Testing of a controller for an ETO-based STATCOM through controller hardware-in-the-loop simulation

The testing of a controller for a proposed 10 MVA STATCOM through hardware-in-the-loop experimentation is described in this paper. The electrical environment into which the STATCOM is to be inserted, including a significant portion of the utility network and a nearby wind farm are simulated using a large-scale digital real time electromagnetic transients simulator. The STATCOM controller is interfaced to the simulation, providing firing pulses to the simulated STATCOM and receiving feedback of system voltages and currents. Notional wind speed data is used to simulate realistic behavior of the wind farm. This paper presents preliminary results of the ongoing testing of the controller under the most realistic system conditions.