ANN-Based SVC Tuning for Voltage and Harmonics Control in Microgrids

A method for tuning a static var compensator for voltage control and reduction of harmonic distortion in a microgrid is presented in this paper. Electrical power distribution systems face a new scenario with an increasing number of distributed generation sources, nonlinear loads and more strict power quality requirements. In addition, it can be observed that there is a tendency for power systems to operate within the context of smartgrids. Consequently, the operation of such systems become more complex and, therefore, requires a power quality conditioning technique able to adapt itself to the grid. The application of a static var compensator with an additional filtering function at the point of common coupling of a power system with a microgrid is a possible solution. In this context, the proposed approach is based on artificial neural networks to determine the static var compensator tuning in order to recognize the loading and distributed generation steady-state conditions. Simulation results show that this approach provides the control system with more intelligence and the capability of adapting to different operating conditions. © 2016, Brazilian Society for Automatics--SBA.