Integrated Local and Coordinated Overvoltage Control to Increase Energy Feed-In and Expand DER Participation in Low-Voltage Networks

Large amounts of active power injection by inverter-interfaced distributed energy resources (DER) is a common cause of overvoltage in low-voltage networks. Hence, local active and reactive power control (i.e., Volt/Watt and Volt/VAR, respectively) are adopted to limit voltage rise, leading to active...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on sustainable energy 2022-04, Vol.13 (2), p.1049-1061
Main Authors: Alonso, Augusto M. S., De Oro Arenas, Luis De Oro, Brandao, Danilo I., Tedeschi, Elisabetta, Marafao, Fernando P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Active control
Algorithms
Automatic control
Distributed energy resources
Distributed generation
Energy resources
Energy sources
Genetic algorithms
Injection
Inverters
Low voltage
Networks
Optimization
Overvoltage
Power control
Power flow
Reactive power
Reactive power control
Voltage
Voltage control
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Summary:Large amounts of active power injection by inverter-interfaced distributed energy resources (DER) is a common cause of overvoltage in low-voltage networks. Hence, local active and reactive power control (i.e., Volt/Watt and Volt/VAR, respectively) are adopted to limit voltage rise, leading to active power curtailment. This paper proposes an automatic control strategy to steer non-dispatchable (nd-DER) and dispatchable (d-DER) inverters in low-voltage networks, mitigating overvoltage through integrated local and coordinated Volt/Watt and Volt/VAR functionalities. Moreover, active power curtailment is avoided whenever possible. The method does not require i ) the implementation of optimization algorithms or ii ) knowledge about line impedance parameters or the location of DERs. The control approach exploits the power flow dispatchability of low-voltage networks comprising one point-of-common coupling with the distribution grid, allowing DERs close to the distribution transformer to also contribute to voltage regulation by only using a low-bandwidth communication link. Simulation results show the flexibilities of the proposed approach and demonstrate that active power injection can be increased by up to 25% for the considered scenario in comparison to conventional local Volt/Watt or Volt/VAR schemes. Experimental results based on a laboratory prototype with three inverter-interfaced DERs certify the applicability of the approach to real-life implementations.
ISSN:1949-3029
1949-3037
DOI:10.1109/TSTE.2022.3146196