Voltage profile improvement of a two generator based micro grid system using STATCOM

Power shortage has become a very serious problem for the power distribution and consumers. Along with it, power demand at remote locations and providing uninterrupted power have created more challenges which have to be dealt with. The most feasible solution for these problems is distributed generation or formation of micro-grids involving renewable energy sources. But micro-grids suffer from voltage fluctuations and power oscillations, which increase the instability of the system. Use of FACTS devices can be effective for improvement of the stability of the micro-grid system. This paper presents a micro-grid system comprising of two diesel generating units using alternators and a load. A STATCOM is connected to the load bus for the voltage profile improvement of the system. Dynamic modeling of the micro-grid system is done and the system is simulated with and without STATCOM. The results are analyzed. The system is simulated using MATLAB/SIMULINK environment.