Abstract
The increasing penetration of distributed energy resources in distribution systems has brought a number of network management and operational challenges; reactive power variation has been identified as one of the dominant effects. Enormous growth in a variety of controllable devices that have complex control requirements are integrated in distribution networks. The operation modes of traditional centralized control are difficult to tackle these problems with central controller. When considering the non-linear multi-objective functions with discrete and continuous optimization variables, the proposed random gradient-free algorithm is employed to the optimal operation of controllable devices for reactive power optimization. This paper presents a distributed reactive power optimization algorithm that can obtain the global optimum solution based on random gradient-free algorithm for distribution network without requiring a central coordinator. By utilizing local measurements and local communications among capacitor banks and distributed generators (DGs), the proposed reactive power control strategy can realize the overall network voltage optimization and power loss minimization simultaneously. Simulation studies on the modified IEEE-69 bus distribution systems demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed reactive power optimization strategy.
Highlights
Distribution networks (DNs), as the interface between transmission system and load-customers, is one of the key components of a power network
The reactive power optimization (RPO) is conducted by the regulation of reactive compensation capacitors or Distributed Generators (DGs) in DN through a constrained optimization problem that aims to minimize power losses and improve voltage profiles subject to finite capacitor capacity and the upper and lower bus voltage limits
It should be noted that each reactive power compensation device under the proposed distributed optimization strategy is an independent agent trying to communicate, coordinate, and cooperate with other agents for completing a task or solving a problem
Summary
Distribution networks (DNs), as the interface between transmission system and load-customers, is one of the key components of a power network. The volume of data that arises as a result of large-scale integration of DGs is expected to lead to a communication bottleneck in the near future because the central coordinator must collect and process all of the information for reactive power optimization Another important issue is robustness in terms of the cyber-physical system. When economic efficiency and voltage quality are taken into account, the proposed RPO problem becomes a multi-objective function with a set of agents’ local non-linear sub-functions. This paper proposes a distributed random gradient-free algorithm based solution for RPO problem in distribution network. The proposed optimization algorithm can significantly guarantee voltage quality and reduce power loss by utilizing local measurements and local communications of capacitor banks and DGs. In addition, the proposed solution is flexible and robust for applications to DNs of different topologies.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
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
