Voltage Regulation and Load Relief in Medium Voltage Feeder Supported by Battery Energy Storage System

Ano de Publicação: 2023

Cairns International Symposium. 04-07 September, 2023 CAIRNS – Australia.

Abstract:

The climate change observed in recent years is leading societies, governments, and companies to increase support and investment in a new order of the world’s energy matrix, causing the gradual decarbonization of electricity generation. As countries move into a low-carbon economy, there is a significant increase in the use of renewable energy sources, based predominantly on wind, solar and biomass energy.

As solar and wind energy sources are naturally variable, they can introduce problems of stability and power quality to the grid, and new approaches to operation and control in transmission and distribution systems are needed. Specifically, distribution systems have been impacted by the increasing expansion of distributed generation, nodded by the high dispersion of photovoltaic sources installed in the consumer units, imposing several challenges to the operation of the distribution system, such as the increase of system voltage, the inversion of the power flow and the variability of the load/generation ratio due to power flow changes.

Managing the Distributed Energy Resources (DER) present in the distribution system enables greater penetration of Photovoltaic Distributed Generation (PVDG) sources and increases the operational flexibility of the grid. A Distributed Energy Management System (DERMS) tool is therefore critical for the distribution system operator to handle these connected resources in a massive and dispersed manner. The DERMS platform can assist in the operation, maintenance, and planning. DERMS obtains data from dispersed DER connected to distribution network through a capillary communication infrastructure using defined protocols and transforms it into relevant information for the operation center.

This manuscript presents a methodology for DER integration in the Distribution Operation Center so that such resources can be monitored, sensory and controlled, from a DERMS platform, to increase the reliability and quality of the power supply and, at the same time, minimize or mitigate the main impacts caused by these resources. The following will be presented: i) DERMS detailed architecture; ii) Use Cases involving the performance of DERs and iii) Test results related to voltage control and load relief in a 13.8 kV real distribution feeder containing two storage systems (1,150 kVA / 1,750 kWh) and a solar power plant (1.4 MWp).