Solid-state technology: enhancing power system equipment

Some ideas on an evolutionary approach to enhancing functional characteristics of transmission equipment, such as transformers, through the adoption of solid-state switching are explored in this article with the intent of stimulating discussions among specialists in solid-state technology and transformer design and experts in power system planning and operation. This article proposes the use of solid state switching to give transformers the additional capability of var control similar to that in static Var compensators. Incorporating this functionality into transformer-based systems has the potential of adding a very useful system-wide voltage control capability, at a relatively small cost considering mass production and modularity.