Proactive Voltage Regulation in Distribution Systems with High Penetration of Distributed Energy Resources: A Centralized Control Approach Using Step Voltage Regulators

During the last few decades, extensive research has been conducted to mitigate potential voltage-related problems that high penetration of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) may cause. One of these problems is the voltage variation caused by the disconnection of the DERs due to their anti-islanding protection action after a temporary fault. This issue has not been deeply studied so far and it may pose severe voltage variations to distribution systems’ consumers. In this context, this paper proposes a new formulation aiming at the preventive voltage regulation strategy for step voltage regulators considering the impacts triggered by a sudden disconnection of DERs. The voltage control is accomplished by a specialized Particle Swarm Optimization that selects control actions predicting the possibility of the DERs being disconnected. Results show that voltage violations were minimized after the disconnection of DERs, keeping the nodal voltages within statutory limits.