Umudike Journal of Engineering and Technology

Adequate power transfer has been a major issue surrounding power generation and transmission companies of Nigeria. Some of these issue ranges from inadequate resources, poor policy management, inadequate utilization of available resources and corruptions. Available power transfer which is the result of power flow in the network determines how much power can be transmitted from sending end to the receiving end. Some of these issues mentioned can however be minimized by implementation of power enhancement devices in some selected locations in the Nigeria transmission network. This study investigates the impact of series and shunt compensators, specifically static synchronous series compensator (SSSC) and static synchronous compensator (STATCOM), on enhancing the Available Transfer Capability (ATC) of Nigeria 330 kV transmission grid. Using PSAT and MATLAB simulations, ATC values were measured at five critical buses. Base-case values were 12.25 MW at Birnin Kebbi TS and 12.10 MW at Aladja TS. After applying STATCOM, Birnin Kebbi TS increased to 12.43 MW (1.47% improvement) and Aladja TS to 12.28 MW (1.49% improvement). With SSSC, Birnin Kebbi TS reached 12.66 MW (3.35% improvement) and Aladja TS 12.50 MW (3.30% improvement). Significant improvements were also observed at Akangba TS, Lekki TS, and Alaoji GS. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of FACTS devices in improving grid capacity and enhancing power transfer efficiency.