2014 17th International Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems (ICEMS),Oct.
22-25, 2014, Hangzhou, China
Power Fluctuation Alleviation Using Cascade STATCOMs with Energy
Storages for Wind Farm Applications
Li Ning-ning, Liu Yi-qi, Ji Yan-chao, Wang Jian-ze, Shen Ke
Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Harbin Institute of Technology, China
E-mail: lnn4147@163.com
Abstract —In this paper, a cascade STATCOM with battery
energy storages for wind power applications is presented.
Meanwhile, a coordinate control strategy is proposed for this
inverter system in order to alleviate both active and reactive
power fluctuation in a wind power generation system. The SoC of
each battery is directly controlled using PI controller and zero
sequence voltage is injected so as to obtain balanced state-of-
charge (SoC). A time constant T is involved to identify the power
reference from the cascade inverter, this time constant is
determined by considering both the SoC of each battery and the
required power of the wind farm. A nine-zone plot is presented to
simplify the above process for deriving the parameter T. A
simulation model based on MATLAB/Simulink is developed to
validate the proposed method. At the same time, a 10 kW
prototype is implemented and experimental results are given to
demonstrate the feasibility of the approach.
Key Words: Cascade STATCOM, battery energy storage
system (BESS), state-of-charge (SoC), wind power fluctuation
I. INTRODUCTION
Renewable energy generation has been used worldwide
these days. Meanwhile, related topics, e.g. microgrid and
interfacing converter control, have been widely studied [1]-
[4]. Among different kinds of renewable energy sources, wind
power as a kind of alternative energy form has been popularly
developed nowadays. It features the advantages of relatively
mature technology and low cost. Hence, its penetration in the
modern electric grid is increasing these years [5]. However,
considering the stochastic issues of wind power, it is necessary
to notice its negative impact on power system stability [6]. At
the same time, the capability of reactive power compensation
should be taken into account in the development of a wind
energy generation system [7]-[8]. In the past years, the
cascade STATCOM has been widely used to fulfill the
requirement of reactive power compensation in a wind farm.
Multilevel converters with cascade topology can effectively
eliminate the output harmonics and may further enhance the
system efficiency by using lower switching frequency [9]-
[10]. In particular, cascade STATCOM can quickly track the
reference value of power reference and compensate the
reactive power to a certain bus locally. Therefore, the reactive
power flow in the whole system is reduced, which can
minimize the power line loss and eliminate the bus voltage
fluctuation. Although STATCOM can compensate the reactive
power, it commonly does not have the capability to generate
active power. As a result, it cannot be used to eliminate the
active power fluctuation in a wind farm. In order to solve this
problem, cascade STATCOMs with battery energy storages in
the DC sides are proposed. This kind of inverter can generate
both active and reactive power for the wind farm and thereby
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978-1-4799-5162-8/14/$31.00 2014 IEEE
stabilize the voltage amplitude and frequency of the electric
grid.
Considering the battery energy storages in the DC, it is
necessary to study the status of each battery module, e.g.
output voltage, state-of-charge (SoC), etc [11]-[13].
Meanwhile, the compensation of active and reactive power for
wind farm using inverters with battery energy storages has
been extensively studied these days. However, the cascade
topology with batteries in the DC side should be further
discussed. Reference [14] has proposed the Monte Carlo
method to evaluate the stability impact of batteries for a wind
farm. Reference [15] has presented the function of reactive
power regulator in a distribution system with wind energy
penetration. Reference [16] has analyzed an optimization
approach based on variable time constant and output power
saturation in order to reach the protection of the batteries.
References [17]-[18] have discussed the cascade configuration
and proposed the related control and modulation method,
while the coordinate control strategy for reactive power and
SoC has not been deeply analyzed.
In this paper, a coordinate control strategy is proposed in
order to alleviate both active and reactive power fluctuation. A
time constant T is employed to identify the operation
conditions of the batteries. Meanwhile, the requirement of the
wind farm is also taken into account. With the proposed
method, the fluctuation of active and reactive power can be
eliminated, and the service time of the batteries can be
prolonged. MATLAB/Simulink model is developed to
demonstrate the proposed method, and experimental results
are shown to further test the feasibility of the approach.
II.MAIN CIRCUIT TOPOLOGY AND MODEL OF THE SYSTEM
The topology of the cascade STATCOM with battery
energy storage system (BESS) is shown in Fig. 1. Here, each
phase of the cascade STATCOM is composed of several H-
bridges, and each DC side of the H-bridge is connected to a
battery using a DC-DC interface circuit. Meanwhile, each
battery has independent battery management system (BMS),
which can be used to control the charging and discharging
process of the battery. At the same time, the BMS can
calculate the SoC of each battery and transmitted to the
centralized controller. The AC voltage of the cascade
STATCOM is the sum of all the H-bridge modules. The AC
side is connected to the filter inductance, and then connected
to the 10 kV side of the transformer.
The voltage of the common coupling point is shown as uja,
ujb and ujc, which follow the expressions as:
 ⎧
⎪u ja = 2U j sin ω t
⎪
⎪ 2π
⎨u jb = 2U j sin(ω t − )
⎪ 3
⎪ 2π
⎪⎩u jc = 2U j sin(ω t + 3 )
1
Assuming that the three phase voltage is symmetrical and
ignore the device loss, it is derived that:
⎧ dica
⎪u ja − uca = L dt + Rica
⎪
⎪ dicb
⎨u jb − ucb = L + Ricb
⎪ dt
⎪ dicc
⎪u jc − ucc = L dt + Ricc
⎩ 2
where uca, ucb and ucc is the converter side output voltage, ica,
icb and icc is the output current, L is the inductance, R is the
equivalent resistance of the inductance.
By transferring (2) into dq axis, it yields:
⎧ dicd
⎪⎪ucd = u jd + ω Licq − L dt − Ricd 3
⎨ Fig. 1. The main circuit of the system.
⎪u = u − ω Li − L dicq − Ri It is set that:
⎪⎩ cq jq cd
dt
cq
⎧ di
where ucd and ucq are the output voltage, ujd and ujq are the ⎪ y1 = L cd + Ricd (5)
⎪ dt
voltage at the common coupling point, icd and icq are the output ⎨
di
⎪ y = L cq + Ri
current. ⎪
⎩
2
dt
cq

Hence, provided that ujd is aligned with the terminal

⎧⎪ucd = u jd + ω Licq − y1 (6)
voltage. The active and reactive power can be calculated as: ⎨
⎧⎪ p j = u jd icd ⎪⎩ucq = u jq − ω Licd − y2
4
⎨ where y1 and y2 are intermediate variables which represent the
⎪⎩q j = u jd icq
current decoupling terms and satisfied that:
Here, the model of the cascade STATCOM is derived. The
⎪ y1 = kp1 (i jdref − icd )+ ki1 ∫t (i jdref − icd )
⎧
control diagram can be designed according to the model (7)
⎨
shown above. ⎪⎩ y2 = kp2 (i jqref − icq )+ ki2 ∫t (i jqref − icq )
The simplified control diagrams of icd and icq are shown in
III.CONTROL STRATEGY
Fig. 3. The converter gain value K is approximately equal to 1.
Considering the stochastic and intermittent characteristics Therefore, the open loop transfer function is:
of wind power, the cascade STATCOM with BESS is
connected at the output point of the wind farm in order to
eliminate the active and reactive power fluctuation. It should
be noticed that the objectives of the cascade STATCOM
should include the regulation of active and reactive power, and
the strategy for balancing the SoC of each battery.
A. Control of Active and Reactive Power
The dq decoupling control of cascade STATCOM is
shown Fig. 2. Meanwhile, bipolar carrier phase-shifted SPWM
(CPS-SPWM) is employed to realize balanced control of each Fig. 2. Current decoupling control.
module and reduce the current harmonics.

Fig.3. Simplified control diagram of icd and icq.

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 ⎛ kp ⎞
ki ⎜ s + 1 ⎟
⎝ ki ⎠ 1 (8)
G0 ( s ) =
s ⎛L ⎞
R ⎜ s + 1⎟
⎝R ⎠
It is set that:
kp L
= (9)
ki R
Hence, the closed loop transfer function is:
1 (10)
φ (s) =
R
s +1
ki
Fig. 4. Clustered SOC balancing control.
The above expression shows that the closed-loop system is
a first order system, and the response time is shown as:
3R
ts ≈ (11)
ki
The PI parameters can be determined by (9) and (11).
B. Balancing Control of the SoC of Each Battery
Each DC side voltage of the cascade STATCOM is
controlled by the BMS, so it is only necessary to balance each Fig. 5. Individual SOC balancing control.
SoC for the controller of the cascade STATCOM. The SOC balance control of each sub module can be realized
balancing of SoC should be achieved by considering two through SOC control of each sub module storage battery, and
aspects. First, the SoC of each battery in the same phase shall not affect the balance control of SOC.
should be balanced. Second, the SoC of each battery between C. Optimized Control of the Cascade STATCOM/BESS for
different phases should be balanced. Assuming that N modules Compensating Wind Farm Active Power
are connected in series in each phase of the STATCOM, and The active and reactive components of the wind farm
the SoC for the module #i is SoCi, the average value of each output current can be quickly and accurately detected. By
SoC in Phase A is SoCA. It is derived that: using the preset power factor, the reactive power can be fast
SOC1 + SOC2 + ... + SOC N (12) compensated for either leading or lagging phase angle.
SOC = A
N However, the active power compensation cannot be that fast
The average SOC between phases is shown as SoCref. and accurate as the reactive power due to the respond speed
SOC A + SOCB + SOCC (13) and maximum limits of the batteries. Therefore, an optimized
SOCref =
3 control method is proposed in this study. A time constant is
The difference value between the above two variables is selected for the low-pass filter to remove the high frequency
ΔSoCA, ΔSoCB and ΔSoCC. components in the active power references. This time constant
⎧ΔSOC A = SOC A − SOCref is determined by the required active power and the SoC of the
⎪ (14)
⎨ΔSOCB = SOCB − SOCref battery in each phase. The required active power and SoC of
⎪ the battery in each phase form the nine-zone plot in Fig. 6.
⎩ΔSOCC = SOCC − SOCref
The wind farm active fluctuations are not exceeding 10% from
The control diagram is shown in Fig. 4. The balance
area 4 to 6. In area 7, 8, 9, 33%>active fluctuations>10%, in
control of battery modules is realized by injecting zero
area 1, 2, 3, -33%<active fluctuations< -10%. Storage battery
sequence voltage.
SOC<30% in the area 1, 6, 7 and 80%>SOC>30% in area 2, 5,
Balance control of each module SOC is realized by pulse
8. 100%>SOC>80%in area 3, 4, 9. The detailed status and
modulated wave of each module and introduce an alternating
parameters for each zone is shown in Table I.
voltage signal to modulated wave. As shown in figure 5, take
First-order butterworth filter is used here, as shown as:
A phase for example, the difference value ΔSoCAj is SOC of A
1 (17)
phase each sub module storage subtracting SOC of A phase, j H (s) =
sT + 1
= 1, 2, …, N. where T is variable filter time constant.
ΔSOC Aj = SOC j − SOC A (15) Take three T: T3 > T2 > T1, T1 = 100s, T2 = 200s, T3 = 300s.
An alternating voltage amplitude and alternating voltage Bode diagram of this three filter time constant T is in figure 8.
initial phase angle is produced after PI regulate, this is the When P* is larger, the required active power increases
initial angle of balance control in each phase. accordingly. Considering the power limits and the lifetime, the
u Aj = S A cos(ωt + φ ) (16) large power charging or discharging process should be
avoided. Hence, the time constant T can be sorted as follows:
In charging cycle:
T9 < T4 < T8 < T5 < T7 < T6
In discharging cycle:
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 T1 < T6 < T2 < T5 < T3 < T4
The value of T should be determined by the total required
power and the fluctuation of the wind power.
In application, the filter constant T need depending upon
the performance of storage battery and control target in grid-
connected case and combining with the practical situation in
wind farm, calculate to optimize selection and according to
debug to determine the optimize parameters value.
The control diagram for active power is shown in Fig. 7,
where Pw is the output active power of the wind farm, Pref is
the filtered reference value of the output power, P* is the
output or absorbed power of STATCOM/BESS.

TABLE I The Operating States of STATCOM/BESS in the Respective Area

Cascaded STATCOM/BESS working condition
Region Smooth time
number Wind farm output active constant T
Storage battery SOC Power absorption and release
power

1 low low Only reactive power output T1

2 medium
3 high
4 high
5 medium
6 low
7 low
8 medium
9 high
Fig. 6. Ninth region plot.
Fig. 7. Active power control process of STATCOM/BESS.
low Output active and reactive power T2
low Full output of active and reactive power T3
medium Output active and reactive power according to demand T4
Output active and reactive power or absorb active
medium T5
power according to demand
medium Absorb active power, output reactive power T6
high Absorb active power, output reactive power T7
Absorb active power and output reactive power
high T8
according to wind farm demand
high Output reactive power according to wind farm demand T9
T7=800s, T5=300s, T8=180s, T4=100s, T9=60s, wind farm
reference output active power Pref2 after filter. The active
power absorbed or delivered by the cascade STATCOM is
shown in Fig. 10, and the variation of SoC in each phase
storage battery, three phase storage battery SoC along with
the fluctuations of wind farm to maintain balance is shown in
Fig. 11. The SoC starts at 10%, indicating that the
STATCOM absorbs active power and delivers capacitive
reactive power. The absorbed active power is shown in Fig.
12 and the output active power after compensation is shown
in Fig. 13. It is seen that the fluctuation of the output power is
alleviated. The transient results are shown in Fig. 14. Before t
= 0.1 s, the STATCOM absorbs active power, while after t =
0.1 s, it delivers reactive power.
It is seen from the simulation results that by using the
cascade STATCOM at the output side of the wind farm, the
output power fluctuation can be alleviated. Meanwhile, high
power charging or discharging can be avoided by selecting
suitable time constant T with the nine region plot.

TABLE II System Parameters in Simulation

Parameter Value
Line voltage 35 kV
Capacity of short circuit 100 MVA
Terminal voltage 690 V
Fig. 8. Frequency domain analysis result about different time Fans rated capacity 750 kVA
constant T. Fan number 12
Total installed capacity of wind farm 9 MVA
STATCOM/BESS output voltage 10 kV
IV. SIMULATION VERIFICATION
Number of H module 12
MATLAB/Simulink model is developed in order to Connection inductance 12 mH
testing the proposed method. The system parameters are Connection resistance 0.5 Ω
DC side capacitor 470 μF
shown in Table II. Switching frequency 800 Hz
The waveform of the active power for a wind farm within Battery voltage rating 800 V
10 hours is shown in Fig. 9. The filtered active power with Total capacity of storage battery 1.8 MWh
time constant T = 360 s is also shown here. The single phase Battery power rating 1.08 MW
storage battery SoC is 10% at the start, when the first whole
period of charge is finished, the constant select is T6=1200s,
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 V.EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION
Experimental results are shown in this section. The
system parameters are shown in Table III.
In the preliminary experimental test, three operation
modes are tested. In Scenario I, STATCOM generates
inductive reactive power, while does not deliver or absorb
any active power. In Scenario II, STATCOM generates
capacitive reactive power and absorb active power. In
Scenario III, STATCOM generates both capacitive reactive
power and active power. The voltage and current waveforms
Fig. 9. Power fluctuations of wind farms in 10 hours.
in different scenarios are shown in Fig. 15 ~ 17, respectively.
It is demonstrated that STATCOM can effectively exchange
active and reactive power with the grid.

VI. CONCLUSION
The cascade STATCOM with battery energy storages is
studied in this paper. A coordinated control strategy for
alleviating active and reactive power fluctuation is developed.
Fig. 10. Active power compensation of wind farm. Meanwhile, zero-sequence voltage is injected to balance the
SoC of each battery. The SoC of each battery is also
controlled using PI controller. A nine region plot is employed
to determine the time constant T for the low-pass filter which
is used to remove the high frequency component and avoid
high power charging and discharging process. The proposed
method is tested by MATLAB/Simulink model, and
experimental results are performed to show the feasibility of
the method.
Fig. 11. Three-phase SoC trends.
TABLE III System Parameters in Experiment
Parameters Value
Grid voltage amplitude 380 V
Frequency 50 Hz
Filter inductance 10 mH
DC capacitor 470 μF
Storage battery voltage 48 V
Capacity of storage battery 48 Ah
CPS-Switching frequency 800 Hz
Number of H-bridge module 12
Fig.12. Active power absorbed by the STATCOM/BESS.

Fig. 15. Scenario I: Generate inductive reactive power and no active

power exchange.
Fig. 13. Power fluctuations of the wind farm output after
compensation.

Fig. 16. Scenario II: Generate capacitive reactive power and absorb
active power.

Fig. 14. The output voltage and current of STATCOM/BESS.

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Fig. 17. Scenario III: Generate capacitive reactive power and active
power.
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