Comparative Performance of DVR and STATCOM for Voltage Regulation in Radial Microgrid with High Penetration of RES

In recent years, the penetration of renewable energy sources (RES) in microgrids and distribution system feeders has increased manifold. Moreover, the advancement of power electronics-based devices in the distribution system has significantly increased the number of sensitive loads. Variations in the voltage under intermittent RES create functional problems with sensitive loads, necessitating voltage regulators (VR) installation. In this paper, two custom power devices: dynamic voltage restorer (DVR) and static synchronous compensator (STATCOM), used for voltage regulation in a microgrid, are investigated under different operating conditions. The efficacy of DVR and STATCOM for voltage regulation in an 11-node radial microgrid with high penetration of RES is simulated under a MATLAB Simulink environment. Furthermore, the simulated microgrid voltage profile results are analyzed to evaluate the efficacy of both voltage regulators.