Smart Grid Technologies for Reactive Power Compensation in Motor Start Applications

Several major power outages have been attributed to insufficient voltage support and subsequent voltage collapse. Accordingly, reactive power management has gain increased attention for reliability maintenance of both transmission and distribution systems. In particular, motor starting applications draw a large amount of reactive power and contribute to system degradation, particularly in a weak area. Consequently, this paper investigates smart grid technologies for reactive power compensation for motor starting applications in order to provide the necessary voltage support, reduce the inrush current, and decrease the motor starting time. The two dynamic VAR devices that are proposed are the Static Compensator (STATCOM) and Static Synchronous Series Compensator (SSSC). Detailed mathematical models are developed for these devices as well as the proposed control logic. Simulation results for STATCOM and SSSC-based compensators are provided to verify the accuracy of the developed models and control logic and observe the effectiveness of the dynamic VAR devices.