Compensation of Impacts of Distributed Generation Using Smart Grid Technology

The evolution of current centralized generation in the form of distributed generation and Smart Grids provide a great opportunity to eradicate several issues associated with energy efficiency, energy security, power quality and the drawback of aging power system infrastructures. In order to meet the rising electrical power demand and increase service quality as well as reduce pollution, the existing power grid infrastructure should be developed into a Smart Grid that has the flexibility to allow interconnection with the distributed generation. However, integrating distributed generation to power systems causes several technical issues, especially system stability. Therefore, to fully address the issue, current existing power systems should be up-graded to Smart Grid. To make the power grid become 'smarter', particularly in terms of stability and flexibility, Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) devices, especially Static Synchronous Compensators (STATCOM) are used. This paper discusses the need and impacts of distributed generation in Smart Grid technology, in particular it identifies and determines whether the system remains stable or not after installing distributed generation into Smart Grid systems. Further, an attempt has been made to show that the STATCOM makes the grid become smarter. It is actually a voltage-source converter which can act as either a source or sink of reactive AC power to an electricity network.