Work

A Reactive Power Boosting Strategy for BESS-STATCOMs

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The integration of conventional STATCOMs with a battery energy storage system (BESS-STATCOM) has been gaining popularity recently. A BESS-STATCOM is interfaced to the grid via a power conversion system (PCS). This PCS is often a single-stage dc-ac converter directly connected to the BESS without an intermediate dc-dc converter to reduce costs and size. In this configuration, BESS's voltage drops associated with a lower State of Charge (SoC) can reduce the capabilities of the BESS-STATCOM to inject reactive power. This paper introduces a control strategy to boost the reactive power capabilities of a BESS-STATCOM with a single-stage PCS. The proposed strategy decouples the influence of the BESS's electrical characteristics on the BESS-STATCOM reactive power capabilities. The transition into the boost mode and vice versa is seamlessly performed at zero battery pack's current, eliminating the need for a dc circuit breaker. The effectiveness of the proposed control strategy is validated through a Matlab/Simulink simulation using a 5 MVA BESS-STATCOM, followed by an experimental validation using a 32.5 kVA scaled-down PCS. The results show that when the battery pack's SoC is at 20%, the proposed strategy increases the reactive power capability approximately threefold compared to the scenario without the strategy.

Source: IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Industrial Electronics

DOI: 10.1109/jestie.2025.3545888

Authors: Joseph Kiran Banda, Lucas Savoi Araujo, Salvatore D'Arco, Tor-Eivind Moen, Elisabetta Tedeschi

Institutions: Norwegian University of Science and Technology, SINTEF, SINTEF Energy Research, ABB (Norway)

Language: English

Topic: Microgrid Control and Optimization

Subfield: Control and Systems Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Industry, innovation and infrastructure, Affordable and clean energy

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,645