Mitigation of flicker at wood saw machine with active and reactive power compensation

Voltage flicker, a phenomenon of annoying light intensity fluctuation, caused by rapid change in industrial and domestic load such as saw machine operating periodically has been a major concern for supply utilities and customers in the vicinity. The sawmill current is of quasi-periodic with a frequency of about 10 Hz causing perceptible flicker. The FACTS devices like SVC´s, STATCOM and Custom Power devices like DSTATCOM have been able to solve the voltage flicker problems by rapidly controlling the reactive power. But, control of active power along with reactive power control helps to mitigate the voltage flicker problem more effectively. In this paper, voltage flicker mitigation of wood saw machine with DSTATCOM along with Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) is analyzed using the PSCAD/EMTDC software. The proposed algorithm controls the flicker. The mathematical model of wood saw machine suitable for the flicker phenomenon is presented. The dynamic operation is investigated using this algorithm.