A Coordinated Voltage Control for Overvoltage Mitigation in LV Distribution Grids

• Main Authors: Edoardo De Din, Marco Pau, Ferdinanda Ponci, Antonello Monti
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-04-01
• Series: Energies
• Subjects: voltage control; overvoltage mitigation; distributed energy resources; renewable energy sources; storage management; hosting capacity
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/8/2007

The design of intelligent strategies for grid management is a cost-effective solution to increase the hosting capacity of distribution grids without investing in the reinforcement of the grid assets. This paper presents a distributed voltage control algorithm to coordinate Energy Storage Systems (ESSs) and Distributed Generation (DG) in a scenario of high renewable penetration. The proposed control algorithm relies on a dual decomposition approach and aims at mitigating possible voltage rise events occurring in the Low Voltage (LV) grid by solving an optimization problem of power minimization. Instead of using local control strategies, in the proposed solution, the voltage control burden is distributed among all the available resources in the grid, which cooperate to resolve the existing voltage violations. The performance of the developed voltage control has been tested under realistic distribution grid scenarios, using stochastic load profiles together with photovoltaic generation profiles obtained in the presence of both clear sky and cloudy sky conditions. The algorithm is also compared to a strategy that considers only DG management, highlighting the benefits associated to the proposed coordination of DG and Energy Storage Systems (ESSs).