Reactive Power Planning in Transmission Grid considering Short Term Voltage Stability – STATCOM or SYNCON?

The transition of power systems towards an increased share of converter-coupled renewable sources in the generation mix creates a deficit of fast-acting dynamic reactive power reserves in the system. Hence, there is a need for additional dynamic reactive power compensation in the transmission grid for stable grid operation in the future years. In this paper, a toolbox developed to systematically calculate an optimised dynamic reactive power compensation park is discussed. The park consists of a mix of STATCOMs and synchronous condensers to improve transient voltage stability for the given grid. Additionally, the results from applying the toolbox on a model of the German grid, within the region of Transmission system Operator TenneT TSO GmbH, are presented. These results provide an insight into the different capabilities of the technologies (STATCOM and synchronous condenser) towards voltage recovery after faults.