STATCOM Simulation Models for Analysis of Electrified Railways

One important issue of the energy management in most electrified railways is the unbalance problem, both in the current and in the voltage supplied by the three-phase grid, due to the single-phase transformer interconnection to the power grid. To increase the global energy/power quality in the grid, different power electronics-based converters can be employed. The Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) reduces the current unbalance, increases the power factor and compensates low-frequency harmonics currents. Since in electrified railways there are different power quality parameters of interest and with very different time windows for analysis, it is needed different simulation models to address these parameters. In this paper are presented and discussed the appropriateness of three STATCOM models and respective controllers to assess relevant parameters.