Suggestion of a novel PHILS method for operation analysis of a thyristror controlled series capacitor

A study on practical characteristics analysis of Thyristor Controlled Series Capacitor (TCSC) is needed before applying it to a practical grid. Generally, simulation tools are utilized to investigate the operating characteristics of TCSC with respect to steady-state, temporary and dynamic performance. In this paper, we introduce Real Time Digital Simulator (RTDS)-based power hardware in the loop simulation (PHILS) to examine the operation of TCSC. A laboratory scale TCSC which has the same reactance characteristic as a practical 345 kV TCSC is designed and fabricated. It is incorporated with a 345 kV model power system in RTDS through the interface card. RTDS-based PHILS of TCSC is conducted to verify the power control function of TCSC. Simulation results demonstrate the ability of the proposed method in verifying the design, control strategies and proper functionality of the TCSC and real-time performance of TCSC as well.