Optimal Allocation of DSTATCOM to Improve Operational Performance of Microgrid Network with Plug-in Electrical Vehicle Charging Station

Microgrids (MGs) are getting installed with plug-in electric vehicle charging stations (PEVCSs) to provide charging services to plug-in electric vehicles. However, the integration of PEVCSs greatly affects the operational performance of MGs. This paper presents optimization- and exhaustive search-based approaches for optimal allocation of DSTATCOM to improve the operational performance of an existing MG with PEVCS. A two-stage optimization problem is formulated. In stage 1 optimization, the total cost of MG planning which includes installation costs, operation and maintenance costs, generation costs, emission costs, and cost of energy loss, is minimized to optimally allocate generating units. In stage 2 optimization, the operational performance index of MG which is a weighted sum of the voltage deviation index and energy loss index is minimized to optimally allocate PEVCS and DSTATCOM. Further, exhaustive search-based approaches are developed to know the impact of the placement of a PEVCS in different locations of MG and to know whether the placement of DSTATCOM in the same location of PEVCS or in a different location is better for improving the operational performance of MG with PEVCS. The standard 33-bus network is used to validate the approaches. The simulation results show that the optimal placement of DSTATCOM significantly improves the operational performance of MG with PEVCS.