Coordinated active power-dependent voltage regulation in distribution grids with PV systems

Abstract

High penetrations of photovoltaic (PV) systems in distribution grids have brought about new challenges such as reverse power flow and voltage rise. One of the proposed remedies for voltage rise is reactive power contribution by PV systems. Recent German Grid Codes (GGC) introduce an active power dependent (APD) standard characteristic curve, Q(P), for inverter-coupled distributed generators. This study utilizes the voltage sensitivity matrix and quasi-static analysis in order to locally and systematically develop a coordinated Q(P) characteristic for each PV system along a feeder. The main aim of this paper is to evaluate the technical performance of different aspects of proposed Q(P) characteristics. In fact, the proposed method is a systematic approach to set parameters in the GGC Q(P) characteristic. In the proposed APD method the reactive power is determined based on the local feed-in active power of each PV system. However, the local voltage is also indirectly taken into account. Therefore, this method regulates the voltage in order to keep it under the upper steady-state voltage limit. Moreover, several variants of the proposed method are considered and implemented in a simple grid and a complex utility grid. The results demonstrate the voltage-regulation advantages of the proposed method in contrast to the GGC standard characteristic.