Power System Stabilisation Using STATCOM with Supercapacitors

STATCOMs are used for voltage support to improve power and voltage quality. Their capability for delivering real power is negligible and this limits their ability to improve the system stability margin. Supercapacitors are devices which can store and quickly release significant amounts of energy, and are now finding application in many power applications. This paper describes how supercapacitor based energy storage technology can be interfaced to a STATCOM unit so that it can deliver significant amounts of real and reactive power to the system on request.