Voltage regulation at sites with distributed generation

In some large industrial sites, generator groups are operated through interconnectors. At such sites, the management of the power flows across the network can be problematic, specifically in situations where the availability of local generation cannot always meet the diverse load demand in that area. This problem will be illustrated by a case study. Under these conditions, the use of an interactive power system state estimation model is critical for managing the supply of real and reactive power to the distributed loads across the network. One aspect of this control implies that voltage levels at key nodes across the network must be adjusted to influence the contribution of reactive power from the generation under varying load conditions. Embedding such a function in a power management system will be discussed. This paper describes how a power system state estimator is used to apply adaptive settings to network voltage control systems that can also operate in "stand-alone" mode to provide a robust level of voltage stability. Other issues concerning the use of distributed generation are discussed with respect to voltage levels and state estimation.