A rural autonomous grid delivering quality power to its loads

Renewable energy potential in the form of wind or micro hydro are available in abundance at rural locations far away from city habitat. To harness this green energy the rugged induction generator has come up as a viable option. However, induction generator has change in reactive power requirement with change in load. This dynamic reactive power requirement is proposed to be met by a DSTATCOM and thereby achieve voltage regulation, load balancing and harmonic elimination. Further these small generators can provide full benefit to rural customers if they are connected on a grid. An autonomous rural grid with induction generators in parallel is proposed for reliable supply of power and to harness the benefits of the grid. A rural autonomous grid has been simulated in this paper using induction generators and a DSTATCOM on a MATLAB platform and study is made regarding the performance of the rural autonomous grid under linear and nonlinear loads and under varying load conditions.