Coordinated voltage control of load tap changers in distribution networks with photovoltaic system

Abstract

Maintaining voltage levels in distribution networks (DNs) with photovoltaic systems (PVs) is a complicated task for conventional voltage control schemes that only use a load ratio control transformer (LRT) and step voltage regulators (SVRs), because of local voltage fluctuation caused by the introduction of PVs. This paper proposes a coordinated voltage control scheme consisting of multiple kinds of load tap changers (LTCs). The proposed scheme determines the location at which to introduce low-voltage regulators (LVRs) and provides control parameters for the LTCs by considering the behavior of the other LTCs. We carried out numerical simulations using a DN model including PVs to verify the validity of the proposed scheme. The results specify the characteristics of the voltage deviation that cannot be prevented by a conventional voltage control scheme, and the proposed scheme significantly reduces such local voltage deviation.