Voltage support study of smart PV inverters on a high-photovoltaic penetration utility distribution feeder

Ding, Fei; Pratt, Annabelle; Bialek, Tom; Bell, Frances; McCarty, Michael; Atef, Kahveh; Nagarajan, Adarsh; Gotseff, Peter

doi:10.1109/pvsc.2016.7749840

Cited by 30 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Two methods of mitigating voltage rise are commonly reported in literature: active power curtailment (APC) and reactive power compensation (RPC). RPC has been reported to be particularly effective for reducing overvoltage incidents in networks with a high X/R ratio [9]. RPC at fixed power factor operation requires the injection of some active power, while volt/Var control can activate RPC without the need for active power injection.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supporting LV Distribution Network Voltage Using PV Inverters Under High EV Penetration

Akakabota

Pillai

Allison

2019

2019 54th International Universities Power Engineering Conference (UPEC)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The growing popularity of Electric Vehicles (EV) as an alternative to fossil-fuel-driven vehicles has immense environmental appeal. Considering the effects on distribution networks, which were not designed to support such loads, several challenges are bound to be encountered in a future with purely EVs. One of such technical challenges is the effect of charging several EVs at the same time on distribution network voltage. While coordinated charging is one solution, reactive power compensation can be used to support voltage at the point of connection without the need for a centralised control. This paper explores the feasibility of using installed photovoltaic (PV) inverters as voltage compensation devices in Low Voltage (LV) distribution networks. A reactive power controller was developed in Simulink for PV inverters. The case study of a UK LV network for the winter season was used to investigate the feasibility. Results using a cumulative under-voltage index (CUVi) developed to quantify the contributions of the PV inverter reactive power compensation to network voltage support shows that for up to 30% EV penetration, the available PV capacity alone can completely eliminate under-voltage incidents.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supporting LV Distribution Network Voltage Using PV Inverters Under High EV Penetration

Akakabota

Pillai

Allison

2019

2019 54th International Universities Power Engineering Conference (UPEC)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…According to IEEE 1547-2018 [15,16], inverter-based DERs such as PVs are allowed to participate in feeder voltage regulation. Ac-cording to [11,17,18], the use of smart inverters (SIs) could provide a more effective and economical way of voltage control especially at high levels of penetration of inverter-based DERs. Voltage optimization can be carried out with the use of several components in a distribution network.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Multi-Objective Voltage Optimization Technique in Distribution Feeders with High Photovoltaic Penetration

Olowu¹,

Jafari²,

Sarwat³

2019

Adv. sci. technol. eng. syst. j.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

With increasing photovoltaic (PV) penetration on distribution feeders, voltage functions is always a challenge. To control these variations due to the intermittent nature of PV generation,many utility companies use the traditional voltage regulating devices such as ON/OFF load tap changers, voltage regulators, switched capacitor banks and reactors. The use of smart inverters (SI) has been reported to provide a more effective and economical way of voltage regulation on distribution feeder. It then becomes necessary to optimally control the operation of these traditional voltage regulating devices and the SIs. This paper presents a multi-objective technique that minimizes the voltage fluctuation (by implementing conservative voltage reduction), the overall system active power losses and the amount of reactive power injection from the capacitor banks with various constraints on the smart inverter reactive power injection and voltage regulator switching. The proposed algorithm is tested on an IEEE 34 node system with six units of 300kW (400kV A SIs) PVs integrated using real data from an existing 1.4MW PV plant located at FIU. The Pareto optimization results of the proposed algorithm show the various optimal values of the PVs power factor, the voltage regulator settings and the capacitor reactive power injection. Using one of the Pareto optimal solutions, the results show that the system bus voltage profiles, total system power losses and capacitor reactive power injection were effectively optimized.

show abstract

“…VVC effects on a system with high PV penetration and smart inverters have been analyzed [20]; however, default settings were used for the impact analysis in the study. The VVC needed to support the voltage of the distribution system was obtained in [21] by changing the parameters of each function related to the VVC; however, no formal optimization was conducted, and multiple PV systems were evaluated using daily data and the same VVC. The effects of VVC parameters according to PV penetration and weather conditions have been evaluated [22], but the method of updating parameters had practical limitations.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The proposed algorithm optimizes the VVC to set the parameters of the smart inverters in PV systems devoted to distributed generation. [19], [21]- [25], [28], [30], [32], [34], [36], [42])…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Optimal Volt–Var Curve Setting of a Smart Inverter for Improving Its Performance in a Distribution System

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We propose an algorithm to set the parameters of volt-var curves to improve the performance of distributed generation. Specifically, we optimally set the volt-var curves of the smart inverter for proper control of the distributed generation output. To improve the overall distribution system performance, we consider the minimization of voltage deviation, system loss, and peak of reactive power in an objective function, thereby providing optimal volt-var curve parameters. The proposed algorithm overcomes various limitations of existing studies. First, we use distribution system factors in a multiobjective optimization function to adjust volt-var curve parameters that deviate from the default settings. Second, we consider the service transformers that affect the system voltage according to the photovoltaic generation output in the test model during optimization. Third, we analyze the system improvement according to the number of parameters to be optimized. Fourth, we analyze the implementation of the optimized volt-var curve according to the practical periods when the smart inverter settings can be updated. Fifth, we evaluate different suitable voltvar curves for multiple photovoltaic generators grouped using clustering. Using the proposed algorithm, the distribution system operator can set the optimal volt-var curve according to the system conditions and requirements. We conducted simulations of the proposed method using OpenDSS, a quasistatic time-series simulation, on a test model reflecting the characteristics of a South Korean distribution system. The simulation results confirm that the overall system performance increases when the optimal volt-var curve settings obtained from the proposed algorithm are used. INDEX TERMS Distribution system, parameter optimization, smart inverter, volt-var curve. NOMENCLATURE i Bus index t Time (h) (year: 8760 h; spring: 2208 h; summer: 2208 h, fall: 2184 h; winter: 2160 h) vvnew Parameter (gene) for newly updated volt-var curve (Vvv2, Vvv3, Qvv1, Qvv4) vvcon Conventional volt-var curve parameter in Fig. 5 Pt(vv) System loss at time t according to volt-var curve parameter Vref Reference voltage, 22.9 kV, 1.00 pu ω Weight for system factor (voltage deviation, system loss, peak of reactive power) Vi,t Voltage of bus i at time t according volt-var curve parameter δVi,t(vv) − , () , voltage deviation index of bus i at time t Qi(vv) Reactive power output at smart inverter of bus i according to volt-var curve parameter Nconst Constraint condition ωc Penalty coefficient PFc Constraint weight E Disjoint subset of input pattern l Clusters index k Number of clusters Si Set of points belonging to cluster i µi Center of cluster i O• Objective function I. INTRODUCTION

show abstract

Voltage support study of smart PV inverters on a high-photovoltaic penetration utility distribution feeder

Cited by 30 publications

References 5 publications

Supporting LV Distribution Network Voltage Using PV Inverters Under High EV Penetration

Supporting LV Distribution Network Voltage Using PV Inverters Under High EV Penetration

A Multi-Objective Voltage Optimization Technique in Distribution Feeders with High Photovoltaic Penetration

Optimal Volt–Var Curve Setting of a Smart Inverter for Improving Its Performance in a Distribution System

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About