Coordinated voltage-control in distribution systems under uncertainty

With the increased integration of distributed energy units (DERs) on the MV/LV level, operators of distribution systems are currently facing a challenge in terms of voltage control. Distribution systems that were initially designed for distributed consumption and central generation now face decentralized feed-in. Decentralized feed-in at the MV/LV level, can lead to dynamic and local voltage violations in the distribution system, which are hard to handle via conventional voltage control strategies. This article proposes a new optimization based voltage control framework for distribution system operation. The framework utilizes a simulation of the distribution network (DN) in combination with meta-heuristics to calculate new set-ups of the network (here reactive power of distributed generation in the network), when a voltage violation occurs. The frameworks control capabilities are tested using data from a real rural distribution network in combination with a distribution state estimator. The results are very promising, as voltage control is achieved fast and accurate, preventing a majority of the voltage violations during system operation under realistic system conditions.