An improved nonlinear STATCOM control for electric arc furnace voltage flicker mitigation

Electric arc furnaces (EAF) are prevalent in the steel industry to melt iron and scrap steel. EAFs frequently cause large amplitude fluctuations of active and reactive power and are the source of significant power quality disturbances. Static Synchronous Compensators (STATCOMs) provide a power electronic-based means of embedded control for reactive power support and power quality improvement. This paper introduces a new nonlinear control for the STATCOM that provides significant reduction in EAF-induced aperiodic oscillations on the power system. This method is compared with traditional PI controls and shown to have improved performance.