Communication-free Voltage Regulation in Distribution Networks with Deep PV Penetration

Abstract

In this paper, we present a scheme of fully localized voltage regulation in distribution grids through reactive power compensation using photovoltaic (PV) inverters. We employ quasi-steady state representation of the effect of incremental changes in reactive power on voltage, in the form of discrete-time dynamics. We prove using this representation that nodal voltages may be regulated with guaranteed stability in the sense of Lyapunov without any node-to-node communication. We present properties of this communication-free control, such as guarantees on when it works and when it fails. Numerical studies based on realistic distribution network parameters are conducted to illustrate the performance and robustness of this proposed method with respect to changes of operating conditions and system parameters.