Optimal Location of an SVC in a Microgrid to Improve the Dynamic Voltage Stability

When the transition from the microgrid (MG) to its island operating mode occurs due to resilient contingencies, the dynamic voltage stability (DVS) is severely compromised. The static var compensator (SVC) device with FACTS (flexible ac transmission systems) technology allows mitigating and improving dynamic voltage instability scenarios due to its fast and efficient reactive power compensation. The SVC optimal location in the MG allows improving the dynamic performance of the voltage. To achieve these aims, an optimization algorithm that considers dynamic simulations in the time domain carried out in Power Factory DIgSilent is proposed through this paper. When voltage signals are discretized vs. time signals, those indices that quantitatively evaluate the dynamic performance of the voltage are calculated. With these metrics, the objective function of the optimization algorithm is formulated with a mixed-integer linear programming model (MILP) that is solved using Python–Pyomo. The results obtained are satisfactory and demonstrated that the optimal location of the SVC in isolated MG considerably improves DVS and, consequently, the operational resilience.