Hosting capacity enhancement and voltage profile improvement using series power electronic compensator in LV distribution networks

Abstract

Different types of custom power devices proposed by the researchers can provide a diverse set of services in electrical energy systems. Among them, Series Power Electronic Compensators (SPEC) as Dynamic Voltage Conditioner (DVC) which are connected to the substation of the LV networks can effectively improve the voltage characteristics of the grid in a simple and practical way. In this paper, firstly a short review is given on the effect of the SPEC on the voltage profile of a LV distribution system with real measured data. Moreover, the grid hosting capacity improvement using SPEC is addressed and studied in the LV grid. Hence, a supplementary evaluation is performed by a focus on the min-max voltage curves with respect to the different demand-leveling scenarios. According to the results, the use of a SPEC can effectively enhance the network hosting capacity beside the considerable improvements in the grid voltage. Therefore, it can be effectively applied in modern networks to provide higher levels of power quality in presence of high load or generation conditions. So doing, it should be possible to increase the hosting capacity of a network and therefore to increase the amount of loads and distributed energy resources that the electric distribution network can reliably accommodate without significant grid upgrades.