Active Power Curtailment and Reactive Power Control in PV-Rich Low-Voltage Distribution Network

High PV systems integration faces distribution networks (DN) with technical issues. However, PVs are inverter- based sources and with active power curtailment (APC) and reactive power control (RPC) can provide ancillary services for distribution system operators (DSOs) and participate as problem/solution principle. This paper proposes an optimal power flow (OPF)-based model for improving voltages and reducing losses by using PV inverter APC and RPC strategies. The proposed optimization model is presented as nonlinear programming (NLP). For solving this optimization problem without approximations, a co-simulation of OpenDSS power system analysis software and PyGMO package with embedded computational intelligence (CI) optimization methods is used. Several case studies are carried out over the IEEE European low-voltage test feeder (LVTF). Regardless of which strategy is applied, the obtained results show that the proposed model improves technical conditions in PV-rich DN and illustrate PV potential in providing ancillary services to DSO.