Cluster voltage control method for “Whole County” distributed photovoltaics based on improved differential evolution algorithm

Abstract

China is vigorously promoting the “whole county promotion” of distributed photovoltaics (DPVs). However, the high penetration rate of DPVs has brought problems such as voltage violation and power quality degradation to the distribution network, seriously affecting the safety and reliability of the power system. The traditional centralized control method of the distribution network has the problem of low efficiency, which is not practical enough in engineering practice. To address the problems, this paper proposes a cluster voltage control method for distributed photovoltaic grid-connected distribution network. First, it partitions the distribution network into clusters, and different clusters exchange terminal voltage information through a “virtual slack bus.” Then, in each cluster, based on the control strategy of “reactive power compensation first, active power curtailment later,” it employs an improved differential evolution (IDE) algorithm based on Cauchy disturbance to control the voltage. Simulation results in two different distribution systems show that the proposed method not only greatly improves the operational efficiency of the algorithm but also effectively controls the voltage of the distribution network, and maximizes the consumption capacity of DPVs based on qualified voltage.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

distributed photovoltaics (DPVs) / cluster partitioning / improved differential evolution algorithm / voltage control / consumption capacity of distributed photovoltaics

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Plan Program of China (Grant No. 2022YFE0120700), the Special Fund for Science and Technology Innovation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BE2022610), and Zhuhai Industry Core Technology and Key Project (Grant No. 2220004002344).

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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