Power Quality Services Provided by Virtually Synchronous FACTS

The variable and unpredictable behavior of renewable energies impacts the performance of power systems negatively, threatening their stability and hindering their efficient operation. Flexible ac transmission systems (FACTS) devices are able to emulate the connection of parallel and series impedances in the transmission system, which improves the regulation of power systems with a high share of renewables, avoiding congestions, enhancing their response in front of contingencies and, in summary, increasing their utilization and reliability. Proper control of voltage and current under distorted and unbalanced transient grid conditions is one of the most critical issues in the control of FACTS devices to emulate such apparent impedances. This paper describes how the synchronous power controller (SPC) can be used to implement virtually synchronous FACTS. It presents the SPC functionalities, emphasizing in particular the importance of virtual admittance emulation by FACTS devices in order to control transient unbalanced currents during faults and attenuate harmonics. Finally, the results demonstrate the effectiveness of SPC-based FACTS devices in improving power quality of electrical networks. This is a result of their contribution to voltage balancing at point of connection during asymmetrical faults and the improvement of grid voltage quality by controlling harmonics flow.