Secondary voltage and reactive power support via smart inverters on a high-penetration distributed photovoltaic circuit

Long-established approaches exist for managing voltage and reactive power on the primary electric distribution systems; however, new methods that utilize newly available technologies are appearing. One emerging method is the use of smart inverters controlling distributed energy resources - such as distributed solar photovoltaics and batteries - to provide localized voltage and reactive power support. This paper reports on a real-world field demonstration project that utilized a portfolio of distributed smart inverters to provide localized secondary voltage and reactive power support on a San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) distribution circuit. Voltage and reactive power support was achieved using two inverter control approaches: fixed power factor, and dynamic Volt-VAr control. The portfolio of distributed smart inverters was shown to modify voltage and reactive power on the secondary side of service transformers on a SDG&E distribution circuit.