Selection of an optimal control channel for STATCOM-based stabilizers to damp inter-area oscillations

In static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) a controllable AC voltage is generated by a voltage-source converter. There are two control channels for controlling of magnitude and phase of the voltage. When this device is used for damping inter-are oscillations in multi-machine power systems, a damping stabilizer can be applied for both channels. In this paper, a method by quadratic mathematical programming has been presented to design of the damping stabilizer. By this method, the effect of the stabilizer in both control channels of the STATCOM on damping of inter-area oscillations has been assessed. Obtained results on a 2-area 4-machine power system shows that a STATCOM-based stabilizer in the phase control channel is more effective for damping inter-area oscillations than that of the magnitude control channel.