Abstract The paper investigates the dynamic operation of both static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) and static synchronous series compensator (SSSC) based on a new model comprising full 48-pulse GTO voltage source converter for combined reactive power compensation and voltage stabilization of the electric grid network. These key FACTS devices are power electronic GTO converters connected in parallel or series with the power system grid and are controlled by novel decoupled controllers. The complete digital simulation of the STATCOM and SSSC within the power system is performed in the MATLAB/Simulink environment using the power system blockset (PSB). The STATCOM scheme and the electric grid network are modeled by specific electric blocks from the power system blockset while the control system is modeled using Simulink. Two novel controllers for the STATCOM and SSSC are presented in this paper based on a decoupled current control strategy to ensure stable operation of the STATCOM under various load excursions. A novel control scheme for the static synchronous series compensator (SSSC) is also implemented to provide a full controllable series compensating (buck/boost) injected voltage over a specified capacitive and inductive range, independently of the magnitude of the transmission line current. The series reactive compensation scheme with an external dc power supply can also compensate for any voltage drops across resistive component of the transmission line impedance. The novel decoupled controller uses a phase locked loop (PLL) with a novel reduced inherent time delay to improve the transient performance of the SSSC. The performance of both STATCOM and SSSC schemes connected to the 230 kV grid are evaluated. The proposed novel control schemes for the STATCOM and SSSC are fully validated by digital simulation.