An investigation into voltage control strategies on an A1 distribution network with increased PV power generation

Li, Ningbo (2016) An investigation into voltage control strategies on an A1 distribution network with increased PV power generation. Honours thesis, Murdoch University.

Abstract

PV generation has become one of the most important renewable energy productions in the world. This clean and natural source of energy could be a key to solve the worldwide energy crisis with low environmental impact. The increased penetration of PV generation into the power grids mean the impact of PV power on the electricity network can no longer be ignored. However, high PV penetration into the LV feeders may result in some negative effects regarding to the stability of the distribution networks. One consequence is that voltage rise problem in distribution feeder caused by a coincident of a high PV generation and a low load demand. Various centralized and local control strategies have been the subject of several investigations to address this problem. One particular area is focus on the potential of PV inverters to manage the voltage profile of the distribution network by injecting the reactive power for the gird. Several strategies for reactive power support have been presented to solve this problem. This can be achieved by using different relationships between the VAR power and feeder voltage output. In addition, active power generation from PV system can be directly constrained to prevent voltage rise issue using Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) from PV inverters.

A strategy for voltage regulation investigated recently is to incorporate the power electronic tap changing into the LV distribution transformer. It is a high speed voltage control mechanism that the voltage profile in the LV distribution feeder can step change on a 50Hzat half-cycle intervals. A simple algorithm provides the feeder voltage regulation function by transformer tap changing, and then varies the transformer tap position as the power flow through the distribution transformer changes to keep the voltage profile along the feeders within the regulatory limits. This can be confirmed by a series of simulation studies on the distribution feeders under various PV generation injections, daily load demand. Software packages(e.g.DIgSILENT PowerFactory)will be used throughout the thesis. Other voltage control strategies using PV inverters will be confirmed in this simulation study as well. An evolution of a combined strategy will be investigated and some suggestions for the future works will be presented at the end of the thesis.

Item Type:	Thesis (Honours)
Murdoch Affiliation(s):	School of Engineering and Information Technology
Supervisor(s):	Crebbin, Gregory
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/30809

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