Unbalanced Voltage Compensation with Optimal Voltage Controlled Regulators and Load Ratio Control Transformer

Penetration of equipment such as photovoltaic power generations (PV), heat pump water heaters (HP), and electric vehicles (EV) introduces voltage unbalance issues in distribution systems. Controlling PV and energy storage system (ESS) outputs or coordinated EV charging are investigated for voltage u...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Akito Nakadomari, Ryuto Shigenobu, Takeyoshi Kato, Narayanan Krishnan, Ashraf Mohamed Hemeida, Hiroshi Takahashi, Tomonobu Senjyu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-05-01
Series:Energies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/11/2997
Description
Summary:Penetration of equipment such as photovoltaic power generations (PV), heat pump water heaters (HP), and electric vehicles (EV) introduces voltage unbalance issues in distribution systems. Controlling PV and energy storage system (ESS) outputs or coordinated EV charging are investigated for voltage unbalance compensation. However, some issues exist, such as dependency on installed capacity and fairness among consumers. Therefore, the ideal way to mitigate unbalanced voltages is to use grid-side equipment mainly. This paper proposes a voltage unbalance compensation based on optimal tap operation scheduling of three-phase individual controlled step voltage regulators (3<i>ϕ</i>SVR) and load ratio control transformer (LRT). In the formulation of the optimization problem, multiple voltage unbalance metrics are comprehensively included. In addition, voltage deviations, network losses, and coordinated tap operations, which are typical issues in distribution systems, are considered. In order to investigate the mutual influence among voltage unbalance and other typical issues, various optimization problems are formulated, and then they are compared by numerical simulations. The results show that the proper operation of 3<i>ϕ</i>SVRs and LRT effectively mitigates voltage unbalance. Furthermore, the results also show that voltage unbalances and other typical issues can be improved simultaneously with appropriate formulations.
ISSN:1996-1073