Artificial neural network (ANN) control for static compensator (STATCOM) to improve the performance of power systems is presented. The proposed control strategy is applied on a STATCOM attached to a multi-machine power system including a superconducting generator (SCG). The proposed control method, ANN-STATCOM is designed based on proportional integral derivative (PID) by means of minimization of the system deviations. To obtain accurate results, detailed nonlinear models are used for the SCG and the STATCOM. In view of power system control, various types of control systems are employed such as PID controller for SCG in its governor loop and AVRs and PSSs for conventional units in their excitation loops. The performance enhancement provided by the ANN-STATCOM controller is compared with that obtained using a fixed-parameter PID-STATCOM controller. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed ANN-STATCOM controller in enhancing the power systems performance for various disturbances and at different operating conditions.