Journal of Power Electronics and Power Systems Review Article
Reactive power compensation in modern power system using advanced control: A comprehensive survey
Abstract
Reactive power management is really important for keeping voltage steady, improving the quality of electricity, reducing energy loss during transmission, and ensuring modern power systems work well. As more renewable energy sources, power-electronic loads, distributed energy resources, and weak-grid conditions are added to the power system, it's becoming harder to use old methods for controlling reactive power. Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) devices, especially Static VAR Compensators (SVCs) and Static Synchronous Compensators (STATCOMs), provide fast and flexible support for reactive power. However, how well they perform depends on the control method used. Proportional-integral (PI) controllers are often used because they are simple, but they can have trouble when there are nonlinearities, changes in system parameters, disturbances, or sudden changes in system operation. Because of this, more advanced techniques like fuzzy logic control, sliding-mode control, adaptive control, model predictive control, artificial neural networks, and hybrid intelligent controllers have become more common. This paper looks at different technologies used for reactive power compensation and advanced control strategies in modern power systems. It explains how these devices work, their advantages and disadvantages, and where they are used. It also compares various control methods. The paper especially focuses on how STATCOMs work in areas with a lot of renewable energy and weak grids. Finally, it discusses where more research is needed, including areas like artificial intelligence, grid-forming converters, adaptive control, coordinated FACTS control, and data-driven optimization.
Keywords
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