Novel application of a PV solar plant as STATCOM during night and day in a distribution utility network

PV solar farms produce power during the day and are completely idle in the nights. This paper presents a novel utilization of a PV solar plant as STATCOM in the night for load reactive power compensation and voltage control. This STATCOM functionality will also be available to a substantial degree during the daytime with the inverter capacity remaining after real power production. The local distribution company London Hydro is implementing this new technology, for the first time in Canada, on a 10 kW solar system to be installed on the rooftop of their headquarters building. The PV solar plant inverter controller will be designed, developed and tested in the university Lab and will then be installed in field by Spring 2011. This paper presents the EMTDC/PSCAD simulation studies of the performance of the 10 kW PV solar plant as a STATCOM. The benefits of employing such a new control of the PV solar system as a Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) device are presented.

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