Co-simulation and energy management of photovoltaic-rich residential communities for improved distribution voltage support with flexible loads

Abstract

One of the major obstacles for deeper solar photovoltaic (PV) utilization is associated with its adverse impact on distribution voltage regulation. This paper presents a co-simulation platform for PV-rich residential communities to facilitate development and analysis of new voltage regulation strategies leveraging the flexible residential loads. The platform achieves co-simulation of high-fidelity EnergyPlus models for residential dwellings, a solar PV model and a power flow model for distribution networks to accommodate holistic assessments of different voltage control approaches. Community-level control strategies are proposed to coordinate the operations of air conditioners and hot water heaters across different households to provide proactive voltage support against volatile solar generation. The control strategies were evaluated with five simulation test cases of a community with 100 residential dwellings, under different control settings and distribution infrastructure. Simulation test results have shown that the voltage regulation strategies using flexible building loads could help reduce operations of step voltage regulators, from 15 tap changes per day to 4. For distribution grids without voltage regulation devices, flexibility of building loads can be leveraged to maintain feeder voltage within limits set forth by ANSI standards, and voltage excursions can be almost fully eliminated through relaxation of thermostat setpoints.