Optimal utilization of clean energy and its impact on hybrid power systems incorporating STATCOM and pumped hydro storage

In an attempt to widen the prospects for clean energy utilization and sustainable development, wind and solar power are considered as the prime contributors. But, their volatility is the major constraint in the optimal generation scheduling and power dispatching. Thus, achieving a reliable, techno-economic and voltage secure power system operation with multiple renewable generation facilities becomes a challenging issue. To address these issues, this work presents the combined operation of wind + solar PV + thermal (WPT) system incorporating pumped hydro storage (PHS) facility in a security constrained optimal power flow framework. The impact of PHS in minimizing the dependence on fossil fuel, operating cost and power transmission loss is evaluated in a constrained optimization environment. The complex objective of maintaining a secure voltage during normal and disrupted system operation is addressed by incorporating the static synchronous compensator (STATCOM). Using an intelligent technique, optimal operational paradigm for different hybrid configurations is evaluated. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid power system, a comparative performance analysis is depicted among three different configurations i.e. WPT, WPT + PHS and WPT + PHS + STATCOM in satisfying several operational objectives. Constraints related to intermittency of renewable power are incorporated to illustrate a real-time analysis. A detailed mathematical modelling of system components and their behaviour is analyzed in MATLAB/SIMULINK platform. The validation of improved results with STATCOM incorporated configuration i.e. (cost savings of 2.59 × 105 US$/y and 10%–16% improvement in system voltage profile) is demonstrated in the IEEE30 bus benchmark power system.