Smart-grid-enabled distributed reactive power support with Conservation Voltage Reduction

As solar energy continues to increase in the current power grid, the reactive power support capability from photovoltaic grid-tie inverters may be used to regulate feeder voltage and reduce system losses on medium- and low-voltage distribution systems. The focus of this paper is to develop a smart-grid-enabled control algorithm that will determine the amount of reactive power injection or absorption required at each node to minimize the deviation from the control voltage level. Once the voltage level is achieved, implementing Conservation Voltage Reduction (CVR) further benefits the system by increasing energy saving. The method is tested on a modified IEEE 13 node feeder system in MATLAB and simulations are performed in OpenDSS using the same system to validate the results.