Application of a combined superconducting fault current limiter and STATCOM to enhancement of power system transient stability

• A simple interactive model SFCL–STATCOM Controller is proposed to enhance the transient stability.
• The STATCOM controller is integrated in coordination with the SFCL to support the excessive reactive power during fault.
• Voltage stability index based continuation power flow is used to locate the STATCOM and the SFCL.
• The clearing time improved compared to other cases (with only SFCL, with only STATCOM).
• The choice of the STATCOM parameters is very important to exploit efficiently the integration of STATCOM Controller.

Stable and reliable operation of the power system network is dependent on the dynamic equilibrium between energy production and power demand under large disturbance such as short circuit or important line tripping. This paper investigates the use of combined model based superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) and shunt FACTS Controller (STATCOM) for assessing the transient stability of a power system considering the automatic voltage regulator. The combined model located at a specified branch based on voltage stability index using continuation power flow. The main role of the proposed combined model is to achieve simultaneously a flexible control of reactive power using STATCOM Controller and to reduce fault current using superconducting technology based SFCL. The proposed combined model has been successfully adapted within the transient stability program and applied to enhance the transient power system stability of the WSCC9-Bus system. Critical clearing time (CCT) has been used as an index to evaluate and validate the contribution of the proposed coordinated Controller. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness and perspective of this combined Controller to enhance the dynamic power system performances.