Reactive power compensation and load balancing for unbalanced three-phase four-wire system by a combined system of an SVC and a series active filter

Abstract

A combined reactive power compensation method of a static VAr compensator (SVC) and a series active filter is described for unbalanced three-phase four-wire distribution feeders with harmonic distortion. The SVC which consists of Δ-connected thyristor-controlled reactors, Y-connected thyristor-controlled reactors and passive filters, acts as a classic reactive power compensator for load balancing and power factor correction. The small rating active filter is used to improve the filtering characteristics of the passive filter in the SVC and suppress possible resonance between the system impedance and the passive filter. Simulation results performed by the electromagnetic transients program show that the proposed reactive power compensation configurations can effectively balance currents, correct power factor and eliminate harmonic currents.