A Method of Voltage Unbalance Compensation in a Y‐Connected Modular Multilevel Converter

A STATCOM is expected to be suitable for use as voltage control equipment for a distribution system that needs to be controlled to suppress the voltage deviation caused by an increase in the number of photovoltaic energy sources. A Y‐connected MMC is a promising alternative for the STATCOM circuit topology. However, it is known that the Y‐connected MMC cannot achieve capacitor voltage balance between phases with unbalance current output in order to compensate system voltage unbalance. To solve this problem, we propose a novel method to control the capacitor voltage for unbalance current output. The proposed control involves feedforward and feedback zero sequence voltage control. The feedforward control prevents capacitor voltage unbalance between phases, which is caused by the unbalance current that the Y‐connected MMC outputs. The feedback control cancels the remaining control error of the feedforward control. We verified the performance of this control through transient simulation. The Y‐connected MMC with the proposed control can realize capacitor voltage balance between phases even when the Y‐connected MMC outputs an unbalance current. Additionally, we determined the maximum unbalance current output produced by the Y‐connected MMC in relation to the rated capacitor voltage.