A new simultaneous coordinated design of STATCOM controller and power system stabilizer for power systems using cultural algorithm

The shunt flexible AC transmission system (FACTS) devices, such as STATCOM, are being used in transmission networks to enhance damping of a power system. However, uncoordinated design of these devices with power system stabilizers (PSSs) may deteriorate the power system performance. Furthermore, the characteristics of the power system elements are non-linear, and the controllers that are designed based on linear control theories may not be capable of providing the desirable performance, specifically when there are large disturbances acting on the system. This paper presents a new technique named cultural algorithm (CA) to design the controllers of STATCOM and PSS coordinately. This technique is simple, computationally efficient and can guarantee that the overall system performance is desirable. Simulations are carried out on both single-machine infinite-bus and multi-machine electric power systems. Comparing the results of the proposed control strategy with other intelligent methods, BFA and GA clearly verifies that the proposed method can provide a better performance.