Comparative study of the behavior of a wind farm integrating three different FACTS devices

Abstract

Improving grid connection of wind farms is a relevant issue to be addressed, especially for fixed-speed wind turbines. Certain elements, such as FACTS (Flexible AC Transmission Systems), are able to perform voltage and reactive power regulation in order to support voltage stability of wind farms, and compensate reactive power consumption from the grid. Several devices are grouped under the name of FACTS, which embrace different technologies and operating principles. Here, three of them are evaluated and compared, namely STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator), SVC (Static Var Compensator) and SSSC (Static Synchronous Series Compensator). They have been modeled in MATLAB / Simulink, and simulated under various scenarios, regarding both normal operation and grid fault conditions. Their response is studied together with the case when no FACTS are implemented. Results show that SSSC improves the voltage stability of the wind farm, whereas STATCOM and SVC provide additional reactive power.