Local Control of Reactive Power by Distributed Photovoltaic Generators
Open Access
- 1 October 2010
- conference paper
- conference paper
- Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Abstract
High penetration levels of distributed photovoltaic (PV) generation on an electrical distribution circuit may degrade power quality due to voltage sags and swells caused by rapidly varying PV generation during cloud transients coupled with the slow response of existing utility compensation and regulation equipment. Fast-reacting, VAR-capable PV inverters may provide the necessary reactive power injection or consumption to maintain voltage regulation under difficult transient conditions. As side benefit, the control of reactive power injection at each PV inverter provides a new tool for distribution utilities to minimize the thermal losses in circuit. We suggest a local control scheme that dispatches reactive power from each PV inverter based on local instantaneous measurements of the real and reactive components of the consumed power and the real power generated by the PVs. Using one adjustable parameter per circuit, we balance the requirements on power quality and desire to minimize thermal losses. The performance of the proposed control scheme is evaluated via numerical simulations of realistic rural lines in several generation/consumption scenarios. Simultaneous improvement of both the power quality and the magnitude of losses is observed for all the scenarios, even when the renewable generation in excess of the circuit own load.Keywords
This publication has 7 references indexed in Scilit:
- Distributed control of reactive power flow in a radial distribution circuit with high photovoltaic penetrationPublished by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ,2010
- Integrating distributed generation into electric power systems: A review of drivers, challenges and opportunitiesElectric Power Systems Research, 2007
- Power QualityPower Systems, 2007
- Efficient integer optimization algorithms for optimal coordination of capacitors and regulatorsIEEE Transactions on Power Systems, 1990
- Network reconfiguration in distribution systems for loss reduction and load balancingIEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, 1989
- Optimal sizing of capacitors placed on a radial distribution systemIEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, 1989
- Optimal capacitor placement on radial distribution systemsIEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, 1989