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Performance Comparison of Circuits for Pole‐Mounted STATCOM Using SiC Devices
Author(s) -
Kikuma Toshiaki,
Ishikawa Tadao,
Takasaki Masahiro,
Mochikawa Hiroshi,
Kuzumaki Atsuhiko,
Kodani Kazuya,
Murao Takeru
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
electrical engineering in japan
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.136
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1520-6416
pISSN - 0424-7760
DOI - 10.1002/eej.22506
Subject(s) - electronic circuit , transformer , voltage , ac power , electronic engineering , electrical engineering , power (physics) , computer science , control theory (sociology) , engineering , control (management) , physics , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence
SUMMARY The recent years have seen an increasing trend in the cumulative installed capacity of distributed generators. As a result, voltage management may become difficult in existing power distribution systems in the future. A STATCOM (STAtic synchronous COMpensator) is a promising option for solving this problem because it can control reactive power rapidly and continuously. For a distribution system, STATCOM needs to be pole‐mounted to realize its low cost. However, a transformer for a STATCOM is large and heavy, and hence it is difficult to install a STATCOM on a distribution pole. We adopt a transformerless STATCOM to reduce STATCOM size and use SiC devices with low‐loss performance to obtain a more compact and efficient STATCOM. There are a large number of circuits available for a STATCOM, and there has been considerable research on performance comparisons among these circuits. However, these comparisons were drawn under different conditions, including switching frequency and level number for the circuits. In addition, these comparisons do not include the use of SiC devices. We made an equitable comparison for a 100 kVa pole‐mounted STATCOM using SiC devices. We discuss the performance and characteristics of each circuit in terms of efficiency and volume.