Frequency Stability of a Smart Grid with Solar Power Integration Using STATCOM

With the increasing cost of energy and the impact of global warming, more focus has shifted to the use of Renewable Energy Sources (RES). The intermittent nature of these RES means that maintaining power system stability is a challenge, being affected by seasons, time of day and global climatic conditions. A smart grid is considered in this research where the use of SCAD A which forms a core component of the Smart grid is incorporated. System frequency stability behavior under varying penetration levels of the solar plants was studied upon modeling the Kenyan 94 Bus system in PSAT version 2.1.9 and the PV plants penetration increased up to 35% which was the critical point for stability. The Rate of Change of Frequency was analyzed and three PI controllers with STATCOM were integrated in the system for frequency control and their effectiveness in frequency response was analyzed.