Modular multilevel STATCOM with energy storage

Abstract

A configuration of Energy storage (ES) integrated STATCOM is presented in this paper. Such type of system is generally referred as E-STATCOM (STATCOM+ES) in the literature. In this paper, a Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) is used as a STATCOM and energy storage is integrated at the DC link of MMC. An E-STATCOM primarily functions as a STATCOM, but it has the ability to support active power at different time scale. So, separate systems, one for energy storage integration and the other for STATCOM operation can be avoided. In this paper, E-STATCOM is used to address the issues related to a PV dominated grid, e.g. power fluctuation due to variation of solar irradiance and power quality issues. The configuration is verified through simulation in PSCAD and the results show effectiveness of E-STATCOM for a PV-dominated grid.