Incorporating voltage regulator and load models in unbalanced power flow studies of active distribution systems

One of the most important issues in smart grid is to quantitatively assess the operational issues arising from the shift of the conventional distribution system toward an active distribution system with high penetration of distributed generations. This assessment requires the accurate representation of all distribution system components. This paper presents a new power flow formulation that incorporates accurate models for distribution system components. Three phase, two phase and single phase voltage regulators (SVR) are modeled to satisfy the desired voltage level along the feeder. Different types of loads configurations and modeling are incorporated at the system buses. The distributed generation connected as PQ and PV buses are integrated into the proposed power flow formulation. To test the accuracy of the proposed method, the power flow results have been compared with the results of the IEEE 123 test feeder. The importance of incorporating the voltage regulators at different operation scenarios in active distribution systems has been observed through simulation results.