Impact of Advanced Vol- V Ar Control Devices on Increasing PV Hosting Capacity of Distribution Systems

Adoption of renewable energies is on the rise all over the globe. Among renewable energy resources, solar Photovoltaic (PV) resources have gained a significant momentum in multiple parts of the world. Beside all the benefits renewable energy resources provide, they have also introduced new challenges, which must be addressed as soon as possible. This paper focuses on the mitigation of voltage issues caused by high penetration of PV resources. In this work, new Volt- V Ar Control (VVC) devices such as smart inverters and Dynamic VAr Controllers (DVCs) are selected and the interplay between them is investigated. Furthermore, the impact of these new VVC technologies on reducing voltage volatility and consequently increasing PV hosting capacity of distribution systems is assessed. To achieve those objectives, advanced Quasi-Static Time-Series (QSTS) simulations are performed in OpenDSS and controlled by Python. These powerful tools provide the opportunity to model new VVC devices, to implement advanced VVC schemes and smart functions, and to investigate the interaction between new VVC devices. Simulation results for select feeders show that by employing smart inverters and DVCs, existing PV hosting capacity of the considered Hawaiian distribution system can increase by 15% and 45% respectively compared to existing installed capacity. However, when both technologies are utilized, PV hosting increases by 60% for the select feeders, indicating that DVCs complement smart inverters capabilities.