and Reactive Powers
obtained are 0.286MW and 0.5725MVar respectively.
The change in the power flows is obtained for different
values of capacitance:
Table 3: Variation of Real and Reactive Power with
the Variation of Capacitance.

Fig. 21. SSSC Compensated System.

Fig. 22. Load Voltage.

Fig.23. Load Current.

Capacitance
(F)
50
100
200
250
300
350
400
500
600
800
1000
1200

Real Power
(MW)
0.0107
0.0549
0.2204
0.2701
0.2862
0.2833
0.2747
0.2537
0.2363
0.2133
0.1933
0.1992

Reactive Power
(MVar)
0.0214
0.1098
0.4419
0.5414
0.5725
0.5677
0.5450
0.5076
0.4730
0.4266
0.3987
0.3804

From the above table, it is seen that, both Real and

Reactive power flows are improved impressively upto a
capacitor rating of around 300F. Increasing the
capacitance value further deteriorates the power profile.
IV. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION
Table 4: Comparison of power flow between above
FACTS Devices.
FACTS
Devices

Fig. 24. Real Power.

STATCOM
FC-TCR
SSSC

Fig. 25. Reactive Power.

Capacitance (F)
300
1200
Real
Reactive
Real
Reactive
Power
Power
Power
Power
(MW)
(MVAr)
(MW)
(MVAr)
0.1973
0.3583
0.3342
0.6665
0.1678
0.3358
0.3102
0.6205
0.2862
0.5725
0.1990
0.3804

It is seen from the above simulation results that

both the Power Flow and Voltage profiles are improved
with all the compensating devices, but maximum real
and reactive power compensation is obtained with the
introduction of STATCOM in the system. STATCOM
offers better performance in regulating the Voltage
Stability of the system.

Singh and Saxena

But care has to be taken in determining the rating of the
compensating devices in order to make the system
stable as well as cost effective. In this paper, the
variations in power and voltage profiles with controlled
parameter variations have been presented. The results
obtained clearly shows that in case of fixed Capacitor
Compensation, a capacitor value of 300F will be
appropriate, whereas, in case of FC-TCR, a fixed
inductor value of 100mH and capacitor of 1200F
yields good results. For the STATCOM, a capacitor
rating of 1200F gives best results. This paper presents
an elaborate comparison between STATCOM, FC-TCR
and SSSC. It will help in determining the appropriate
capacitor and inductor values (as the case may be) for
achieving optimum performance by the compensating
devices.
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46

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