Assisting Residential Distribution Grids in Overcoming Large-Scale EV Preconditioning Load

In Belgium, and many other countries, rooftop solar panels are becoming a ubiquitous form of decentralised energy production. The increasing share of these distributed installations however imposes many challenges on the operators of the low-voltage distribution grid. They must keep the voltage levels and voltage balance on their grids in check and are often regulatory required to provide sufficient reception capacity for new power producing installations. By placing solar panels in different inclinations and azimuth angles, power production profiles can possibly be shifted to align more with residential power consumption profiles. In this article, it is investigated if the orientation of solar panels can have a mitigating impact on the integration problems on residential low voltage distribution grids. An improved simulation model of a solar panel installation is constructed, which is used to simulate the impact on a residential distribution grid. To stay as close to real-life conditions as possible, real irradiation data and a model of an existing grid are used. Both the developed model as the results on grid impact are evaluated.

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Local coordinated control of heat pumps and PV systems in residential distribution grids

2019 International Conference on Smart Energy Systems and Technologies (SEST) ◽

10.1109/sest.2019.8849029 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Panagiotis Damianos Cheilas ◽

Rakesh Sinha ◽

Jayakrishnan Radhakrishna Pillai

Keyword(s):

Coordinated Control ◽

Heat Pumps ◽

Pv Systems ◽

Residential Distribution ◽

Distribution Grids

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Behaviour of Distribution Grids with the Highest PV Share Using the Volt/Var Control Chain Strategy

Energies ◽

10.3390/en12203865 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (20) ◽

pp. 3865 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Daniel-Leon Schultis ◽

Albana Ilo

Keyword(s):

Power Flow ◽

Large Scale ◽

Reactive Power ◽

Low Voltage ◽

Information And Communications Technology ◽

Optimal Arrangement ◽

Reactive Power Flow ◽

Voltage Limit ◽

Scale Integration ◽

Distribution Grids

The large-scale integration of rooftop PVs stalls due to the voltage limit violations they provoke, the uncontrolled reactive power flow in the superordinate grids and the information and communications technology (ICT) related challenges that arise in solving the voltage limit violation problem. This paper attempts to solve these issues using the LINK-based holistic architecture, which takes into account the behaviour of the entire power system, including customer plants. It focuses on the analysis of the behaviour of distribution grids with the highest PV share, leading to the determination of the structure of the Volt/var control chain. The voltage limit violations in low voltage grid and the ICT challenge are solved by using concentrated reactive devices at the end of low voltage feeders. Q-Autarkic customer plants relieve grids from the load-related reactive power. The optimal arrangement of the compensation devices is determined by a series of simulations. They are conducted in a common model of medium and low voltage grids. Results show that the best performance is achieved by placing compensation devices at the secondary side of the supplying transformer. The Volt/var control chain consists of two Volt/var secondary controls; one at medium voltage level (which also controls the TSO-DSO reactive power exchange), the other at the customer plant level.

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Prospects of a Meshed Electrical Distribution System Featuring Large-Scale Variable Renewable Power

Energies ◽

10.3390/en11123399 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (12) ◽

pp. 3399 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Marco Cruz ◽

Desta Fitiwi ◽

Sérgio Santos ◽

Sílvio Mariano ◽

João Catalão

Keyword(s):

Distribution System ◽

Distribution Systems ◽

Large Scale ◽

Global Climate ◽

Mixed Integer ◽

Programming Approach ◽

Renewable Power ◽

Electrical Distribution ◽

Stochastic Framework ◽

Distribution Grids

Electrical distribution system operators (DSOs) are facing an increasing number of challenges, largely as a result of the growing integration of distributed energy resources (DERs), such as photovoltaic (PV) and wind power. Amid global climate change and other energy-related concerns, the transformation of electrical distribution systems (EDSs) will most likely go ahead by modernizing distribution grids so that more DERs can be accommodated. Therefore, new operational strategies that aim to increase the flexibility of EDSs must be thought of and developed. This action is indispensable so that EDSs can seamlessly accommodate large amounts of intermittent renewable power. One plausible strategy that is worth considering is operating distribution systems in a meshed topology. The aim of this work is, therefore, related to the prospects of gradually adopting such a strategy. The analysis includes the additional level of flexibility that can be provided by operating distribution grids in a meshed manner, and the utilization level of variable renewable power. The distribution operational problem is formulated as a mixed integer linear programming approach in a stochastic framework. Numerical results reveal the multi-faceted benefits of operating distribution grids in a meshed manner. Such an operation scheme adds considerable flexibility to the system and leads to a more efficient utilization of variable renewable energy source (RES)-based distributed generation.

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