End user voltage regulation to ease urban low‐voltage distribution congestion

Abstract

Owing to the increasing demand in the urban areas for new technologies such as heat pumps and electric vehicles (EVs), greater power capacity in low voltage (LV) distribution networks is becoming increasingly important. This study will investigate how to improve the power capacity through the implementation of point of use voltage regulation (PUVR). PUVR relies on a power electronics converter at each end-user. Most LV network cabling has a voltage limit of 1 kV, PUVR exploits this voltage rating to increase the network capacity. This study will describe and discuss the results from a viability study using data from a utility company, which shows that the capacity in the LV network could be increased by an additional 500 kVA. However, it was also found that PUVR using present off-the-shelf converters is not as cost-effective as replacing the LV network cables. Two power electronics topologies have been investigated in the simulation studies to date: the AC chopper circuit and the back-to-back inverter circuit. These two topologies were compared and the AC chopper was found to be a cheaper, more efficient topology. Therefore the AC chopper is more suitable for this application and may increase the viability of the PUVR

Universal volt/var control strategy for different distribution networks in Australia

“…Voltage regulation methods proposed in literature are usually exclusive to certain types of networks to get the most effective outcome. Authors of [6] proposed a point of use voltage regulation method that is applicable in a congested urban low voltage (LV) network while [7] presented a highefficiency voltage regulator for rural networks. While both methods offered helpful solution in respective target networks, they may not be used interchangeably.…”

High‐efficiency low‐cost AC/AC buck converter with stability analysis

“…Direct AC/AC conversion can lead to higher efficiency, lower sizes and cost as compared to back-to-back AC/DC/AC converters. Among AC/AC converters, AC/AC buck converters, as a basic topology, have been used for improving power quality [3][4][5], voltage regulation [6], reactive power compensation [7] and so on. An AC/AC buck converter can be used to solve both voltage sags and swells if used in series with a transformer as illustrated in [8].…”