Analyzing Cross-Phase Effects of Reactive Power Intervention on Distribution Voltage Control

TL;DR

This paper investigates how reactive power interventions from PV inverters affect distribution voltage levels across different phases, emphasizing the importance of considering cross-phase effects for effective voltage control.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the factors influencing the cross-phase effects of reactive power interventions in distribution systems with high PV penetration.

Findings

Reactive power absorption can worsen over-voltage in other phases.

Cross-phase effects significantly impact voltage regulation strategies.

Understanding these effects is crucial for coordinated voltage control.

Abstract

Increasing photovoltaic (PV) penetration in the distribution system can often lead to voltage violations. Mitigation of these violations requires reactive power intervention from PV inverters. However, the unbalanced nature of the distribution system leads to mixed effects on the voltages of nearby nodes for each inverter injecting or absorbing reactive power. In particular, reactive power absorption to reduce over-voltage in one phase can exacerbate over-voltage in a different phase. In this paper, the factors impacting the incremental and decremental voltage effects of reactive power intervention are analyzed in detail. The result of these effects on the distribution system performance is presented to highlight their significance and the need to factor them in for any coordinated voltage control algorithm.