A Comparison of DER Voltage Regulation Technologies Using Real-Time Simulations

Adam Summers, Jay Johnson, Rachid Darbali-Zamora, Clifford Hansen, Jithendar Anandan and Chad Showalter
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Adam Summers: Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87123, USA
Jay Johnson: Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87123, USA
Rachid Darbali-Zamora: Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87123, USA
Clifford Hansen: Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87123, USA
Jithendar Anandan: Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA
Chad Showalter: Connected Energy, Pittsburgh, PA 15220, USA

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 14, 1-26

Abstract: Grid operators are now considering using distributed energy resources (DERs) to provide distribution voltage regulation rather than installing costly voltage regulation hardware. DER devices include multiple adjustable reactive power control functions, so grid operators have the difficult decision of selecting the best operating mode and settings for the DER. In this work, we develop a novel state estimation-based particle swarm optimization (PSO) for distribution voltage regulation using DER-reactive power setpoints and establish a methodology to validate and compare it against alternative DER control technologies (volt–VAR (VV), extremum seeking control (ESC)) in increasingly higher fidelity environments. Distribution system real-time simulations with virtualized and power hardware-in-the-loop (PHIL)-interfaced DER equipment were run to evaluate the implementations and select the best voltage regulation technique. Each method improved the distribution system voltage profile; VV did not reach the global optimum but the PSO and ESC methods optimized the reactive power contributions of multiple DER devices to approach the optimal solution.

Keywords: voltage regulation; distribution system; power hardware-in-the-loop; distributed energy resources; extremum seeking control; particle swarm optimization; state estimation; reactive power support; volt–VAR (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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