The voltage instability of a power system is due to a disturbance occurring at some location, due to which rapid voltage drop occur. This voltage drop may become cumulative and finally lead to voltage collapse. A STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator) is a shunt connected device that is capable of providing reactive power and voltage support to the system. An SVC (Static Var Compensator) is also a shunt connected device that can provide voltage support. In this paper the voltage stability

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... ysis is performed on the test system to evaluate the influence of STATCOM and SVC on improving the voltage profile of the system. The WSCC 9-bus system is taken as the test system. The optimal location for the installation of the device is obtained using voltage stability indices and validated using power flow analysis. Simulations have been done in MATLAB/PSAT environment. From the simulation results it has been found that optimally placed STATCOM is found to be a better solution compared to SVC.