A Novel Three-Phase Harmonic Power Flow Algorithm for Unbalanced Radial Distribution Networks with the Presence of D-STATCOM Devices

Due to the rapid advancement in power electronic devices in recent years, there is a fast growth of non-linear loads in distribution networks (DNs). These non-linear loads can cause harmonic pollution in the networks. The harmonic pollution is low, and the resonance problem is absent in distribution static synchronous compensators (D-STATCOM), which is the not case in traditional compensating devices such as capacitors. The power quality issue can be enhanced in DNs with the interfacing of D-STATCOM devices. A novel three-phase harmonic power flow algorithm (HPFA) for unbalanced radial distribution networks (URDN) with the existence of linear and non-linear loads and the integration of a D-STATCOM device is presented in this paper. The bus number matrix (BNM) and branch number matrix (BRNM) are developed in this paper by exploiting the radial topology in DNs. These matrices make the development of HPFA simple. Without D-STATCOM integration, the accuracy of the fundamental power flow solution and harmonic power flow solution are tested on IEEE−13 bus URDN, and the results are found to be precise with the existing work. Test studies are conducted on the IEEE−13 bus and the IEEE−34 bus URDN with interfacing D-STATCOM devices, and the results show that the fundamental r.m.s voltage profile is improved and the fundamental harmonic power loss and total harmonic distortion (THD) are reduced.