Application of STATCOM with energy storage for wind farm integration

The application of a STATCOM and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) can help alleviate some of the problems encountered with wind farm integration to the existing power system. The intent of this paper is to demonstrate the benefits obtained with STATCOM and BESS for this purpose. First, the paper identifies the power quality and some other issues in the Southern California Edison system where there is abundant wind generation. Computer simulations (e.g. load flow and transient stability) show that the application of a STATCOM with BESS can help the system survive under the most severe contingencies occurring in the area. The analysis also demonstrates that the BESS can help dispatch an individual wind farm in the area during steady state. The BESS can help reduce local wind generation curtailment, necessary during high generation and low local system load that causes transmission overloading, by absorbing the excess energy generated by the wind farms.