A review of STATCOM on the electric power system

Along with the increasing of electricity load type and capacity, the problems of the power quality, especially reactive power and harmonic, are a serious threat to the safe operation of power grid. Static synchronous compensator (STATCOM), as an important member of the FACT, has been widely used as the state-of the-art dynamic shunt compensator for controlling reactive power in transmission and distribution. It has attracted an extensive attention in domestic and foreign scientific and engineering fields with excellent performances of its smooth reactive power regulation and fast dynamic characteristics. Comparing with the traditional synchronous condenser. Static var compensator SVC, STATCOM which has a small size, a faster speed, a wide operation range has a great advantage in performance and can effectively compensate the reactive power, suppress harmonic current and provide voltage support for transmission system, it will be more and more widely used. This paper introduces the background, application status, challenges and development trend of STATCOM, pointing out that with the development of new technology and new power electronic devices and STATCOM in distribution network, STATCOM will occupy a very important position in the grid.