Optimal scheduling of unbalanced distribution networks to improve the contribution of renewables and network balancing performance

High penetration of photovoltaic (PV) units in distribution networks along with unbalanced nature of residential loads deteriorates the voltage quality metrics and ends in unbalanced operations. The ever increasing number of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) and their smart charging/discharging processes provides a potential opportunity for lessening the voltage unbalance factor (VUF), operated independently at each of the single-phase's components. On the other hands, in different types of operation modes, collaboration of voltage conditioning devices such as under-load tap-changing (ULTC) transformer with PEVs and PV units necessitates adoption of efficient distribution management systems (DMSs). Contributing to this context, this study develops a DMS concentrating on various types of control methods say as symmetric and asymmetric operation of devices. The main goal is to achieve the best operation characteristics in unbalanced conditions and boosting the hosting capacity of renewable energy resources. The proposed approach is modeled as a non-linear problem (NLP) and tested on an IEEE 33-bus test network. Results are discussed in depth.