VVO Effect Improvements by Optimal DER Planning in Distribution Systems with Renewables

Abstract

<p> <span>With recent installations of intermittent renewable energy generations in electric distribution systems, their impacts on classical Volt-VAR optimization (VVO) schemes, especially the energy-saving effects, are becoming one of the major issues. The optimality of VVO schemes is hard to be guaranteed due to voltage fluctuations caused by distributed renewable generations. Distributed energy resources (DERs) could be a solution to provide flexibilities to improve VVO performance if the high cost is lowered while their locations and sizes are optimized. In this paper, an optimization model is proposed for a joint planning of capacitors, dispatchable distributed generators, and energy storage to improve VVO energy-saving effects while minimizing the system operating cost. The uncertainties of renewable energy resources, electricity demand, and electricity prices are accurately modeled benefited from emerging data analysis technologies. The technical and economic effects of the proposed model are proved and tested using real data sets and compared with classical models. The high precision of the proposed model is verified using time-series simulations.</span> <br></p>