Coordination of voltage regulating devices for active distribution network management

Abstract

Coo rdinat ion of voltage regulating devices for active network management can be described as a process o f co ntrolling thc network equipment and voltage regulating devices that serve in normal condition to enhance thc utilization o f network assets and minimize thc requirement of thcir reinforcement to enable deve lopment of thc system, It is important for voltage regu lation implcmcnt at ion where the voltage supplied to thc end user has to bc maintained ins ide the reg ional acceptable limit. Volta ge fluctu ation in distribution system not only interrupted the elcctricalmachi ncry funct ioning but it could cause damages and mal funct ion to the e lectrical equipment. The operat ions of voltage regulat ing dev ices at se lected points in current distribut ion systems arc co ntrolled by the system operator based on thcir cxpc ricnces. Poor decis ion in coord inating the devices may lead to poor quality of the output voltage profile and frequent action of thc devices which result s in high cost o f operation and maintenance in terms o f wear and tear. Considcring having an optimum output vo ltage with the most minimum cost and depende ncy on system operator, a method to coo rdinate the vo ltage regulating devices is bc ing enhanced. By idcnti fying the LTC transformer and mechanically sw itched capac itor 'as thc voltage regulating dev ices, this projec t research strives to iIIustratc the impact that a distr ibution system could have with di fferent sctt ing of thc devices. A modified IEEE 13 node tcst feeder has bccn used as a system modcling whi le thc s imulat ion has been carr ied out using an OpcnDSS source code interfacing with Visual Basic o f C++. The results show that proper coordinatio n of thc voltage regulating de vices resu lt in better out put voltage profile and Icss freque nt action o f thc rcgulat ing de vices.