Control System of an SVC Based on ARMA Model to Improve the Displacement Power Factor of an Electric Arc Furnace

In the steel industry, electric arc furnaces (EAFs) are essential for metal scrap recycling. However, they are known for their high reactive power consumption, negatively impacting power quality (PQ). The static VAR compensator (SVC) is the reactive power compensation device that provides the best cost‐benefit relation for mitigating the impact of EAFs. Although the SVC effectively improves certain PQ indices, its performance in improving the displacement power factor (DPF) is limited. This limitation is due to the delays of the control system during the reactive power calculation. This paper proposes a multivariable coupled control technique based on an autoregressive moving average (ARMA) model. The system to be controlled is identified offline directly from simulation measurements. The SVC is designed to improve the DPF at the connection node of the SVC. When the SVC connects to the power system, the proposed control technique enhances the DPF, achieving an average increase of 30%. As is well known, improving the DPF positively impacts the power system by increasing its efficiency. By significantly enhancing the DPF with the proposed control technique, several long‐term benefits are expected, including an increase in the lifespan of connected equipment, a sustained reduction in operational costs, which may result in a return on investment of the SVC, and a lower environmental impact by contributing to the reduction of the carbon footprint, particularly in systems relying on fossil‐based energy. A real‐time simulation framework based on a hardware‐in‐the‐loop (HIL) system is used to evaluate the proposed controller. This framework assesses its pertinence and performance in real‐time applications of the proposed controller.