Reactive power control for loss minimization in low-voltage distributed generation systems

Dispersed small distributed generation (DG) systems in low-voltage (LV) grids pose diverse challenges for successful grid operation. The main one is to guarantee power quality by ensuring that voltages along all the feeders in the network are within the permissible bounds. In addition, voltage regulation by means of reactive power control can be used to achieve side benefits such as power loss minimization. The contribution of this paper is to analyze optimal control settings for solar inverters in such a way that reactive power control keeps local voltages within the statutory limits while overall losses are minimized. The expected output of a simulated realistic case study is a set of simple but practical control design guidelines for future LV grids deployment.