A Cooperative Voltage Control Approach for Distribution Systems Based on Voltage Regulators and PV Inverters

Recently, regulating the voltage in active distribution systems has become a significant concern for network management. Furthermore, as renewable energy sources are intermittent, they cause a stressful operation for the conventional voltage regulation systems by requiring more control actions. This study presents a cooperative strategy for voltage regulation based on the coordination between the traditional voltage regulators (VRs) and the photovoltaic (PV) inverters’ reactive power. The objective of the proposed strategy is to decrease the excessive operations of the VRs while minimizing the voltage violations, considering the advantage of the fast-reacting operation of the inverters. Specifically, multi-agents control architecture is introduced to manage the VRs and the reactive power capability of the PV as independent control agents. The simulations of the IEEE 34-bus test system with different PV generations profiles (clear and cloudy days) confirm the effectiveness of the proposed control approach.