Voltage Control for Distribution Networks via Coordinated Regulation of Active and Reactive Power of DGs

Fast-acting reactive power support from distributed generations (DGs) is a promising approach for tackling rapid voltage fluctuations in distribution networks. However, the voltage regulation range via reactive power of DGs alone is narrow especially in distribution networks with high resistance-reactance ratio. In this paper, a randomized algorithm is proposed to improve the voltage profile in distribution networks via coordinated regulation of the active and reactive power of DGs. To this end, first the variables of the proposed quadratically constrained quadratic programming problem on voltage control are partitioned into disjoint subsets, each of which corresponds to a unique low-dimensional subproblem. Second, these subsets are updated serially in a randomized manner via solving their corresponding subproblems, which overcomes the requirement for system-wide coordination among participating agents and guarantees an optimal solution. Compared with the existing algorithms, the proposed algorithm is resilient to network reconfigurations and achieves a wider voltage regulation range. The effectiveness and convergence performance of the proposed algorithm is validated by the case studies.