The impact of energy storage on the dynamic performance of a static synchronous compensator

This paper discusses the integration of a static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) with a superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) system in damping power oscillations. The performance of the STATCOM, a self-commutated solid-state voltage converter, can be improved with the addition of energy storage. In this study, a 100 MJ SMES coil is connected to the voltage source inverter front-end of a STATCOM via a DC-DC chopper. The dynamics of real and reactive power responses of the integrated system to system oscillations are studied using an electromagnetic transient program PSCAD/sup TM//EMTDC/sup TM/, and the findings are presented. The results show that, depending on the location of the STATCOM-SMES combination, simultaneous modulation of real and reactive power can significantly improve the performance of the combined compensator.