Voltage Control in Distribution Network by Cooperative Control of Photovoltaic Systems

Due to increasing penetration of photovoltaic (PV) sources in distribution network (DN), the voltage rise phenomenon becomes a common problem. It has detrimental effects on operation and life of the various equipment's connected in DN. The objective of this work is to maintain the voltage at each bus by the cooperative control of PV systems connected in DN. In order to achieve this, the combined control i.e., reactive power control by the PV inverters and active power curtailment from PV source is proposed in this work. The combined control overcomes the limitations of individual control scheme. Moreover, looking at reactive power capability available in PV inverter, the dynamic droop control is proposed for the effective compensation of voltage rise at various operating conditions. Through the simulation results, it is verified that the proposed combined strategy regulates the voltage equal or very near to nominal voltage. The presented cooperative control does not require communication infrastructure for the voltage regulation at various buses in DN, hence becomes not only effective but also cheaper solution.