Dispersed Voltage Control in Microgrids

Abstract

The deeper penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs) in microgrids ( μgs) has led to their wider deployment in specific applications. The inherent variability in loads and in renewable energy resource outputs necessitates the development and implementation of effective voltage control strategies so as to reliably serve the loads, particularly under islanded operations mode. We propose a dispersed control strategy to maintain voltage levels within the operational limits by means of the DERs reactive and active power outputs. We implement an optimization approach and demonstrate the effectiveness and the robustness of the proposed voltage control scheme using a set of representative studies from the extensive testing of the simulation approach performed with the methodology. Simulation results demonstrate the absence of any opportunity cost to implement the control action and the maximization of active power production by renewable energy resources.