Utilizing Spare Inverter Capacity for Distribution Grid Voltage Support: An Adaptive Control Scheme

Rose, Christopher; Sumner, Mark; Thomas, David W.P.

Abstract

Grid-tie inverters for connecting renewables to the grid are generally rated based on the peak power rating of the sources feeding them but, owing to the inherent variability and uncontrollability of most renewable energy sources, much of the inverter capacity is not used the majority of the time. This results in significant spare converter capacity that may be used for other purposes. This paper proposes an adaptive, plug-and-play means of utilizing this unused capacity for controlling reactive power, with the aim of providing grid voltage support on distribution networks, where reactive power control has traditionally not been economical. The method described uses an active impedance estimation algorithm to determine the gains required for reactive power controllers without requiring manual tuning of large numbers of converters. Both simulated and experimental results validating the techniques described are provided.

Citation

Rose, C., Sumner, M., & Thomas, D. W. (2018, October). Utilizing Spare Inverter Capacity for Distribution Grid Voltage Support: An Adaptive Control Scheme. Presented at 7th International IEEE Conference on Renewable Energy Research and Applications, ICRERA 2018, Paris, France

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: 7th International IEEE Conference on Renewable Energy Research and Applications, ICRERA 2018
• Start Date: Oct 14, 2018
• End Date: Oct 17, 2018
• Acceptance Date: Aug 11, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Dec 10, 2018
• Publication Date: Oct 14, 2018
• Deposit Date: Apr 30, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: May 15, 2019
• Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• ISBN: 9781538659823
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ICRERA.2018.8566863
• Keywords: Impedance, Automatic voltage control, Inverters, Reactive power, Voltage measurement, Estimation
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1889382
• Publisher URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8566863
• Additional Information: © 2018 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.
• Contract Date: Apr 30, 2019