Local Phasor-Based Control of DER Inverters for Voltage Regulation on Distribution Feeders

Swartz, Jaimie; Roberts, T. G.; Meier, Alexandra von; Ratnam, Elizabeth

doi:10.1109/greentech46478.2020.9289720

Title: Local Phasor-Based Control of DER Inverters for Voltage Regulation on Distribution Feeders

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Abstract

We introduce a new control paradigm termed Phasor-Based Control (PBC) to coordinate Distributed Energy Resources (DER) for improved voltage regulation and other objectives. PBC is a multi-layer control framework where the state of the distribution grid is represented by voltage phasors, and Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) measure the state at critical points in the distribution grid. In the PBC paradigm, a supervisory controller (S-PBC) sets phasor targets which local controllers track. In this paper, we propose a Proportional Integral (PI) implementation for the local control layer (LPBC), to regulate real and reactive power output of distributed inverters to track a voltage phasor target computed by the supervisory layer. We tune the PI controller gains offline with a genetic algorithm that yields better performance than the Ziegler-Nichols method. We benchmark the proposed L-PBC controller against droop volt-var control (DVVC) and observe improved voltage regulation in simulation on the IEEE 13 node unbalanced test feeder (IEEE 13NF). Furthermore, by means of numerical simulation we observe the response of the L-PBC controllers to small and large grid disturbances. Simulations on larger feeders, IEEE 123-node and 647-node, demonstrate challenges with tuning controllers in setups with different amounts of power-voltage coupling.

Authors:

Swartz, Jaimie ^[1]; Roberts, T. G. ^[1]; Meier, Alexandra von ^[1]; Ratnam, Elizabeth ^[2]

Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
Australian National Univ., Canberra, ACT (Australia)

Publication Date:: Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2020

Research Org.:: Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

OSTI Identifier:: 1812941

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0008008

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: 2020 IEEE Green Technologies Conference(GreenTech)

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Name: 2020 IEEE Green Technologies Conference(GreenTech); Journal Volume: 2020; Conference: 2020 IEEE Green Technologies Conference(GreenTech), Oklahoma City, OK (United States), 1-3 Apr 2021; Journal ID: ISSN 2166-5478

Publisher:: IEEE

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 42 ENGINEERING; control system synthesis; distributed power generation; genetic algorithms; invertors; numerical analysis; phasor measurement; PI control; power distribution control; power generation control; power grids; reactive power control; voltage control

Citation Formats


                    Swartz, Jaimie, Roberts, T. G., Meier, Alexandra von, and Ratnam, Elizabeth. Local Phasor-Based Control of DER Inverters for Voltage Regulation on Distribution Feeders.  United States: N. p., 2020. 
Web.  doi:10.1109/greentech46478.2020.9289720.

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                    Swartz, Jaimie, Roberts, T. G., Meier, Alexandra von, & Ratnam, Elizabeth. Local Phasor-Based Control of DER Inverters for Voltage Regulation on Distribution Feeders.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1109/greentech46478.2020.9289720

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                    Swartz, Jaimie, Roberts, T. G., Meier, Alexandra von, and Ratnam, Elizabeth. Wed .  
"Local Phasor-Based Control of DER Inverters for Voltage Regulation on Distribution Feeders".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1109/greentech46478.2020.9289720.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1812941.

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@article{osti_1812941,

  title        = {Local Phasor-Based Control of DER Inverters for Voltage Regulation on Distribution Feeders},

  author       = {Swartz, Jaimie and Roberts, T. G. and Meier, Alexandra von and Ratnam, Elizabeth},

  abstractNote = {We introduce a new control paradigm termed Phasor-Based Control (PBC) to coordinate Distributed Energy Resources (DER) for improved voltage regulation and other objectives. PBC is a multi-layer control framework where the state of the distribution grid is represented by voltage phasors, and Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) measure the state at critical points in the distribution grid. In the PBC paradigm, a supervisory controller (S-PBC) sets phasor targets which local controllers track. In this paper, we propose a Proportional Integral (PI) implementation for the local control layer (LPBC), to regulate real and reactive power output of distributed inverters to track a voltage phasor target computed by the supervisory layer. We tune the PI controller gains offline with a genetic algorithm that yields better performance than the Ziegler-Nichols method. We benchmark the proposed L-PBC controller against droop volt-var control (DVVC) and observe improved voltage regulation in simulation on the IEEE 13 node unbalanced test feeder (IEEE 13NF). Furthermore, by means of numerical simulation we observe the response of the L-PBC controllers to small and large grid disturbances. Simulations on larger feeders, IEEE 123-node and 647-node, demonstrate challenges with tuning controllers in setups with different amounts of power-voltage coupling.},

  doi          = {10.1109/greentech46478.2020.9289720},

  journal      = {2020 IEEE Green Technologies Conference(GreenTech)},

  number       = ,

  volume       = 2020,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2020},

  month        = {Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2020}

}

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