A Collaborative Market-based Framework to Cope with Overvoltages Caused by Massive Penetration of Rooftop PVs in Modern Distribution Systems

Due to the massive number of rooftop photovoltaic (PV) arrays installed by residential customers, the demand side of modern power systems can also act as the producer. In this platform, the reverse direction of power can lead to power quality-related challenges including overvoltage in distribution systems. Focusing on this challenge, this paper proposes a robust framework to collaboratively manage the injected power to the grid by the PVs to minimize the probability of overvoltage across the network. The entity called energy scheduling coordinator (ESC) is employed to improve the end customers' contribution to voltage regulation. The ESCs solve two problems: 1) primarily optimize their clients' bill by minimizing their daily energy cost, 2) minimize the penalty cost associated with voltage deviations caused by PVs through a collaborative process. The effectiveness of the introduced scheme is validated on the IEEE 33-bus distribution system. The results verify that the overvoltage problem caused by decentralized PVs can be addressed via sufficient collaborations among ESCs. Therefore, the system power quality will be ensured by the presented “market-based” mechanism. As a result, the necessity for the intervention of system operator in addressing overvoltages will be prevented by the developed framework, which enhances the convenience of market participants.