Grid integrated solar photovoltaic system with static compensator

Abstract

Renewable energy sources are getting more and more widespread mainly due to the fact that they are environmentally friendly. The reduced prices of Photovoltaic (PV) system components and technological developments of power electronics have also motivated the harnessing of renewable energy. The interconnection of renewable energy sources are incorporated using power electronics converters, with the aim of improving power quality at the point of common coupling (PCC). This study presents a STATCOM which is used as a) a load reactive power compensator, b) an interface unit between the grid and renewable energy source, and c) as an effective method for real power exchange between load, grid and renewable energy source. A controller unit used for the STATCOM based on modified Icosφ algorithm by which reactive power compensation and power factor correction is done and also real power support is provided by renewable energy source through STATCOM. In this study a solar PV system is designed for 29 KW p and it is integrated with grid using STATCOM to supply partial active power of 50 kW and full reactive power of 30kVAr of load. Results show that the use of active power from solar PV system and reactive power compensation of STATCOM reduces demand of load on the grid, which in turn increase the load capacity of source.