Distributed control of reactive power flow in a radial distribution circuit with high photovoltaic penetration

Journal Article · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2009

OSTI ID:979688

Chertkov, Michael ^[1]; Turitsyn, Konstantin ^[1]; Backhaus, Scott ^[1]; Sule, Petr ^[2]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory
2. NEW MEXICO CONSORTIUM

We show how distributed control of reactive power can serve to regulate voltage and minimize resistive losses in a distribution circuit that includes a significant level of photovoltaic (PV) generation. To demonstrate the technique, we consider a radial distribution circuit with a single branch consisting of sequentially-arranged residential-scale loads that consume both real and reactive power. In parallel, some loads also have PV generation capability. We postulate that the inverters associated with each PV system are also capable of limited reactive power generation or consumption, and we seek to find the optimal dispatch of each inverter's reactive power to both maintain the voltage within an acceptable range and minimize the resistive losses over the entire circuit. We assume the complex impedance of the distribution circuit links and the instantaneous load and PV generation at each load are known. We compare the results of the optimal dispatch with a suboptimal local scheme that does not require any communication. On our model distribution circuit, we illustrate the feasibility of high levels of PV penetration and a significant (20% or higher) reduction in losses.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-06NA25396
• OSTI ID: 979688
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-09-07993; LA-UR-09-7993
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
DISTRIBUTION
IMPEDANCE
INVERTERS
POWER GENERATION
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION