Flexible Demand Through Point-of-Load Voltage Control in Domestic Sector

Abstract

Demand reduction through voltage control at substations (VCSs) is commonly used. However, during high loading conditions the allowable depth of voltage reduction could be limited by the large voltage drop across the feeders. Distributed voltage control at the points of connection of individual loads (e.g., supply point of a cluster of domestic customers) allows larger flexibility in demand, especially during high loading as demonstrated in this paper. A high-resolution stochastic demand model and the aggregate power-voltage sensitivity of individual domestic customers are used to compare the demand reduction capability of point-of-load voltage control (PVC) against VCS. The rating of the voltage compensators required for PVC is evaluated to weigh the benefits against the required investment. First, the results are shown on a generic low voltage network with random distribution of clusters of domestic customers at various buses and random length of feeder segments to draw general conclusions. Then, the Cigre benchmark medium- and low-voltage networks are used to substantiate the findings. A case study on an islanded microgrid is presented to show that PVC reduces frequency variations caused by fluctuating wind power generation.