A study of distributed capacitor control for electric power distribution systems

With the current push towards advanced distribution automation, the possibilities for online distributed control are increasing. One component which is currently being upgraded for increased automation capabilities is the switched shunt capacitor. In this work, a study of distributed capacitor control to regulate voltage spread in a distribution network is performed. To implement distributed control, the network is first separated into control areas based on the reactive power domains of each controllable shunt capacitor. A distributed power flow analysis is then employed to estimate the operating state within each control area of the distributed system. A preliminary distributed controller design is presented which computes capacitor control decisions based on a computed reference located within each control area in the system. Results of the distributed control on an example distribution system are presented and compared against local and centralized controls.