Secure High DER Penetration Power Distribution via Autonomously Coordinated Volt/VAR Control

• Published in: IEEE transactions on power delivery Vol. 35; no. 5; pp. 2272 - 2284
• Main Authors: Joseph, Anto, Smedley, Keyue, Mehraeen, Shahab
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01-10-2020; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Algorithms; Capacitor banks; Computer simulation; Control algorithms; Control stability; Control systems; Control theory; distributed energy resources; Distributed generation; Distribution system voltage control; Electric power distribution; Energy sources; Inverters; Power generation; Power system stability; Reactive power; Reactive power control; Step voltage; Switches; Switching; Systems stability; Tap changers; Voltage control; voltage regulating devices; Voltage regulators
• ISSN: 0885-8977; 1937-4208
• DOI: 10.1109/TPWRD.2020.2965107

Traditionally voltage control in distribution power system (DPS) is performed through voltage regulating devices (VRDs) including on load tap changers (OLTCs), step voltage regulators (SVRs), and switched capacitor banks (SCBs). The recent IEEE 1547-2018 from March 2018 requires inverter fed distributed energy resources (DERs) to contribute reactive power to support the grid voltage. To accommodate VAR from DERs, well-organized control algorithm is required to use in this mode to avoid grid oscillations and unintended switching operations of VRDs. This paper presents two voltage control strategies (i) static voltage control considering voltage-reactive power mode (IEEE 1547-2018), (ii) dynamic and extensive voltage control with maximum utilization of DER capacity and system stability. Further, effective time-graded control is implemented between VRDs and DER units to reduce the simultaneous and negative operation. The proposed voltage control strategies are tested in a realistic 140-bus southern California distribution power system through extensive time-domain simulation studies. The results show that voltage quality in a distribution system is effectively achieved through the proposed voltage control strategies with a significantly reduction in the number of switching operations of VRDs. In addition, proposed voltage control strategies increase reliability and security of the DPS during unexpected failures.