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By utilizing the Volt/Var control functionality of smart inverters, the voltage violations in the distribution networks due to large-scale integration of solar photovoltaic systems can be mitigated. However, existing Volt/Var control relies on the distribution substation for the required reactive power to mitigate voltage violations. This increases reactive power burden on the substation, and thereby, adversely affects its power factor. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel distributed Volt/Var control approach to mitigate voltage violations in unbalanced active distribution networks. The proposed approach aims to minimize the reactive power burden on substation and to enhance its power factor. To achieve the same, it exploits the reactive power capability of smart inverters for meeting the local reactive demand during normal voltage scenarios. Further, in the event of voltage violations, it categorizes the smart inverters into two sets, one for mitigation of voltage violation and the other for minimization of reactive power burden on the substation. Incorporating daily profiles of solar photovoltaic generation and load, the time-series simulations of proposed method have been performed on MATLAB and a real-time digital simulator to test its effectiveness. The obtained results show effective voltage regulation with substantial improvement in the substation power factor.
Babu et al. (Mon,) studied this question.