Voltage control in pv-rich LV networks without remote monitoring

• Main Authors: Procopiou, Andreas T., Ochoa, Luis F.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Electric potential; Estimation; Low voltage; On load tap changers; Remote monitoring; Voltage control
• ISSN: 1944-9933
• DOI: 10.1109/PESGM.2017.8274012

The adoption of on-load tap changer (OLTC)-fitted transformers in low voltage (LV) networks can be a potential solution to counteract voltage rise caused by high penetrations of residential photovoltaic (PV) systems. However, to control voltages in an efficient and flexible way, observability of remote points is required. This work proposes a generic and practical remote voltage estimation method for the end points of LV feeders to substitute the need of remote monitoring without compromising performance and, hence, avoid the corresponding investment. This scheme identifies first the number of customers per phase to then produce a generic feeder. The latter is used to estimate remote voltages based on substation measurements. The performance of the proposed estimation is compared against the case with monitoring considering a rule-based OLTC control logic as well as different control cycles on a real UK residential LV network. To cater for the load and generation uncertainties a time-series Monte Carlo analysis is applied. Furthermore, different uneven PV penetrations per feeder are considered. Results show that the use of estimated voltages can be as effective as those from remote monitoring. Consequently, the proposed approach can help making the adoption of OLTC-fitted transformers in future LV networks more cost-effective.