How FACTS controllers benefit AC transmission systems

This paper provides a summary of one of the three planned presentations on the topic of “FACTS fundamentals,” for a session sponsored by the DC and FACTS education working group, under the DC and FACTS subcommittee of the T&D committee. This paper is on Part I of the session and focuses on a summary of the issues and benefits of applying FACTS controllers to AC power systems. The overall process for system studies and analysis associated with FACTS installation projects and the need for FACTS controller models is also discussed. Finally, an introduction to the basic circuits of several FACTS controllers is provided with a focus on their system performance characteristics. This paper is designed to be accompanied by the presentation material.