Abstract
The intermittent property and increased grid restrictions have become the most critical elements for increasing penetration levels of clean renewable energy sources (RESs). Smart inverters with combined RESs integration and reactive power support for utility grids have recently found widespread applications due to their techno-economic benefits. In smart inverters, the distribution-static compensator (DSTATCOM) functionality is inherently integrated to the RESs inverters. However, optimized reactive power-sharing between these inverters has become a big issue for the control systems of utility grids. There are numerous existing attempts presented in the literature for addressing these challenges, although they disadvantage low efficiency, uneven sharing, complex implementations, and/or costly added devices. Therefore, this paper proposes an efficient reactive power dispatch method between hybrid renewable energy generation and energy storage systems. The proposed method enhances the energy efficiency of the utility grid by adopting the reactive power share between interfacing inverters according to the estimated power losses. Besides, the proposed method enhances the reliability of smart inverters by relieving their thermal stresses through adopting their reactive power share according to the estimated power losses. The hybrid photovoltaic (PV) generation with superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) systems is selected as a case study for validating the new proposed reactive power dispatch method. The results, comprehensive discussions, and performance comparisons have verified the superior performance of the new proposed reactive power dispatch method.
Highlights
Ambitious installation plans of large scale photovoltaic (PV) power generation system have been targeted world-widely
The grid connected hybrid PV-superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) microgrid distribution system is used as a case study to verify the new reactive power dispatch method
It is clear that in case 4, the load reactive power is completely compensated with the cooperation between PV and SMES inverters and there is no reactive power absorbed from the utility grid
Summary
Ambitious installation plans of large scale photovoltaic (PV) power generation system have been targeted world-widely. A hybrid optimization approach has been presented in [18] through using the PSO method and the Tabu-search technique This method can solve the reactive power dispatch problem for minimizing the line active power loss and the load bus voltage deviations. In [21], an approach using an evolutionary algorithm to find the optimal settings of the controllable components in the distribution system has been proposed This method is capable of minimizing the system losses, the variations of voltage regulators and switching capacitors, and the active power curtailment of the PV system. Induced by the aforementioned drawbacks of the existing control methods in the literature, this paper proposes an efficient reactive power dispatch between hybrid renewable energy generation and energy storage systems.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call