Reactive Power Compensation Utilizing FACTS Devices

Efficient control of reactive power flow is required to maintain a stable system operation. Insufficient reactive power support may lead to system instability, incurring higher losses. Power systems frequently come across voltage level violations due to the fluctuating load that results in under or over compensation of reactive power. In this paper the effectiveness of FACTS devices is studied in the actual power system of an industry. Comparison between three different techniques is made in terms of analyzing system parameters i.e. reactive power support, power factor, and system losses. Three of the FACTS devices namely SVC, STATCOM and UPFC are implemented and their effectiveness is compared to provide a benchmark study of FACTS devices.