Ramboll Unveils Universal Damping STATCOM for Renewable Grids

Ramboll, a global architecture, engineering, and consultancy company, announced on January 28, 2026 the development of the Universal Damping STATCOM, a patent-pending technology designed to detect and neutralize voltage oscillations in transmission systems without requiring pre-programmed grid assumptions. Mojtaba Mohaddes, senior technical manager at Ramboll, is the inventor.

What Is Being Built

The Universal Damping STATCOM installs at critical nodes on the transmission network and continuously detects oscillations as they form. When an oscillation is identified, the device absorbs the oscillatory energy and converts it into usable power. Conventional STATCOMs and grid-forming inverters address oscillations by pre-modeling expected grid conditions, then tuning damping controllers for those specific known modes. That approach breaks down when unanticipated technologies connect to the grid, when new transmission paths change modal frequencies, or when generation dispatch shifts in ways the original model did not anticipate. The UD STATCOM, according to Ramboll’s press release, does not depend on prior knowledge of the oscillation type or source, making it adaptive to configuration changes that defeat site-tuned controllers.

Why It Matters

ENTSO-E’s incident documentation for the April 28, 2025 Iberian blackout recorded oscillations in the period before the collapse of the Spanish and Portuguese power systems, preceding a rapid cascade that led to a total blackout across the Iberian Peninsula. The incident highlighted the difficulty grid operators face when oscillations originate from inverter-based resources whose behavior differs from synchronous generators. As wind, solar, and battery storage make up a growing share of generation, transmission systems encounter oscillation modes that were not present during original controller design. “This breakthrough technology will not only lower energy costs for everyone from consumers to utilities and private investors, we will also see fewer outages and less outage time,” said Cheryl Ginyard-Jones, Managing Director of Ramboll in the Americas.

Critical Perspective

The Universal Damping STATCOM is patent pending with no reported field deployments. Ramboll is a consultancy, not an equipment manufacturer, so the path from laboratory concept to grid-certified hardware involves manufacturing partners, type testing under IEC 62428 or equivalent standards, and utility procurement cycles that typically span three to five years. The ENTSO-E report on the Iberian blackout documented oscillations as an observed condition preceding the event; it did not establish them as the primary cause. Questions about what happens when the device encounters oscillation frequencies outside its detection range, how it interacts with existing protection relays, and what performance guarantees Ramboll offers have not been addressed in any public documentation reviewed by MGRID.

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