A Coordinated Volt-Var Control Scheme for Distribution Systems with High DER Penetration

TL;DR

This paper introduces a coordinated Volt-Var Control scheme that integrates traditional devices and smart PV inverters to maintain voltage stability and minimize power losses in distribution systems with high PV penetration.

Contribution

It proposes a two-level control scheme combining conventional devices and smart inverters, improving voltage regulation and operational efficiency in high PV penetration scenarios.

Findings

Effective voltage regulation under various conditions

Reduced power losses through coordinated control

High computational efficiency of the method

Abstract

In this paper, a new Volt/Var Control (VVC) scheme is proposed to facilitate the coordination between the conventional VVC devices and the new smart PV inverters to provide an effective voltage control on a system with high PV penetration. The proposed scheme decomposes the problem into two levels. The first level uses Load Tap Changer (LTC) and Voltage Regulators (VRs) to adjust the voltage level on the circuit to keep the voltages along the circuit within the desired range. The second level determines Var support needed from smart inverters to smooth the fast voltage variations while providing effective power factor correction to keep the power losses at minimum. The case study shows that the proposed VVC method is very effective in maintaining acceptable voltages on the system under various operating conditions while meeting the operational constrains. The results also show the computational efficiency of the method.