Evaluation and Control Perceptive of VSM-Based Multilevel PV-STATCOM for Distributed Energy System

With the increasing penetration of distributed energy resources into the power grid, the intermittency property of non-conventional sources has made it compulsory to propose an appropriate controlling system so as to have maximum utilization of the clean energy resources. The idea of utilizing a photovoltaic (PV) system inverter integrated with grid as STATCOM is termed as PV-STATCOM has been used to demonstrate the behaviour of two different controllers: d-q frame PLL-based and VSM-based controllers. Both controllers are compared to a PV-STATCOM system integrated into the power grid, which is simulated at various electrical contingencies to determine their dependability and proficiency. The article starts with a brief explanation of virtual synchronous machine (VSM) and its area of utilization. The study system with PLL-based and VSM-based controller is then simulated with 3-level and 5-level multilevel inverters separately for sudden load changes, fault analysis, FFT analysis and voltage sag compensation in MATLAB/Simulink. Finally, the results from these cases are evaluated, confirming that the VSM-based controller outperforms the d-q frame PLL-based controller in terms of measuring voltage transients during sudden load changes, voltage and current magnitudes during ground faults, and exhibiting low THD levels.