Assessment for Voltage Violations considering Reactive Power Compensation Provided by Smart Inverters in Distribution Network

Due to the high proportion of renewable energies, traditional voltage regulation methods such as on-load tap changers (OLTCs) and switching capacitors (SCs) are currently facing the challenge of providing fast, step-less, and low-cost reactive power to reduce the increasing risks of voltage violations in distribution networks (DNs). To meet such increasing demand for voltage regulation, smart inverters, including photovoltaics (PVs) and electric vehicle (EV) chargers, stand out as a feasible approach for reactive power compensation. This paper aims to assess the voltage violation risks in DNs considering the reactive power response of smart inverters. Firstly, reactive power compensation models of PVs and EV chargers are investigated and voltage deviation indexes of the regulation results are proposed. Moreover, kernel density estimation (KDE) and slice sampling are adopted to provide the PV output and EV charging demand samples. Then, the risk assessment is carried out with a voltage regulation model utilizing OLTCs, SCs, and available smart inverters. Numerical studies demonstrate that the reactive power support from smart inverters can significantly mitigate the voltage violation risks and reduce the switching and cost of OLTCs and capacitors in DNs. © Copyright © 2021 Hu, Yin, Ye, Bao, Wu and Ding.